Untouched

1. Sunday / Turning Sixteen is Shit-day

Happy Sixteenth birthday to me!

Turning sixteen is shit. Turning any age is shit. Birthdays are shit. I sound like a bratty teenager, but the fact I've used the word shit three times shows how shit things are because I never cuss. Never.

What's even the point of Birthdays? We get celebrated in memory of a day we caused another human an insane amount of pain when entering the world yet did none of the hard work.

It's ridiculous.

It's not even my real birthday. Today is just a date I was given, a stand-in so I'm not left out, and I have a marker to base my age on even though it's months off. Usually, I allow my birthdays to pass by with no fuss. Uneventful and unmemorable, just how I like it.

Why then, did I attempt to change my tradition this year? Now, I'll definitely remember this one but for all the wrong reasons, because the best part of today's already shitastic day (I really need to stop cussing now); my so-called 'best' friend Suki ditched me for a boy. She's officially a traitor to feminism, girl power and the entire female population or what's left of it anyway.

A crackle makes me glance over my shoulder at the mass of trees behind me which blocks the view of my settlement. I'm definitely beyond the permitted area of woods our parents agreed to me and Suki visiting, after much persuasion from me, two months ago.

Today is my first time venturing into the woods alone. It's the first time I've sat on this large rotten tree trunk at the edge of a lake I didn't know existed, until I stumbled across it accidentally about an hour ago, and today is going to be the last time I get to do either of these. When my parents find out Suki wasn't with me and doesn't plan on ever coming to the woods with me again, I won't be allowed to return. They'll take the few hours of freedom I love because parents can do that.

I hate being a teenager.

Listening for further sounds, the heavy silence is occasionally disrupted by the rustling of leaves. There is nothing there. There never is. I return my gaze to the stagnant lake in front of me. Picking up a few stones, I skim them across the water or I try too. I'm unsuccessful. The stones drop into the thick black liquid with an ugly loud plop and the sound bounces off the high grey wall on the other side of the lake. Even vibrations can't escape this place. Dark ripples spread outwards across the water's surface, a swirl of circles expand and merge until they fade to nothing. It's as thick as treacle Daa would say. I've never seen treacle, only substances he uses the phrase on.

Me and Suki should have discovered this together. She'd promised to venture deeper into the woods with me and past the boundary, our parents had set. I know she wasn't keen but she promised she'd do it for my birthday. I should have known she'd find an excuse not to come.

Suki is a traitor and a sh-... bad friend.

I huff loudly because I'll still forgive her. I don't have many friends so I need to hold onto the ones I've got and she's not bad. We all have our faults. Hers is a weedy boy called Seb.

'Are you not worried?' A deep voice says from behind me.

My head snaps around as my heart rapidly thumps against my chest. A boy walks out from the woods with his hands tucked into his pockets and my eyes narrow. I hate boys. They steal friends. I imagine this one steals more friends than any of the boys I know, it's probably a normal everyday occurrence within in his social circles.

'So, are you worried?' He says.

'Of what?' I cringe as my voice wobbles which is partly because he scared the shi-, I mean, life out of me and partly because I'm not used to speaking to strangers. Sixteen and scared of strangers, I'm embarrassed for myself, but it's not my fault. My interactions with strangers are limited. No, it's more than limited. It's non-existent.