Alone and harassed, some would say she'd had no choice.
Others would say she made all of the wrong choices that led her to a brick wall.
But either way, Arbor had run out of choices.
She was shy in school. You know, the kind of girl that stayed by herself. Never putting up a fight. Never screaming.
She should've screamed.
She was bullied. People cornered her after school as she vaulted over backyard fences, desperate to escape the groups that pursued her. They would steal her bag, throw it, scatter everything inside across multiple lawns and throw her papers into the trees.
And then, they'd face her. The first few times, she'd been too scared to run. They had an easy time then, pillaging and turning back to their victim, only to find her waiting for them. Her whimpers were muffled by their shouts, her lack of resistance fueling their mocking laughter.
A couple times, she'd managed to get away. They were exceptionally cruel the following day, hitting her in all the places it hurt most.
Arbor had almost gotten used to it. It was terrible, yes, but she didn't want to make trouble. She didn't have any friends, no one to ask where she'd gotten that bruise, or why her knees were scraped and gritty with pavement.
She only wanted to fit in.
After one particularly terrible day - yesterday had been rainy, and the ground was soaked - a girl offered her a hand up. Arbor was quick to accept, and repeatedly thanked her.
Of course, when the girl suggested they go hang out by the shops downtown, Arbor thought nothing of it. She agreed, and the girl brought her to a group of her friends.
Arbor was surprised when these "friends" turned out to be a clan of druggies smoking in a back alleyway, but she still didn't think anything of it. Was this what all the kids in her class were doing?
The girl assured her it was, and before Arbor really knew what was happening, she found herself accepting the cigarette that was passed her way. A boy smoking something that was certainly more than a cigarette passed her a lighter, and that was the end and the beginning.
When Arbor went with the girl, she found that none of her previous attackers ambushed her anymore. The druggies were an escape, in more ways than one.
Of course, cigarettes were quickly not all that the kids told Arbor to smoke. She found herself accepting a variety of other drugs passed her way, and very quickly, she found herself hooked.
She loved it. The way she could just zone out was priceless, letting her forget her problems without a care in the world.
But Arbor's parents were sensing a change in their daughter. Though they'd once been startled by how alone she was, they now worried over her stubbornness and her rebellious side. She'd come home later and later, giving them annoyed looks when they tried to talk to her.
And then, one day, she stumbled home, not really thinking. It was earlier than she'd thought, and her mother was still up. Arbor made her way to her room and collapsed, completely forgetting the cigarettes and subtle amounts of drugs in her pockets.
When she woke up the next morning, her mother simply held up her lighter and demanded she explain. Arbor responded angrily, noting she didn't particularly care that her parents had found out, as long as they didn't interfere.
But, they were parents, and interfere they would. Her mother and father told her she would be going to stay at her grandmother's house for a couple of weeks, to see if she could sort herself out.
