Strings: An Unwind Story

Chapter One

EMME

It was an uneventful Sunday when Emme found the slip of paper hidden within the confines of her father's desk drawers. She had taken her little sister to lunch earlier that day. She didn't know whether it was from the kindness of her heart or the praise she'll get from her adoption parents. Either way, her 11-year-old sister, Carissa, enjoyed it.

Emme walked into the house to find it eerily quiet. Carissa ran into her room. Emme walked into the living room to see both her parents sitting on the sofa with grim faces. She instantly knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" Emme asked with her brows furrowed in worry.

Her father kept his gaze down, but her mom turned her head slightly to look at her. "Nothing, Emme. Why don't you go finish up your homework, okay?" Her tone was anything but reassuring. Emme turned away, knowing if she pushed, she would only get yelled at. All her hope of getting a pat on the back was sucked down the drain. It hadn't even occurred to her yet that it could be her unwinding.

Emme reluctantly walked up the stairs to her room and threw herself onto her bed. She knew she wasn't going to get anything done with this now on her mind. Emme groaned and flicked on her TV, maybe it being able to distract her from the world's worries.

But then a commercial for Pig's Tail Harvest Camp popped up on the screen. Emme quickly turned off the TV.

Then it hit her.

Was my parents attitude like that because they signed me to be unwound?

No. Emme told herself. Not possible.

Emme was an average student, but not horrible. She was getting B's and a few A's, but at least she wasn't getting D's and F's. She wasn't running with the wrong crowd. She wasn't doing drugs or smoking. She hasn't even had sex yet. Emme has been careful these past few years to avoid unwinding. What reason is there for her parents to unwind her?

But Emme had to know for sure.

So that night, after her parents had long fallen asleep, Emme crept into her father's study. She quietly shuffled through his hundreds of papers. Her breathing had stopped as she searched, her optimism slowly decreasing by the second.

Then she saw it.

And she couldn't believe her eyes. There, on the slip of paper, read her name to be unwound. Emotions bubbled inside her. So she doesn't even get a chance at life? Why? What could she have possibly done?

Emme forced herself to read on. She has to know why.

Unpredictable and loose. Is only average.

What is that supposed to mean? But Emme knows the underlying message poorly hidden underneath the large words and pretty white paper.

She's a stork. We're low on money. She's expendable. She's not good enough.

Their selfish little problems are going to cost her the chance at life.

Her eyes trace over the date of when the Juvenile Authority will come to take her away.

11-03-24

Two days.

Two days to go AWOL.

---

The next morning, Emme packs her backpack with food and other personal items rather than school supplies. After first period, Emme is ditching and hitting the road to Washington, where there is talk of safe havens there. Also, most of the people in Washington don't agree with unwinding very much. She plans to leave her phone at the school, so it gives her a head start before anyone tracks her.

Emme forces herself to smile at her parents. To speak to them as if they haven't completely ruined her life. To speak to them as if she still loves them. It internally sickens her to do so, but she forces the feeling in the pit of her stomach for the time being. Carissa hops into the passenger side door as Emme started the old car her parents had bought her for her 16th birthday. If her sister weren't in the car, she would drive it straight into a pole and then leave it there. Actually, she might do that later when she goes AWOL.

Carissa waves her sister goodbye as she climbs out her car to go to her Elementary school in their Oregon town. Little does her sister know is that that will be the last time she will probably ever see Emme. The sky is overcast that day, leaving the scene with a gray-ish tone, much like Emme is feeling at the moment. But maybe there'd actually be thunder.

Emme pulls up to her high school and almost has a mental breakdown in her car if it weren't for her friend, Carli Coleman, to knock on her window. Emme forced a smile and climbed out of her car. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't even tell Carli about her unwinding. She can't trust her that much.

Her blonde haired friend wrapped her arms around her and squealed. "Why didn't you call me last night? We were supposed to work on English together," pouted Carli with a small twinkle in her eyes. Emme wasn't sure why she's even friends with her when she thinks about it. They're so different from each other. Maybe that's just what makes them close.

Emme sighed and bit her tongue from saying what she really wanted to say. "Yeah, sorry. I just really wasn't in the right mindset last night."

Carli linked arms with Emme as they entered the halls of the school. "It's fine. I got it done. You can copy if you want." The way she said it, made something tick in Emme. It wasn't fair. There was so many students that are worse than her that aren't being unwound. How can people just act so stupid at the mention of it? How could she be so naïve about unwinding? Emme never thought about it seriously because she never in a million years thought she would be a victum.

But why didn't she?

I am expendable in the eyes of my parents.

Emme raises her hand to go to the bathroom. Of course, she's excused as always. On her way out of one of the back doors, the brunette drops her phone into a trash can. She makes it into her car without being spotted and quickly leaves the parking lot.

And when she passes a sign that reads, Leaving Tisdale, about fifteen minutes later, it is confirmed that this is the end of a normal life. Now she lives as an AWOL.

But for how long?

Author's Note

This chapter is dedicated to the few readers that clicked on this story and read the first chapter. I realized that this is an old book so I don't expect to attract many Wattpad readers. Thank you for reading and comment and vote!