A Gamer's Paradise (ON HOLD &EDITING)

Prolog

I threw the empty can across the dirt road and continued walking. Next time she hits me, I'm leaving, I had told my friend Shelly. I adjusted the tank top, now sticking to my skin. Passing small potted cacti on the pathway, I approached the steps of the shabby white house, with the blue tin roof. I swung open the screen door, it wasn't locked, as usual, and it slammed behind me. "Hope, quit slammin' that (beep) door!" My mom yelled from the back room. I stepped into my bedroom, which was first to the right in the hallway to the left. Shutting the door behind me I looked around. Cluttered with clothing, just as I had left it. Toddler clothing, child clothing, and the few things that fit me were on my bed. I had a bed with baby pink sheets, and a standing mirror cracked and leaning agaist the wall behind my door. My mom had sold my dresser, for money for the bills.

That's what I was told, anyway...

I looked in the mirror. My name is Hope Cairing, I'm fourteen. My hot Arizona home is about an hour away from Phoenix, and my nearest neighbor is thirty minutes from my house, this shabby white trailer of a house. I have an oval shaped face, freckles scattered across my nose and apples of my cheeks, and large eyes that are darkly outlined copper and fade into a dull green. My hair, at the time, was a dark reddish blonde, but I was going to dye it. I still had the large burn across my arm from week before, my mom was drunk.

I touched the burn gingerly with a cool rag that I had left on my mattress. It still stung but it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had when I had gotten it. I krept carefully down the hall to the back room (mom's room), and peeked in hesitantly. She was sleeping on her chair, snoring quietly. My mother was pretty, was being used heavily. She has dark blonde hair, a small nose, brown eyes, and a small chin. She was beautiful, but then my dad died, and she started drinking and now her eyes a heavily carried when opened, and she has a frown line.

I quietly walked the bathroom, laying a bottle of hair dye on the counter, running the bath water, and running the kitchen to grab the scissors.

My hair was to the end of my spine, and then long locks of ginger-blonde hair surrounded my feet, and more was added with every haunting snip snip of the silver blades. After, I looked in the mirror and hardly recognized myself. My hair to my sholders, and a soft azure blue (look it up, you're smart) . My mom walked in, making me jump and she gasped shakily. I knew that shock would turn to anger, and I was right. "Your, hair! It's blue!!!" She raised her voice, and I suddenly felt much smaller than was. I didn't hear what she had continued yelling about, all that I remember is that before I knew it, a hand came and slammed onto my cheek, leaving a stinging sensation. After that, everything was quiet, almost in slow motion.

Next time she hits me, I'm leaving, I recalled my words, they weren't a bluff. Next thing I know, I'm running out the door. I didn't know where i was going, but I knew it was somewhere far from her.