Something More by S.N. Rimmer (reading fiction txt) 📕

My mother and I walked from yet another school office. The principal, a short, bald man who wore an expensive looking suit everyday, had told my mother that I was no longer allowed at Miller High School.  Just another school to add to my list of places I'm not allowed. We would have to move again along with my step-thing, Brink Crane. However my mother scolded me for calling him a step-thing, I refused to acknowledge him as any kind of family member.

The ride home was quiet and filled with tension between all three of us. brink had waited in the car while we were inside. Mom didn't want him to come in and make a commotion. I just stayed quiet and stared out the window as the city lights went by, as the sky was beginning to darken with silver clouds that would bring rain to the squelchingly hot pavement in late May.As we climbed out of the car, Brink began his usual grumbling about how I ruined everything again. "One week, Aisilynn that's all you had to do. There was one week of school left until summer vacation!" He started out voice low as he closed the car door and ended with a loud frustrated yell as he opened the front door to our apartment. We all filed in as he continued to yell obscenities about me,  how I was a freak, how I did it all on purpose. I just ignored him with a bored expression as I headed to my room.

However he headed me off and slammed my door shut to lean on it. "Where do you think you're going, runt?" He inquired. I didn't answer just looked up into his muddy brown eyes as I crossed my arms. I hoped he would get out of my way,  not for my safety but for his.He just gritted his teeth and growled under his breath. My hair was raising as my mother came over,  arms outstretched to defuse the bomb that was about to go off. "Baby, baby,  please stop." She pleaded with us holding her hands on our chests to keep us apart.

"Move, Karen." Brink pushed her away. As he did,  I caught sight of a purple and yellow bruise on her upper arm where he just grabbed her.  She winced then met my eyes. They seemed to beg with me to not freak out. But my breathing had already picked up and I was rushing forward.I shoved him hard against the wall and wrapped a hand around his throat, then squeezed. He raised his hand like he was going to slap me then, he just dropped it. His eyes role back and he went limp and slipped from my grip. I gasped and stepped back, covering my mouth with my hand.

"What did you do? " my mother's voice was deadly calm as she rushed to Brink's side. She shook him trying to wake him up. "What the hell did you do?" her voice got louder as she looked up at me."M-mom, he... He hit you and yells at you.  He-" I began.

"Shut up!" She screened as she held Brink's head in her lap and rocked back and forth. "You're just like him... You're just like your father." She was muttering incoherently as she continued to rock back and forth.

"Mom." I began to reach for her but she smacked my hand away. "Don't call me your mother. I'm not your mother. Not anymore." I felt as if my blood turned into ice water. There wasn't a bit of warmth in her eyes as she yelled and screamed at me. Her eyes were flowing with tears that she didn't bother to wipe and her red hair fell messing around her shoulders. "Pack a bag and leave. Don't ever come back. Ever!" At this moment I didn't even argue with her.

I calmly walked past her and Brink and into my room. I picked up my lime green and black Nike backpack and filled it with a few favorite shirts from the closet and a few pairs of pants and shorts from my dresser as well as my brush. I was about to leave when I remembered my old teddy bear, Iggy. I stuffed Iggy into the front pouch my backpack and left his head out since I couldn't zip it up with him all the way in.

Before I headed out, I grabbed my purse which held my wallet with around 40 dollars and some change as well as an ID and a few old pictures.I went past my mother, still on the ground, and didn't make eye contact as I walked to the door and opened it. I froze for a second on the threshold. I wasn't sure how I felt. I should have been crying, begging on my knees for her to take me back. I should have felt scared that I was going out into the world, into New York, with next to nothing. I'm only 16. A child still, by most standards.

But I didn't feel anything, or at least it wasn't a feeling I could name, so I walked out the door and slammed it shut behind me.

Two weeks later

I sat by myself on a secluded Park bench eating a cheap deli sub and drinking water. I know it's not really a good idea to be spending my money right now, but when your baby faced and have a swift hand, you can usually steal what you want or pick pocket the money to buy it. I myself, a blond haired, blue eyed, pale freckle faced girl, look quite innocent and use it to my advantage. 

It's only been two weeks but I've had to learn how to use my childish charm in order to survive. Right now I have upwards of about 90 dollars in my wallet and some change. I've been sleeping on roof tops and in abandoned buildings that looked to be totally abandoned by everything but mice and maybe the occasional stray cat. I've ran into a cop who caught me pick pocketing but somehow I talked my way out of it and got away by the skin of my teeth. Since then I've been more careful. 

As I take another bite of my sub, I take a look around. A man was headed towards me. He looked a bit ragged and I could tell by his smell, that's he's homeless as he approaches. He was middle aged must looked older because he was stringy and skinny. His face was dirty and gaunt as well as his clothes. He wore a plaid shirt and a pair of old blue jeans with holes in them. I met his eyes and regarded him with suspicion as he took a seat beside me. He nodded and I nodded back. 

"Beautiful day today isn't it?" He asked as he placed a plastic bag onto the table in front of him. He reached inside and pulled out a aluminum foil wrapped ham sandwich, a can of strawberry soda, and a bag of chips. 
I looked up at the cloudless sky and placed the rest of my sub down onto the plastic wrap it came in as I took a big breath in. I caught scents of the trees around me, soil, and the stench of the man beside me. "One thing about being homeless is that I see a lot more then I used to." I stated. I wasn't planning on talking but I just did so I let it happen. "It's sort of... Well, it's a beautiful day. Yeah." 
I removed my gaze from the sky to his icy blue green eyes. They reminded me of anti-freeze. 
His smile faltered for a second then he looked at me oddly. It was as if he was confused about something. But then all to soon the look was replaced by a happy smile. "What's a youngster like you doing here, all alone in a big city?" he unwrapped his sandwich as he spoke. 
The memory that that question conjured was painful and I cringed. For a whole day I cried after I left when the emotional feeling finally came back. Again I felt the prickly of tears in my eyes but fought them back refusing to cry in front of anybody. 
"I don't want to talk about it." I took another savage bite of my sub. I was angry and sad and upset now.
"I see." he didn't pry, just took the first bite of his sandwich. 
We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes while we ate. By the time I finished my sub, he had finished his whole sandwich. I raised my eye brow as I took a sip of my water the stuffed the half full bottle into a side pocket of my backpack and put all of my garbage into the plastic bag, then I stood up. 
"Hey, you should be careful out there. The city is a dangerous place." He too stood up and began to walk away the way he came. I placed my garbage into a bin and walked away from the park and began my way back to my room in the abandoned building. It was only a few blocks away and was conveniently a posh hotel. I didn't have to do much work to put together a room with a bed, and a closet and two dressers. Most of the stuff in the rooms had been destroyed but there were a few rooms that were spared such as my own. I only had to pick the lock to get in,  which I had learned to do when I was young, and clean the dust off of everything. I took the sheets and comforter to the laundry mat across the road and flipped the mattress. After picking the lock of a supply closet down the hall, I took some cleaning supplies and a broom and mop to my room. Now my room probably looks a lot like it did before it was abandoned. The walls were a dark green and and the comforter was gold and green. I guess that's something we both had in common. Abandonment.
Slowly, I walked up the stares to the fourth floor where most of the rooms were left untouched and entered my room, room 408. It took me seconds to pick the lock with a bobby pin because I've done it countless times before. I entered the room and dumped the innards of my backpack onto the bed. Four wallets came tumbling out. They were the product of my before supper work.
I picked the first one up, a dark brown wallet with a horse emblem on the front. When I opened it I found a few ones, a five, and a 20. The second one only had 3 dollars in it and a credit card and drivers license but I didn't want to risk getting caught so I ignored it and took the money. The third was empty except for a credit card and a driver's license. The fourth had two twenties in