Forsaken by Amanda Castillo (the little red hen read aloud TXT) đź“•
Excerpt from the book:
Time passes slowly for me, here in this classroom. I look around and see the smiling and laughing faces of my classmates and I feel my insides warm a little, though I am excluded from them. They never turn to me to ask a question, or to tell a joke or even to just send their exultant smiles in my direction; to them, I don’t exist anymore....
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- Author: Amanda Castillo
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our school. Her name was Marina, and she was the star of our swim team; she had a lot of friends, but I was the only one she really trusted- this was last year. Then right after my parents died, I got really messed up. I was depressed and lonely, because unlike everyone else I am the last one in my family. At the time, Marina had a boyfriend; Travis Griffin. Everyone knew he was really sleazy, but Marina was in love with him and didn’t listen. Then… one day he came to me while M-marina was at a swim m-meet.” My eyes fill with water as I get closer and closer to the cursed memory that plagues me.
“He cornered me and… he kissed me… At first I thought he was playing around, but then he tried to take it further… and that’s when Portia walked into the empty classroom where he’d lured me. She saw what was going on, but misinterpreted it and when Marina came back everything was in shambles. After that I wasn’t the only one depressed- she acted as though it didn’t affect her and everyone except me believed it. About a month later she called me, asking me to come over to her house. Her voice was weak so I rushed over to her house. Her parents were never home so I let myself in… and I- I… f-found h-her…” The tears are overflowing now, running down the sides of my cheeks and I can’t say anything else. Because of me, Marina was gone. Had I never fallen for Travis’ ruse…Had my parents never died…
Suddenly I’m enveloped in warm arms and my intake of breath is audible. It’s been so long since I’ve had any contact with another person. My town is small and when that happened nobody believed that I didn’t have anything to do with her death; just the fact that I was there made me guilty in everyone’s eyes. Since then, almost a year ago, nobody save for this odd stranger has talked to me; I begin crying even harder. Time loses meaning and when my sobs die down, I am surprised to find that we were no longer alone.
I take a long look around my haven, now the place where my classmates stand with condemning looks on each and every one of their faces. Andrew continues embracing me, as though he’s completely oblivious to their presence. Then the whispers start up slowly escalating until Portia steps forward from the rabble, eyes narrowed in utter disgust.
“How dare you spread your filthy lies? We all know what really happened; stop trying to escape the truth! You betrayed your best friend by messing around with her boyfriend, then after she tried moving on with her life you had to go and mess it up again; it’s your fault she killed herself. Don’t try to portray yourself as the victim!” She turns to Andrew, and extends a hand to him. I should’ve known this would happen. He’ll take her hand and then everything will be back to the way it was… I’ll be all alone again… I look down at my hands but then I hear the sound of skin hitting skin. I look up, eyes large with surprise, to see Andrew standing in front of Portia, the palm of her hand an angry shade of red.
“Don’t tell me you believe her lies? You must be more of a fool than I pinned you for!” The whispers start up again, until the crowd of students seems more like a mob slavering for justice; who knows maybe they are?
“You all are the fools! You’ve blinded yourselves with preconceived notions and ignore the truth that is right beneath your noses!”
He steps back and offers me his hand, which I take somewhat hesitantly. Could this person that I only met today, actually be defending me?
“Did it not occur to you all that maybe just maybe there was more to the story than you all thought?” He keeps hold of my hand and I feel that it’s slightly calloused, but warm; it’s a nice feeling. My classmates gawk at him in utter disbelief. Nothing like this has ever happened before. When everybody heard that Marina was dead, and I was at the scene they never… they never listened to her. Portia glares at us, and then with a flip of her hair walks toward the double doors leading into the library, then she turned her head.
“You’ll regret your decision Andrew, you’ll see; you don’t know the enormity of what you’ve just done. Sooner or later you’ll come crawling back to us but by then it will be too late.” Her green eyes seemed to bore into mine, utter hatred in them.
“I’d rather be ostracized than ostracize someone because of ignorant accusations.” My gaze is still locked on Portia, who smiles sarcastically; she hasn’t even left yet and the mocking has begun.
“You too Almana, if you think it was bad before it will be even worse now.” She leaves and the rest of the class follows her lead, all giving us what have to be the most malicious glares I have ever seen. Finally we’re alone again and I look up at Andrew who has an easy going expression, as though he found something pleasant about his stand off with his peers.
“Almana… that’s a nice name.” He chuckles softly, as though he finds the entire situation entertaining; at this point I’m pretty sure that he’s insane. Why else would he have stood up for me like he did?
“Was that really okay?” His laughing dies down and he squats down so that we’re eye level.
“Is the sky blue?”
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“He cornered me and… he kissed me… At first I thought he was playing around, but then he tried to take it further… and that’s when Portia walked into the empty classroom where he’d lured me. She saw what was going on, but misinterpreted it and when Marina came back everything was in shambles. After that I wasn’t the only one depressed- she acted as though it didn’t affect her and everyone except me believed it. About a month later she called me, asking me to come over to her house. Her voice was weak so I rushed over to her house. Her parents were never home so I let myself in… and I- I… f-found h-her…” The tears are overflowing now, running down the sides of my cheeks and I can’t say anything else. Because of me, Marina was gone. Had I never fallen for Travis’ ruse…Had my parents never died…
Suddenly I’m enveloped in warm arms and my intake of breath is audible. It’s been so long since I’ve had any contact with another person. My town is small and when that happened nobody believed that I didn’t have anything to do with her death; just the fact that I was there made me guilty in everyone’s eyes. Since then, almost a year ago, nobody save for this odd stranger has talked to me; I begin crying even harder. Time loses meaning and when my sobs die down, I am surprised to find that we were no longer alone.
I take a long look around my haven, now the place where my classmates stand with condemning looks on each and every one of their faces. Andrew continues embracing me, as though he’s completely oblivious to their presence. Then the whispers start up slowly escalating until Portia steps forward from the rabble, eyes narrowed in utter disgust.
“How dare you spread your filthy lies? We all know what really happened; stop trying to escape the truth! You betrayed your best friend by messing around with her boyfriend, then after she tried moving on with her life you had to go and mess it up again; it’s your fault she killed herself. Don’t try to portray yourself as the victim!” She turns to Andrew, and extends a hand to him. I should’ve known this would happen. He’ll take her hand and then everything will be back to the way it was… I’ll be all alone again… I look down at my hands but then I hear the sound of skin hitting skin. I look up, eyes large with surprise, to see Andrew standing in front of Portia, the palm of her hand an angry shade of red.
“Don’t tell me you believe her lies? You must be more of a fool than I pinned you for!” The whispers start up again, until the crowd of students seems more like a mob slavering for justice; who knows maybe they are?
“You all are the fools! You’ve blinded yourselves with preconceived notions and ignore the truth that is right beneath your noses!”
He steps back and offers me his hand, which I take somewhat hesitantly. Could this person that I only met today, actually be defending me?
“Did it not occur to you all that maybe just maybe there was more to the story than you all thought?” He keeps hold of my hand and I feel that it’s slightly calloused, but warm; it’s a nice feeling. My classmates gawk at him in utter disbelief. Nothing like this has ever happened before. When everybody heard that Marina was dead, and I was at the scene they never… they never listened to her. Portia glares at us, and then with a flip of her hair walks toward the double doors leading into the library, then she turned her head.
“You’ll regret your decision Andrew, you’ll see; you don’t know the enormity of what you’ve just done. Sooner or later you’ll come crawling back to us but by then it will be too late.” Her green eyes seemed to bore into mine, utter hatred in them.
“I’d rather be ostracized than ostracize someone because of ignorant accusations.” My gaze is still locked on Portia, who smiles sarcastically; she hasn’t even left yet and the mocking has begun.
“You too Almana, if you think it was bad before it will be even worse now.” She leaves and the rest of the class follows her lead, all giving us what have to be the most malicious glares I have ever seen. Finally we’re alone again and I look up at Andrew who has an easy going expression, as though he found something pleasant about his stand off with his peers.
“Almana… that’s a nice name.” He chuckles softly, as though he finds the entire situation entertaining; at this point I’m pretty sure that he’s insane. Why else would he have stood up for me like he did?
“Was that really okay?” His laughing dies down and he squats down so that we’re eye level.
“Is the sky blue?”
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Publication Date: 11-26-2010
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