I awoke early the next day. I took a shower, got dressed, and headed out the door. The path to the edge of my property was a long dirt road. And at the end of that road was the garage my father held dearly. I passed by and noticed something different out front this morning.
A shiny black motorcycle. It stuck out to me because it was probably the newest machine out there. All the other bikes brought to the garage were almost always older and dirtier.
Though it was semi-normal to see a nice vehicle come through his garage, it still shocked me to know people trusted Rick with anything. Let alone something as beautiful as this bike.
Seeing it brought back memories of a ride I took with a boy I was once good friends. His father brought him a bike at the tender age of fifteen. He rode it to school every day. One day he gave me a ride home. I remember feeling the wind curving around my body. I was free for all of ten minutes.
A reminder of how chained I was to this house snatched me from my memories. I could hear Rick whistling down the road and decided to get moving.
I wasn't completely honest with Rick when I said it took me 2 hours to walk to and from school. The school was only 4 miles away. Making the walk a little under an hour and 30 minutes. The other 30 minutes I spent filling out job applications. And today was no different.
Some of the stores hiring were further in town. So instead of walking to school, I walked to the nearest bus stop and hitched a ride to a popular area.
Today I stopped at a trendy coffee shop. I wasn't into drinking coffee. And I wasn't into trends. But a small Now Hiring sign called to me from the window.
As soon as I entered the joint, my knees almost buckled. The smell of muffins invades my senses.
"Are you okay?" I heard a girl’s voice call out.
I closed my eyes for what I thought was only a second to savor the smell of warm, sweet food.
A woman a few years older than me was staring from behind the counter.
"Sorry." I let out a nervous chuckle. "It smells good in here," I admitted.
"Can I get you something?" She asked catching me staring at the muffins in the display case.
I wanted to say yes. I needed to say yes. But I had to reply. "No, thank you."
She gave me a suspicious look but continued. "Okay. What can I help you with?"
"My name is Danica. And I would like to apply for the open position."
The girl stared once more. Then she shuffled to the back.
"How old are you?" She asked coming back with a paper in hand. Her eyes were glued to my backpack.
"I'm eighteen."
"OK great. I'm looking for someone who can work some nights. But what I really need is someone who can work all weekend next month. Open to close. And most parents won't allow that."
I was confused and she readily explained.
"I'm going out of town next month and I need someone who can handle this place. I don't really need a full-time employee. Just someone who can work some nights and then a full weekend while I'm gone. I figured if I hire someone early then I can get them ready for my absence."
"Oh. Okay. That makes sense." I took the application to the corner of the shop and began filling it out. I kept checking the time to make sure I left with enough time to get to school.
When I returned the paper to her, she caught me eyeing the muffins again.
And before I knew it, she was stuffing a tiny bag in my hand. "Now you can tell everyone at school how good it is." She smiled.
I couldn't help feeling like today might be a good day.
School was the most boring part of my day. With only two months left before I graduate, there wasn’t much left to learn. I almost decided I wasn’t going to continue to come. And if Rick worked anywhere but our house, I would have skipped every day. There was almost no point in me coming to school.
It was apparent that I wouldn’t be attending college. There was no money for it. For now, school was just a haven for me to escape home. Until it wasn’t.
The bell rang just as I dropped down in my seat for the first class. I sat back and watched as other students talked amongst themselves. They barely noticed I was there and that’s how I liked it.
My first few classes of the day were like that. Me keeping to myself. For lunch, I always ate outside under a tree alone. A few times my lab partner, Grace, would join me to talk notes. She was nice and quiet.
Occasionally Grace would invite me out to watch movies or go to the mall. But I would refuse each time. Movie outings led to restaurant outings. Which always led to parties. And parties led to overnight stays. I couldn’t risk her getting close to me and finding out what an ass my father was. So I rejected her every time.
Maybe after I get my own place I would take her up on that offer. Maybe one day we could be friends.
My final classes of the day were the worst. Gym is at the top of the list. I wasn’t very athletic, and it showed in everything I did. Our class was broken into two. Girls. And guys.The guys ran track, while we played basketball today. Then tomorrow, we would run, while they played on the court.I guess this was the school’s way of keeping horny teens apart while performing touch sports. Their efforts went in vain. Ninety percent of the seniors lost their virginity years ago.“Dani. Team B.” I heard the coach shout from the center of the court. A few of the girls let out a few moans. Partly because they knew I would not help in their efforts to win. “Suit up ladies!” She shouted once more.The locker room was full of girls changing into our standard white shirts and red shorts. And as they hurriedly rushed to return to the court, I took my time changing, waiting until the locker room was nearly empty. I’d noticed bruises forming on my arms in the places Rick grabbed me yesterday.The
So much for having a good day. Between Angel and Lucas, I had no idea how I would survive the next few months of school. What started off as an amazing day of hopeful job opportunities and a full belly of delectable muffins, turned into a nightmare.Lucas didn’t like me because I was one of the only girls to deny him. I didn’t let him kiss me and turned down his offer of a date. Since then, I became enemy number one. He made the guys think I was a prune and refused to put out. Deemed unapproachable by the end of my sophomore year.Lucas was one of the only people still talking to me by the tenth grade. He was the guy with the cool dad who thought it was okay to buy him a motorcycle. He was the guy who gave me that ten-minute ride. But everything changed after that day between us and now he was the one constantly leading the attacks against me. Angel, on the other hand, hated me, and I could never understand that. She and Lucas dated on and off for the past year, so it’s not like I ke
Skipping my last class of the day was the worst thing I could have done. Making it home a few hours earlier than normal caught Rick’s attention almost immediately.I heard music blasting from the auto garage and decide to walk behind it. He wouldn’t see me and the music helped bury the sounds of my footsteps over the broken branches and loose rocks.When I opened the door to the house, it flung into Rick who was carrying a cold six-pack. He dropped the pack and at least two of the cans cracked open and began to spray across the already dingy walls.I should have checked the auto garage before walking to the house. I should have made sure he wasn’t in the house. But all the drama from school had me off my game and I was distracted.“What the hell are you doing home?” He yelled while yanking me into the house by my arm.“Rick!!!” I screamed. “You are hurting me.”“You think I’m going to raise a delinquent. Are you trying the cops to my steps?”With his free hand, he slapped my face befo
My eyes searched the many vehicles for the nice black motorcycle I saw when I left for school earlier that day.It had moved since I last saw it. No longer right up front, but off to the side with the other finished cars and bikes. Rick once told me that a row of finished cars represented his money. When the owner came to collect, so would he.The motorcycle was black all over except for a silver plate that read Kawasaki and the grey letters on the side that read Ninja. It stood apart from the other bikes on account of how clean and new it looked.Rick was a good mechanic, but the rumors of his beer-filled life got around and the expensive vehicles stopped coming. Who would trust a drunk mechanic with such a possession?I ran my finger across the beautiful bike as I imagined being free once again. And without any thought, I threw my legs over the leather seat to straddle it. The machine was cold and dead between my legs. I’d worn some blue jean shorts and a black screen-t with some bl
I closed my eyes and waited for the car to hit me. I didn’t have to pull too much into the direction of the car because the bike took on a life of its own once I let the handles go. In less than a second, I was already completely in the wrong lane.Smiling for the first time in a long time, I embraced the last moment I would feel the wind on my face. The last moment of my life.My eyes popped open at the sound of tires screeching across the graveled road. But they weren’t my tires. The sight of the black car sliding across the road and stopping a few feet away from me dragged a hint of regret to the pit of my stomach.When the car came to a complete stop, I turned my focus back to the road, but it was too late.The road was curving and I tried to turn with it at the last minute. I panicked and all at once, I yanked the handle and pressed the grips. The bike leaned too far right and I began to slide across the road. Somehow my body separated from the bike and I rolled into the grass, r
The guy before me couldn’t have been more than a few years older than me. And yet, at that moment, he made me feel like a little girl who just stole a cookie. I panicked. “You’re bike?”“Yes. The black bike that you just crashed.” He reminded me.“Where is she!” Rick’s voice boomed through the halls of the hospital. I didn’t have to guess that he was angry. Everyone on this floor knew he was angry.I squeezed my eyes together. There was no way this could end well. Soon I would be trapped in a room with some random guy and my raging, probably drunk father.“Sir. Can you please keep it down?” I heard a woman say from the hall.“There the little brat is.” Rick stumped inside my room. He commenced yelling. “Do you know how much trouble you are in? And the damage you caused? I am not paying for this. Do you hear me?” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not paying for this.”I kept my eyes closed and prayed he would stay by the door. That he wouldn’t come near me. And also, that he would calm down.
Those words finally got his attention. “And how do you plan on doing that?” He turned his head to look back at me.I didn’t answer.“Do you have money?”I shook my head.“Do you have a job?”I shook my head.“Then how do you plan on paying for the damages you caused.”The pretty nurse appeared in the doorway to say. “Times up sir. Visitation hours are over.”Mr. Hardin took one more look at me. “Get some rest, Danica.”I closed my eyes just as he walked out of my room. Finally leaving me alone.The next morning brought a mixture of unwanted thoughts. But the biggest one was regret. Regret that I took the bike. Regret that I didn’t try to crash that bike into a tree instead of a car. Regret that I woke from this accident.But I also woke with something else inside my head. Thoughts of him. Mr. Hardin. I wondered what he saw when his dark grey eyes stared back at me.“Morning.” I heard a man call from my door.I sat up to see the doctor come in with a clipboard.“My name is Dr. Willard.
I sit back and relax as Mr. Hardin makes his way to my house. He takes the road that runs through the downtown area instead of Lake Road. I can’t help but wonder if that was on purpose. Perhaps he wanted to steer clear of the place where I almost died.Death by a motorcycle crash.I caught a glimpse of the coffee shop I applied to yesterday and began checking my phone for missed calls. It was dead.“Do you need to charge your phone?” This was the first thing he asked me since I jumped in the car.“Yes. Do you have an iPhone charger?”“No. I have an android.”I smiled a little. “Thanks anyway.”The car veered toward the parking lot where the coffee shop sat. “I hope you don’t mind. I’m starving.” He said.“No. Go right ahead.”He jumped out of the car. “I’ll be right back.” Before he could close the door, he popped his head back in. “Do you want anything?”I had no money. Rick never gave me an allowance. In fact, the only thing my tiny wallet carried was the city-sponsored bus card I a