Chapter 1
Ally
No one has ever noticed me. Not strangers.
Not friends. Not even my own family. It’s my eighteenth birthday and I don’t feel any closer to figuring out who I am now than the day I was born.
Tick…Tick…Tick… The clock hands go round and round.
It’s my last year of high school. The excitement and thrill most students are feeling is nothing close to what's running through my body.
Sadness. Dread. Anger. Toward everything I want to be…
everything I wish I could accomplish. No one in this damn town gives a shit about you unless your name means something, except your family.
Well, in most cases. Unless you get blessed with a family like mine.
Never giving a damn what you do or where you are unless it benefits them.
“Ally!” My mom screams. “Get to fucking school!”
I sigh, getting up from bed, throwing on a black pleated skirt and a red off the shoulder top.
I snag my fishnets and black boots, throwing them on just as quickly.
I rush through my makeup. Eyeliner. Mascara.
Red lipstick. Then hurry and brush my dark brown hair until my natural waves don’t look like I’ve been on a bender all night.
A purple streak stands out against my locks.
Probably the craziest thing I ever did was coloring a piece of my hair.
Just one moment of me doing something for myself, not caring for the opinions of others.
I look myself over once, grab my book bag and then leave my room.
I can hear my parents screaming from the top of the stairs and I contemplate if I even want to go say hi.
They weren’t always like this. I have memories from when I was really little of my mom smiling and laughing as my dad joked around.
I don’t know what went wrong or how they ended up here.
If you saw their old pictures, you would never think this was the same couple today.
They both just started drinking one day and never stopped, even going as far as finding other ways to get their fix.
At least when it’s just alcohol they don’t beat me as bad.
I begin to make my way down the stairs when a noise catches my attention.
I stop, attempting to listen harder. I walk down the hallway, the further from the stairs I get, the louder the noise is.
I keep going until it’s so loud it feels like it’s in the room with me.
I look up to see I’m standing directly under the attic.
I tilt my head to the side, studying it, then pull the rope to release the ladder and I waste no time climbing up it.
The sound has now turned into humming and the hair on my arms begins to rise from the energy I’m feeling in this room. I walk around, looking through everything. Once I come face to face with a doll, the humming stops.
“Weird,” I mumble to myself.
I pick the doll up and eye it, looking it over from top to bottom.
She has red hair and green eyes. Her porcelain skin glistens in the morning light.
Her lips tip up a little, showing off her small smile.
The lovely blue dress causes her red hair to stand out and something inside of me is drawn to her.
I already love her. Maybe this birthday will be different from other birthdays, I tease myself.
“ I shall name you, Clementine,” I say, taking the doll out of the attic with me.
After placing her gently on my bed, I study her one last time before I run downstairs and into the kitchen. My parents are in the middle of a standoff, my dad takes a sip of his beer as my mom pops another pill.
“Ahem,” I cough, to get their attention, but neither look at me.
“I was just going to say I’m off to school. Maybe it’ll be a good day since it’s my birthday,” I hint to see if they remembered. Highly unlikely.
My parents look at me, my dad scowls at my presence as my mom snarls at me.
“Does it look like we give a fuck, Ally?” My mom sneers.
“We don’t need a damn service announcement for your life. Fucking kids,” my dad laughs, walking back towards the living room. Tears begin forming in my eyes and I quickly wipe them away so my mom doesn’t see.
“We’re not fucking done here, Michael!” She shouts.
She looks at me once more, taking a cigarette out and lighting it up. She inhales as she walks closer then blows the smoke into my face. She leans in close, her eyes narrowed at me.
“My life has been shit since the day you were born. Who gives a fuck if it’s your birthday?”
She flips her stringy blonde hair into my face, then struts off to follow my dad.
One day I hope I’ll have the guts to tell her how I really feel, give her a taste of her own medicine, but sadly I know that day won’t be today. I’m also not in the mood to sport a bunch of bruises at school. I take a deep breath, then leave, whispering words of affirmation to myself.
“One day, Ally, you’re going to have everything you deserve and the people who have treated you shitty will reap what they sow.”