and my body felt like I had been dragged through an obstacle course. Every bone in my body ached, and I felt like shit, and I liked that I felt like that. It was good to feel low, because it was something I knew how to exist in. I had gotten used to it.
Sharon bent down and pulled out a piece of paper from the duffel bag. She held it out to show me. "Does this look familiar?" she asked.
"Oh no, it's the paper I write stuff on."
"Look closer." She walked over to me and held it up to my face.
On the paper was a coloured photo. And in the photo was a background of my yard with a familiar bicycle. She pulled the photo away just as I was grasping what was being taken from me.
"Obviously that's your bike." She crumbled up the paper and threw it into the fire. "Well, it was your bike."
I caught a gasp before it could make it out of my throat. The fire was dancing all around itself, little wispy movements, and I felt nauseous. That was my bicycle I had bought from my neighbour. I used it to get around when Dad didn’t let me use his car. It was something I needed for when I wanted to escape for a bit—it was my freedom.
"Your father decided to get rid of it for you. I'm not sure if you noticed in the picture, but there was a for sale sign on it for twenty dollars."
“Twenty bucks.”
"From what I'm told though, not too many fish were biting. He eventually just gave it away."
I stood up.
"Sit down, Valerie." She pointed at the spot behind me.
There were a lot of things running through my mind. Mostly that I missed Basinview. The smell of the air near the coast was so fresh that it could make anybody miss being away from it. I was merely kilometres away from my hometown, yet I was still so homesick for it. Things seemed so far away when you weren’t allowed where you wished to be. I felt stuck right then. I was in a place full of people who weren’t my family. There were no aunts and uncles asking me what my plans were for university, there were no teachers telling me to do better, and my parents weren’t around to make me feel uncomfortable when they were screaming at each other. The things I was used to in life, the comforts and the constraints, were all taken away from me, and it was like tiny pieces of who I was were missing.
“Come on, it’s just a bike,” she said. “There are worse things to lose.”
I took a step forward. “Like what?”
“Valerie, I’m not going to tell you again. Sit down.”
"You sit down."
And I shoved Sharon.
7: NEW HORIZONS
I had never shoved anybody like that, let alone an old woman before. I hadn’t meant for her to fly—it just happened that way. She gasped because maybe she hadn’t realized there was a crazy person in front of her. Maybe she thought I was just a little girl and wouldn’t do something wrong. But I knew it was wrong and I did it, and she hadn’t seen it coming.
Sharon just seemed to fly over the log directly behind her, and when I saw the bottom of her feet flailing in the air, the fire pit quickly became a giant blur.
I panicked.
The last thing I saw before turning and running was Murray. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open in shock. Had he not seen that coming? Did he not know that he knew someone who would shove an old woman to the ground?
I hadn’t exactly expected or seen it coming either. But it was horrible to see someone shocked by the kind of person I really was. I was a crazy, terrible person—and that was why I was at a place that wanted to reset me.
It didn’t register at the time that I had no idea where I was running to. I didn’t know what I was doing. It was dark and people were screaming behind me and I was doing exactly what bad kids were wired to do. We were there to be straightened out, and before that could happen, we flew off course.
I ran out of the woods, and down past the mess hall. I sprinted so fast, and counsellors were screaming and blowing their whistles all around me. I ran all
Sharon bent down and pulled out a piece of paper from the duffel bag. She held it out to show me. "Does this look familiar?" she asked.
"Oh no, it's the paper I write stuff on."
"Look closer." She walked over to me and held it up to my face.
On the paper was a coloured photo. And in the photo was a background of my yard with a familiar bicycle. She pulled the photo away just as I was grasping what was being taken from me.
"Obviously that's your bike." She crumbled up the paper and threw it into the fire. "Well, it was your bike."
I caught a gasp before it could make it out of my throat. The fire was dancing all around itself, little wispy movements, and I felt nauseous. That was my bicycle I had bought from my neighbour. I used it to get around when Dad didn’t let me use his car. It was something I needed for when I wanted to escape for a bit—it was my freedom.
"Your father decided to get rid of it for you. I'm not sure if you noticed in the picture, but there was a for sale sign on it for twenty dollars."
“Twenty bucks.”
"From what I'm told though, not too many fish were biting. He eventually just gave it away."
I stood up.
"Sit down, Valerie." She pointed at the spot behind me.
There were a lot of things running through my mind. Mostly that I missed Basinview. The smell of the air near the coast was so fresh that it could make anybody miss being away from it. I was merely kilometres away from my hometown, yet I was still so homesick for it. Things seemed so far away when you weren’t allowed where you wished to be. I felt stuck right then. I was in a place full of people who weren’t my family. There were no aunts and uncles asking me what my plans were for university, there were no teachers telling me to do better, and my parents weren’t around to make me feel uncomfortable when they were screaming at each other. The things I was used to in life, the comforts and the constraints, were all taken away from me, and it was like tiny pieces of who I was were missing.
“Come on, it’s just a bike,” she said. “There are worse things to lose.”
I took a step forward. “Like what?”
“Valerie, I’m not going to tell you again. Sit down.”
"You sit down."
And I shoved Sharon.
7: NEW HORIZONS
I had never shoved anybody like that, let alone an old woman before. I hadn’t meant for her to fly—it just happened that way. She gasped because maybe she hadn’t realized there was a crazy person in front of her. Maybe she thought I was just a little girl and wouldn’t do something wrong. But I knew it was wrong and I did it, and she hadn’t seen it coming.
Sharon just seemed to fly over the log directly behind her, and when I saw the bottom of her feet flailing in the air, the fire pit quickly became a giant blur.
I panicked.
The last thing I saw before turning and running was Murray. His eyes were wide and his mouth was open in shock. Had he not seen that coming? Did he not know that he knew someone who would shove an old woman to the ground?
I hadn’t exactly expected or seen it coming either. But it was horrible to see someone shocked by the kind of person I really was. I was a crazy, terrible person—and that was why I was at a place that wanted to reset me.
It didn’t register at the time that I had no idea where I was running to. I didn’t know what I was doing. It was dark and people were screaming behind me and I was doing exactly what bad kids were wired to do. We were there to be straightened out, and before that could happen, we flew off course.
I ran out of the woods, and down past the mess hall. I sprinted so fast, and counsellors were screaming and blowing their whistles all around me. I ran all
Similar Books
