"Arlea dear " mom called. "no matter what you hear or see, do not come out okay? "

　　I only nodded my head oblivious of what was going on around me. "I love you " mom said as a tear slide down her cheeks. "I love you too mom " I replied almost at the Verge of tears too.

　　She shot me a wry smile before finally closing the closet door.

　　Whatever that is going on, I had a feeling it wasn't something good.

　　Mom said to not go out, I wasn't planning to anyways.

　　Faintly,I could hear mom's voice and that of others too.

　　Even though my nine year old ears couldn't hear clearly what the chaos was about, at least my tender eyes could see.

　　I closed my left eye and closed my right eye into a squint, forcing my eyes to see through a thin space between the closet door .

　　Elsa my step mom was sitting on the couch , she held a gun toiling with it and saying words I could barely hear, mom was pinned down in front of her by two huge men.

　　Though I couldn't hear a word she was saying except for her devilish laughter which sounded like a choking rabbit.

　　With the look of things, they were both exchanging words, the look on aunt Elsa's face was that of anger and hatred, mom was struggling with the hefty arms that held her weak body pinned down .

　　Aunt Elsa stood up, pacing the room and saying words I still could faintly hear. "where is she? " she yelled at the top of her voice.

　　Fear griped me as my heart began to ponder, this time I could hear her crystal clear, her yelling voice was loud enough for someone on the other end of the street to hear.

　　I knew she was talking about me, I might be a little kid but I still knew she was talking about me. She rapidly walked to where mom was kneeling.

　　She violently grabbed mom's neck, choking her to death.

　　I swear I was fighting the urge not to burst out of my hiding place and give the she devil a really hard punch on the face.

　　Well it was something I could never do except I was already prepared to get myself killed. "where is she " was the only thing I could trace her lips saying.

　　The fear in me grew intense every second, the fear of her finding me in this tight closet ,glaring at me before tossing me out without a second thought, then probably giving me a hard slap as she always does when I was the only one at home with her, then maybe after not satisfied with the slap, she'd probably place her gun on my forehead and blow up my little brains out.

　　The sound of a gun shot took me out of my bloody trance, I squinted my eyes one more time to see what was happening.

　　I almost lost the little oxygen I had left when I saw my mom lifeless in a pool of blood on the floor.

　　My heart began to race as I traced her lips which I could guess was given orders to her boys.

　　They began to turn the whole room upside down, probably searching for me.

　　Probably is an understatement, they were certainly and obviously searching for me.

　　I could swear I wasn't breathing any longer, she was taking a really slow steps towards the closet.

　　I managed to crawl myself to the end of the closet as my breath began to seize. "no, no, no, no... " I kept muttering and shaking my head in fear. "no, no, no, no... "

　　****** "argggh " I jerked up into a sitting position on my bed.

　　I was already panting and sweating profusely, I turned to see a chuckling Julie with an empty bottle.

　　Now I get, I wasn't even sweating.

　　I shot her daggers only to earn an eye roll from her. "you need to see a prophet or something " she sarcastically said. "what? " "oh please Arlea, isn't it obvious you need prayers?, I can't even get a peaceful sleep because of your horrible yelling and kicking all for some stupid nightmare you keep having every night " she said stumping under her blanket. "were you saying anything? " I asked just to annoying her.

　　I know it would work, it always does, she flipped the blanket from her already covered face, staring nonchalantly at me. "it's useless advising you " she said before getting back under her cover.

　　I rolled my eyes , taking a quick glance at the tiny clock on the shelf, it's morning already.

　　My hands stretched over to Julie, ripping the blanket off her body. "you had better get your sleepy butt off the bed, it's Friday, we've got school to attend " I snapped.

　　She groaned muttering words under her stinky breath. "what was that? " I asked trying to get a little bit bossy. "going to the bathroom already jeez " she said heading into the bathroom we both share.

　　I watched as she twisted the door knob and slid into the bathroom leaving me to ponder in my thoughts.

　　I face palmed myself breathing in and out.

　　Every night I keep having nightmares about my past, the pasts I've vowed to keep aside, the past that I've promised myself to forget and move on.

　　Remembering every single thing about it had became a routine for me.

　　Each dream I eventually had never spare me a chance to not have a flashback of something I have tried to long forget.

　　'arlea breathe ' I tried to reassure my already tensed self.

　　My fist were already clenche in a ball, ready to blow out the brains of the people who made my life seem like it was cursed, only if they were close by.

　　'breath Arlea, breathe ' "Arlea? " I heard someone call my name.

　　I drifted my palms from my face, there stood Julie clad in one of her favorite pink towel which stopped right above her knee,water dripping down from her wet hair, she had just finished taking her bath, and as she stood, nothing came out of her mouth except the stares she gave me. "huh? " I replied absent mindedly. V"are you trancing again? " she asked with a look of suspicion on her face.

　　Yeah she caught me. She always complains about me dozing into dreamland all the time, and as the future medical personnel she dreams of becoming, she always advice me to not zoom off all the time because it's unhealthy.

　　Like seriously!!

　　I rolled my eyes sighing inwardly. "no I'm not " I obliged, trying to get out of her glaring grasp.

　　I dashed into the bathroom before she could stop me with her medical lectures.

　　I took my bath, brushed my teeth and boom! I'm done.

　　I came out of the bathroom and slide my plump body into my neatly ironed uniform.

　　Oh dad is so sweet.

　　I walked to the dressing table, admiring my self before the square mirror that reflected my elegance.

　　I fluttered my lashes continuously and pouted my lips, checking my self out.

　　It was something Julie does all the time she does her makeup, and to be sincere, there's nothing so appealing in it.

　　I stopped the fluttering thing, then kept a normal face.

　　My emerald blue eyes kept staring back at me.

　　I took Julie's lip balm and applied a little on my pink plump lips.

　　I slightly brushed my natural pitch purple hair with my fingers before putting it in a messy bun.

　　I smiled showing off my white set of teeth to the mirror. "stop doing that Arlea, it's awful "

　　I flinched at the sudden appearance of Julie reflecting on the mirror. "jeez Julie, don't do that again " i whined with my hand placed on my chest.

　　I could swear my heart was beating rapidly than normal. "get your butts downstairs for breakfast, if you don't wanna get your fat ass flogged"

　　I scowled at her. "my ass is not fat, dumb head, check it out, it's sexy " I wiggled my brows showing off my ass to her. "gross! " she ewwed walking out.

　　That serves her right.

　　I was done with the only make up style I knew how to do then walked out of the room with my back pack firmly placed on my back. "good morning family! " I yelled in ecstasy to my parents and siblings climbing down the stairs. "morning sweetheart " Dad greeted back.

　　I plumped down on the stool reserved for me at the dinning room.

　　I ruffled Dave's hair just as I always do every morning to annoy the hell out of him. "eww stop that " he shoved my hand away. "morning mom "

　　I let out a nervous chuckle after getting no response from mom.

　　I won't force it though. I meant nothing to her.

　　Silence crawled in as we began to munch on our breakfast.

　　Well, that's how it's always been, except someone gets the courage to break the silence while on some other days, it's just silence all through. "so Arlea, I wish you good luck on your scholarship " Dad said finally breaking the silence. "thanks Dad " I sweetly smiled.

　　I also wish to get the scholarship too, it'd really mean a lot to me, maybe at least mom would get to love me after that.

　　It's been a month since I wrote that scholarship exam, I was told the results would be out by the end of school week, Friday precisely.

　　And it's Friday today, I've been praying so hard lately to get the scholarship.

　　I'd be privileged to study a year in one of the most expensive and prestigious schools in Italy.

　　Oh, the thought of leaving Togo makes goose bumps crept all over my body.

　　We were finally done eating breakfast, I picked up my backpack and exited the house along side Julie and Dave.

　　We boarded a cab, even though normally we were to trek down to school, but we were already running late.

　　******

　　We arrived at the right time in school.

　　The bell rang immediately we stepped into school, I hurriedly ran to the locker room and shoved my backpack into my locker, I picked out my history book and ran into class.

　　I comfortable sat down on my usual desk which was at the front row. I'm a serious student, not my fault.

　　Mrs Whitney, the history teacher came in and immediately started her lectures.

　　though I kinda dislike history class, but I had no choice anyway.

　　Time passed by and it was already time for lunch break.

　　I arrived at the locker room late because Mr Johnson had me arrange some files in his office.

　　After tracing my locker, I dropped my textbooks into it before heading out to the cafeteria. "hey purple haired " I heard that familiar bitchy voice from behind.

　　I kept walking, ignoring the bitch who seemed to be at my trail. "I'm talking to you purple " she hissed blocking the way. "get out of my way Nadia, I don't have time for this " "you should purple, because I didn't just skip lunch just to be ignored by some purple haired bitch " she spat.

　　My fist were already clenching into a tight ball, I was so much fighting the urge not to release them on her scrambled face.

　　She's so bitchy, always finding ways to get on my nerves, since the day I left an everlasting mark on her face and got suspended for a week, I promised myself not to get into a fight with anyone again.

　　I don't wanna give Dad any more hypertension due to my recklessness and violence. "it's Arlea, stop calling me purple haired " I warned.

　　She scoffed "well isn't it obvious, you have a purple hair, so... " she continued not ready to cut off her childishness. "cause I've got purple hair doesn't counts my name being purple haired girl " I backed shoving her off as I walked past her. "oh please purple hair, stoo defending a fact " she continued still following behind me. "hey bodyguard, take a break when you're tired okay? " I mocking simple annoying her.

　　She stopped trailing behind me as she huffed giving me a dirty glare. "I'm not your body guard " she yelled.

　　I walked away paying less attention to her.

　　I bought my self waffles and ice-cream.

　　I've got a thing for waffles since before I was born, I don't mess with it.

　　Though they were the only things I could afford anyway.

　　I sighted Julie from afar, she reserved a sit for me. "hey guys " I greeted Victoria and Max who occupied the sits alonv side Julie.

　　They're both Julie's besties and practically mine too. "Arlea Tristan, you presence is needed in the principal's office "

　　The announcement got all eyes on me for a few seconds before everyone got back to whatever they were doing. "guys... " "just get your fat ass outta here " Julie said cutting me off from saying anything.

　　I rolled my eyes "it's not fat Julie " I reminded. "whatever " she said.

　　I arrived at the principal's office, I placed my knuckles on the wooden door then made a soft knock. "come in " I heard from the other end of the room.

　　I twisted the door knob then walked in. "you called for me sir " I said in the most polite and official way I could. "yes, sit " he replied giving me a sign with his hand to sit.

　　I did as I was told. "Mrs Tristan " he called scoring through his locker. "yes sir? " I answered. "here, " he said handing over an envelope to me.

　　I collected it, anticipation clearly visible on my reaction. "congratulations Mrs Tristan, you make dream high proud " he commended .

　　A wide smile crept on my face as I already knew what the congratulations was about. "thank you sir " I said still in awe

　　The principal did the most shocking thing.

　　He held out his hand for a hand shake, something I've never seen him do before.

　　I gladly took it as he congratulated me once again.