Adolescere

A child with fair brown hair, bangs hanging messily in her sharp blue eyes, sits at a rickety card table. She waits patiently, thin arms with jutting bones crossed on the tabletop. Her small frame is turned away from the door, eyes fixated on the window carved into the yellowing wallpaper in front of her. The house smells like old people. Old people and death. In the garage people are talking loudly, laughing, and drinking. Scooting cautiously back away from the table, her small feet lead her down the carpeted hallway. She hardly notices her younger, chubbier sister sitting in the living room, smiling at the new environment. When the end of the hall is upon her, thin fingers grasp a brass knob, twisting. The heavy door swings open before her, revealing a very blue room. The room she claimed as her own, all the while ignoring her little sisters complaints. Standing with one hand clutched tightly on the door knob, she closes her eyes. In her mind she envisions a pink room, with a television and two twin beds. She pictures secretive nights staying up with her sister, giggling at the television, adrenaline running through their systems at the thought of their parents opening the door any moment. When she opens her eyes, the room is packed away, a sleep ruffled bed sitting empty against the far wall. Memories radiate from the plaster walls, washing over her. With a sad smile, she closes the door for the very last time, taking in a shaky breath. In the living room where a chubby child used to sit, is a young woman with long brown hair, eyes the lightest brown, watering uncontrollably. In the chair her aged father sits with his legs crossed, hard brown eyes glued to the television. Her mother, struggling to control her emotions like she's always done, sits on the worn down love seat, hands trembling as she lifts a torn tissue to her weeping blue eyes. The woman . with fair brown hair and sharp blue eyes drinks it all in, heart aching. The family she used to be apart of, the family she tore herself away from, is mourning her death when she least deserves it.