Timed

Life was meant to start as simple as possible, with your parents welcoming you into the world, with kisses and touches, and hugs that would feel soothing and comforting. This was barely the case for my story. My life was incomplete; I could barely fathom why it destroyed me on the inside. My world caved in; all that was around me was like a blur. I remembered very small images of my past; I didn't dare ask my aunt anything of my biological parents, or anything else that had resorted me to looking for them. The only piece that I had left from them was a picture. I would glance at it every so often. However, when I’d ask about them, with the few memories I had, my aunt would scold me. She would toss the topic aside, and not bother to remind me of where I came from or why they left.
Meanwhile, as I was stuck in a trance, reminiscing on events from the past, I had no idea my thoughts were fixated on an apple, which began to rot, that laid right across the room from me. “Ivory, did you hear the mayor’s story?” my aunt asked, her arm on her hip.
We were inside of the mayor’s parlor of his house, which had a fireplace, with stone that could be assumed to date back at least three-hundred years. A mirror, that hung above, was adjacent to windows, which had light green drapes that dressed the room from top to bottom, and blocked the sun from peering in. I glanced from the apple to the mayor’s puffed-up face. His hands were balled up to make the letter “O”. “Ivory, if you wish to leave, then be my guest.” The mayor chastised, gave a slight motion of his fisted hand to tell me to leave.
“Sir, we just got here. Apologies for my wrongdoing, but I was clearly not interested in hearing about the unnecessary story behind your life, or what you had for dinner the other night.” I gawked, my eyes narrowed.
His mouth hung open, speechless. “Ivory,” my aunt gasped. She raised her hand to her face to rub her temples.
“It is the truth,” I rebutted.
After a moment, with the mayor still speechless, he walked off, his head hung low, to shield himself from me. My eyes followed his back until he disappeared into the crowd, which there was approximately twenty more people in the entire room, each scattered in specific areas. I turned my head slow, my eyes refused to meet with aunt’s pierced gaze. Her eyes narrowed at me, and her mouth was clenched. “What?” I chuckled.
She sighed, turning her body away from me. “Ivory, it’s time you learned to not misbehave at a party like this. It is important to your uncle that he wins this election.”
I gawked at her once more, my mouth ajar. “Why does it always have to be about you and uncle Rob?” I choked out. My emotions were getting the best of me. “Tell me,” I begged. My eyes began to water. “Of course, the only reason is because you’re entitled to everything, including my parent’s lives, right? You have never told me one story about them.” I screamed, nearly half the room turned to look at me. Flailing my arms, I huffed and walked towards the door to the outside deck. From the deck, valleys and overgrown trees flooded the area. My aunt Beth and uncle Rob never told me a thing about my parents, or why they simply left, not abandoned, but left. I gazed out, watching as the sky was painted with the branches of brush trees. An ominous wind came, which raised the very hairs on my back. I looked around, my feet began to shift. Soon enough, my body adjusted to the sudden change in weather. I turned to the steps that led into the bed of one of the valley’s. Slipping off my flats, I ran down the steps, feeling the wind break through my red hair. I imagined friends watching me, as my hair danced to the same rhythm of fire. Coming to a halt, I fell backward, allowing my body to hit hard against the dirt filled ground. I did not care if mosquitos came to feast on my blood, nor did I care if someone found me dead. I wasn’t afraid anymore.
Looking around from the ground, I breathed in the autumn air, it burned my nostrils. A thump came from ahead. I froze, my eyes darted from side to side, as the wind whistled around, through the tall grass and towards the dying leaves on the trees. I could barely move, and my breath grew shaky.
My hands felt as if they were chained to the ground, and all around me the world spun. However, the only stillness that was detected was a man’s face. He stood above, and his eyes were white, no sign of a pupil was in the eyes. It was like staring at nothing but a white wall. The eyes grew intense, and a color of crimson shifted into his eyes. His veins popped, and small droplets of red swam down his face, creating a mask of red. I shut my eyes tight, hoping to evade those haunting eyes on the man.
I gasped for air, my chest tightened. I was dying. This was the end. It felt as if I were falling in a never-ending abyss. Lights began to flash, and memories from when I was younger began to come back, although they were vague and uncertain of what was happening.
Eventually, my mind went back to a normal state, and my eyes sliced open, to reveal a night sky; stars shining like lights in a city. I placed my arm under my head. What I had not noticed, was that it was later than before. From the looks of the sky, it couldn’t be any later than ten in the evening. Sitting up, I glanced around the darkness of the woods, and the valleys that went deep into the horizon. I slowly rose to my feet, and turned to look towards the house, primarily the backdoor. Glancing at the lights, and the many bodies that populated the room. I watched as many conversed, allowing the air to be filled with gossip and shrieks of laughter. There was no sign of my aunt Beth, nor an idea of whether she came looking for me. She would let me run off, but at times, she would stop and berate me for permitting myself to run off. It was natural, from being left behind, for me to be prone to the idea that running away resolved my problems.