Isabel: Part 2
She kept running; she had no idea where she was going. She kept hearing her mom’s voice to run so she kept running. She ran until her lungs felt like they were about to burn out of her chest. She dropped to the ground, she looked around and saw nothing but trees and grass. She laid on the ground staring up at the clouds through the tall trees. She started to hear a caw.
“Roo, is that you?”
A small crow landed on a tree branch nearby.
“It is you. Roo, dad moved from home. Why would he do that to me?”
The crow cawed.
“I get that he needed to get better too but so many things have changed. He’s muscular… no more pot belly dad… he's dating the ‘wanna be Barbie’ named Natalie. Ollie warned me about step mothers; oh Ollie says hi by the way.”
Isabel sighs. She closes her eyes for a little bit but she gets a feeling she should open them. She opens them and there stands a boy about her age.
“Oh, hi”
The boy offers her a hand. She takes it and he yanks her up on the ground. Isabel gets the feeling she’s not wanted her. The boy points her to go left. His eyebrows touched in anger and he tapped his left foot impatiently.
“Okay bye I guess. Come on Roo”
The crow landed on Isabel’s shoulder.
After at least 30 minutes of walking Isabel came to the conclusion that she was lost.
Roo flew and disappeared into the clouds.
“Great, now I’m really alone”
She decided to sit on a nearby bench. She closed her eyes.
When she opened them she was at her old house and she was tied to a chair. She saw her mother bloody and beaten on the floor; reaching out for her.
“Close your eyes” her mom begged
As the shadowy figure of a tall man began to strangle her.
“Mom!”
Her mom gasped for air, she turned red as she struggled with the man to let her go.
He let her go and somehow the rope that kept Isabel in the chair was gone. Her mom was too beaten to walk, yelled.
“Run Izzy Run!”
Isabel took off running through the door right into the arms of a policeman. She closed her eyes and opened them once more and was sitting on the bench still.
“Isabel Burton!”
“Dad?”
She looked over to see her dad heading over and he was upset. The vein in his forehead was showing. Her mom always said that was his angry vein.
“You nearly scared me half to death. It’s going to be dark soon, let’s go!”
“Sorry”
Isabel walked over to him and he put his arm over her shoulder.
“Just don’t… it’s okay Izzy”
He sighed.
He kissed her on the forehead.
“By the way you’re got taller”
Isabel giggled
“I would hope so, last time you seen me I was about 10”
“Now you’re a giant look at you”
“We should do something special for your 15th birthday, like a cake from Blake Bakery.”
Morning light peeked through Isabel’s white sheer curtains and illuminated her face. She woke up to the sound of loud talking.
Isabel gently rubbed her eyes and checked the time on the clock; it was 9:45 am.
She dragged her body out of bed to see what the commotion was about. She walked down the stairs then into the kitchen; where she saw Natalie wearing a fitted shirt black dress with black designer heels. Natalie was on the phone yelling about shoes, the store shipped her the wrong size.
“I don’t care who’s fault it is, just send me what I paid for!”
She paced back and forth while cursing. Her curly red hair bounced up and down as she paced. After about 5 minutes she finally hung up and noticed Isabel standing there.
She cleared her throat.
“Well good morning, hope I didn’t wake you”
“Yes you did”
Natalie looked shocked and annoyed all at once. It was clear she didn’t like or have patience for Isabel. Before she could respond Isabel’s dad walked in.
“Morning!”
“Morning Dad”
“Morning” said Natalie
The tone in her voice indicated that she was disappointed.
Isabel’s dad sat his coffee mug down and kissed Natalie on the forehead.
“What’s wrong honey?”
“Stupid company sent me the wrong size”
He grabbed her in close by her waist, it was uncomfortable for Isabel to watch.
“Did you call them and let them know”
Natalie pouted like a little spoiled kid. She stuck her lip out and her big green eyes made her look cute and innocent. Isabel knew this woman was trouble and decided to get rid of her.
“How about we go shopping after breakfast to cheer you up?”
Natalie leaned in and kissed him.
“Thank you”
Isabel cleared her throat.
“Mmm what’s for breakfast? I usually have oatmeal with a banana and orange juice.”
“Sweetie, that's hospital food. Don’t you miss good ole sugary cereal?”
“You are kidding right?”
“No have some I bought it just for you just like you used to like”
Isabel poured the cereal into a bowl. None of the kitchen utensils were familiar to her. She was disappointed that her dad got rid of everything that reminded her of her mom. Instead of expressing that to him she thought it best to not upset him.
She sat at the table staring at the cereal filled to the top with milk; it didn’t look appetizing. Natalie looked at Isabel strangely like she was plotting something.
Isabel heard a caw from outside the window.
“Roo!”
A crow landed right on the windowsill.
“Roo I missed you!”
Isabel got up and went over to the window and began talking to Roo.
“John… John..”
“I know Nat… I know”
“But”
“Don’t say anything please”
