• Chapter 1: Coming Back

    The wheels of the train begged for mercy as they skidded along the tracks. I looked out the window as the scene changed every 3 seconds. The attendant came into my cart. “Would you like anything?” She said in the fake monotone they were told to do. I looked up at her and nodded my head no. She smiled and then left asking others the same exact question. I sighed heavily as I expected to come to a stop and then continue on again. My phone started to ring and the caller id said it was Josie. But it wasn’t. Instead it was my mom. “Hello?” I said feeling a twinge of regret that I started to talk to her again. “Marni?” She asked using my old nickname that I never used. My name was Marniella and since it was long and at times complicated to read or pronounce I was nicknamed Marni. “Yes?” I said in my same tone I always used for anyone else who ever called. I heard her sigh over the phone with shaking breath. “Um…when will…when will you be here?” She asked pausing so she didn’t cry. “Soon” I said and then hung up.
    The train finally stopped and it was my stop. I got up and stretched before grabbing my bags and stepping out in the sunlight. When I was 15 I ran away from home from the pressure of my mom’s new husband. He at first was ok but as soon as she said ‘I do’ he turned to a viscous child abuser. He would yell at me one minute and when my mom entered the scene he was the kindest man you’d ever see. I couldn’t take it as soon as he laid his hands on me and left a mark that I was forced to hide. So I ran away leaving nothing but a note. I can’t remember what it said but I know it had to do with him. I walked to the bus stop waiting for a bus to come by when someone sat next to me on the bench. “Are you going to let me drive you home like your mom planned on or are you just going to make a scene again” he said. I kept my stare on the children playing roughly in the park when I heard him ask again. I turned my head to him just as the bus pulled to a stop. “For your information I do not make a scene…I just play a role in them.” I said as I stepped on the bus and taking a seat. I looked out the window at his unshaved face and remembered awful memories that I begged so many years ago to leave.
    “You worthless little brat!” he said with anger filling his eyes. I cried as he walked around the room looking for something. “Where is it? Where’d you put it?! If you don’t give it back right now you’re going to be in a world of pain!” he screamed as soon as he got into my face. I backed away when I felt an immense amount of pain come to my jaw. I felt warm blood flow from my face as he smiled and then turned serious. “You’re just getting what you deserve. I’m preparing you for life that’s all…when you get married your husband will be so fed up with you I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed you.” He spat inches from my face. I cried more when my mom finally came through the front door. I ran to her and she gasped. “W…what happened?!” She said worried. I smiled since I was finally going to be able to show that he was terrible. She looked at him and I turned to look as well when I saw him with a very dark serious face. “Carry…I found her like that in the bathroom…she was hurting herself…I don’t know why I mean we give her everything but…it must be something she’s hiding…I’ll call a doctor and have her to the hospital if you really want to help her.” He said faking every word of it.
    I woke up from someone shaking me. “Miss; Miss are you ok?” A man sitting next to me asked. I looked around and then back at him “What? Yes I’m fine! I was just having a dream.” I said. He looked concerned and then breathed in. “You were screaming and shaking….must has been some dream.” He said looking back to his laptop. I nodded and then got up to walk to the street my mom’s house was on. I walked up to the door and found the same wooden beer bottle sign on the door that said welcome that stepdad bought. I knocked on the door. My mother opened it also revealing a gigantic dog…a collie. I was allergic to dogs and they both knew it…so was my mom. She sneezed as the dog barked and her eyes were a bright red. “Why.” I said. She looked at me behind her tissue and sneezed before the answer. “Simon wanted one.” She said and then greeted me inside.

    Chapter 2: Old Friends and New Acquaintances
    I walked into my old bedroom and found a picture of me and the guys. I chuckled to myself and set it back down. I looked around and looked out the window finding Simon to walk inside. I sighed and then sat on the bed. I can’t believe I have to live here for one more year. I said to myself. I was seventeen and lived with my grandmother until she died and I was forced to come back here. I had a job that I was also forced to quit since I had to come back here. I decided to change out of my clothes and just got into my pajamas. As soon as I was done my mom came sneezing up the stairs. She opened the door. “Um…someone wants…wants to see you…” she said quietly. “Who” I asked getting off my bed. Just then someone walked in. He had black hair with red highlights in the front and a lip piercing along with heavy eyeliner. I smiled and he came up and hugged me. Mom shut the door and let me and Max be alone. He was my best friend and he rocked. He was also my ex-boyfriend…I broke up with him when I decided to leave. “It’s good to see your back.” He said. I smiled and sighed. “Yeah except I have to live with THAT thing out there” I said meaning Simon. He frowned and nodded pulling me into another hug.
    “Please don’t do this Marni! We can deal with this! Just listen to me!” he pleaded. I nodded my head while turning around to pack my clothes again. “No! What’s there to listen to?! The endless crying I do from him! If I don’t leave now then I’m going to the hospital because that jerk my mom calls a loving husband hit me!” I screamed before breaking down. He looked at me with tear filled eyes. “You can stay with me then!” he pleaded once more. I nodded silently and cried taking in a breath. “He’ll find me then…he’ll know I’m with you.” I said before closing my last bag and picking it up to leave. I heard him sit down on my bed and I turned around to find his face buried in his hands. I walked over to him slowly and sat next to him. “We can still be friends Max…but I need to leave this house…if I don’t he might even do worse than just hit me.” I said holding back tears. He looked up at me and hugged me tight while we stood up. He picked up most of my bags and kissed me on the lips before throwing them out on the lawn and climbing out the window grabbing for my hand. We got in his car and drove to the bus stop where I would go to continue a new life.
    I woke up the next morning to the sound of screaming. I went downstairs and found my mom and Simon arguing over something. “She never went to the hospital and having her here might make her even crazier than she already is! She could end up hurting someone else and not just herself.” He screamed at her. She cried and screamed back “well it’s not my fault she doesn’t want to be cooped up in that place they call a hospital anyway!” I sighed silently and went back upstairs as I got dresses I thought it’d be a good idea to get out of the house when all of a sudden I heard my mom leave the house and a car pull up. I looked out my window and saw a thin girl with a lot of curves and tight fitted clothes as she came in the house I heard Simon greet her. “Baby I’m so glad you was able to come!” he said in a tone of excitement. “Well I would come a lot more if you would just get rid of that hag like we planned.” She said. He sighed and walked around. “There’s something I’ve been working on so I could keep her horrid daughter in her room. I want to show it to you.” He said excitedly. I got too curious and crept down the stairs as I saw him pull out something he had been working on for a while…I remember trying to get down in the basement and see what he was doing when I turned 14. He was a scientist and knew how to make things but I always thought it was to destroy the world. I looked behind the railing and wall and saw what they were talking about. It was…an android. A boy android and he was perfectly made to look like a human. He looked like the kind of guys I was into as well. “I’ve always wanted a son too so he’ll be perfect since Carry got diagnosed with cervical cancer and can’t have kids anymore, I can have a son and Marni can have a new friend.” He said with a hint of mischief in his voice. I ran upstairs not caring if they heard or not and locked the door. Someone slammed against the door and then it opened. Simon came in with something behind him. “Well since you heard the surprise I’m guessing I’ll just let you have it now!” he said locking the door with me and the android. He struggled to walk over but eventually got to my bed and sat down. I backed up and then he turned to look at me. He had pale blue eyes and black short hair that fell in front of his face a lot. He was wearing a black suit like the one in Edward scissor hands but without the detail. He had on big heavy black army boots and was pale. “Can you talk?” I asked scared. He nodded yes. “Then talk.” I said with a mix of force and curiosity. “Hello…my name is Andrew and I would like to be your friend if you can allow it.” He said nice and clear. I stared at him and nodded that we could be friends…for now. He smiled. I smiled back. We talked about a lot of things even though he was an android; he had the mind of a modern seventeen year old who knew about what was going on in the world. “So…if you know about things going on in the world do you know anything when you were being built?” I asked. He nodded no. I just kept quiet after that. He was not bad looking for being an android and I guess I had a little crush on him which was weird. He was really open and didn’t know emotions too well though and he would ask me what they were like when I told him I was beat up at school he said he felt like he wanted to hurt whoever did it and then asked what it was…anger. I smiled when he said that. “So are you going to be going to a school?” I asked hopeful that he would and it would be my school. He nodded and said he was going to Black Hole High. The name fits it perfectly there are so much haunting memories there.
    “Hey freak! Give me your lunch money and maybe I’ll let you go!” Billy said with his gang behind him. My mascara was running and I was bruised from the neck down. “I told you I don’t have any!” I screamed behind tears. He smirked and kicked me once more in the stomach. I spit a couple times to get the taste of blood out of my mouth. He started to laugh at me and I couldn’t take this anymore. I got up and threw one good punch at him leaving him to whimper on the cold tile floor. His gang started to attack me and that’s when I met Max and the gang. They beat his clones up and helped me to the nurse. They all waited for me when I was recovering and then offered to walk me home. I didn’t really like his friends too much so they stayed off when I was with Max.
    I was putting on my makeup when I felt an immediate push to the ground. I looked up and Andrew was sitting on me. “Ok ok get off.” I said breathless by the impact. He did as I said and helped me up. “I’m sorry…my creator has been trying to strengthen my body and he hit a few nerves so they went a bit crazy when I came up.” he said. I rolled my eyes and laughed. We walked outside and went to school. We walked in the doors and almost immediately my eyes caught Billy’s stare. “Oh look if it isn’t little Miss runaway. So just because you don’t get your way you decide to run off to your poor cold dead Grandma?” he asked with acid dripping off his very tongue. I kept my stare at him and said nothing. He grabbed my collar with one hand in about 2 seconds and I felt myself being lifted in the air. “Look you little freak…you’re going to answer me whether you want to or not. Got it?” he threatened. I nodded way too fast and hurt my head. I looked to my side and saw Andrew take my waist and snatch me from his grasp. He set me down and picked Billy up by the throat leaving him gasping for air. “If you dare to touch her again…you will be the one running…got it?” Andrew imitated the tone on ‘got it’ and made it a horrible threat. I stared in awe as he wasn’t struggling at all to hold him up.