FLASHBACK

"Charles! She's not breathing!" I hear my mother exclaim. My eyes were closed, pretending I was asleep. My heart was beating rapidly. "Charles! Call the police! Ambulance!" My mother's desperate wails frightened me to the point where my head shot up and I took off down the hall. "Darling, please be alive." My mother pleads, she was sitting on the floor, leaning against the crib. She was holding my baby sister protectively. "Charles!" She cries, loudly. Charles rushes in. "They'll be here soon." He says. By that time, my baby sister was a purplish-blue. And so I began to cry by the door in my little pink gown. My mother sees me and the pain on her face upsets me even more. "Mommy! What's happening?!" I say, trying to hold back tears. "Come here, darling." She says, trying to control herself. "You're baby sister is going through a trial but it'll be okay." She says, trying to comfort me. I hug her. Then the sirens ring my ears and I hear running up the staircase. A bunch of people grab my sister from my mother's grasp and take her away. My mother is right behind them. I see Charles by the door. "I know you're confused but don't worry things will be better in the morning. Let's get you in bed." He says, as I take his hand. But the next day, things didn't get better. They only got worse.

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I stare back at my reflection in the mirror. My straight thin blonde hair, my blue icy eyes, and the light sprinkle of freckles on my cheeks made me always stand out in my family.

My mother always has had brunette hair with a reddish tint, brown eyes, and a pale heart-shaped face. She always tells me I look like my father. I have never met my father, and don't plan to. I may have inherited his looks but I absolutely will not inherit his twisted deceiving personality. My father is a man with many secrets, and has a strong desire to destroy.

My mother has always reminded me, that the reason she keeps me safely secured in this big house with at least 10 miles away from any human activity was to keep our location hidden just in case my father came to look for me.

As a child, I never understood this and I felt like that was a little too unfair for me. My mother has tried to give me the most normal life possible, and I am very thankful for that.

I have never attended school but I do have two friends that come over to visit all the time. Their names are Nicki and Elliot. Nicki's mother and my mother had been friends ever since before i was born. And Elliot is Charles' son. Charles has been my mother's best friend since they were kids. He's a great father figure for me and his wife, Elizabeth is very sweet and I consider her my second mother.

"Hey Abrielle, are you ready to go swim?" Nicki asks, poking her head through my bedroom door. I look away from my reflection. "I'm ready." I say, with a sincere smile. Nicki smiles widely. Her tan complexion looked flawless with her dark brown hair and hazel eyes. "Let's go!" She says, as we run downstairs and passed the kitchen and out the slide glass door.

We dip our toes in the water. "It feels great out today." Nikki says. She glides through the water. "Wouldn't it be cool if your mom would let you go over to my house?" Nicki says. "Yeah, but you know mother doesn't allow me in the city." I reply, swimming next to her. "She used to before- " she stops herself. "Before what?" I ask, knowing already what she meant. She was talking about Ahna. Ahna was my little sister who died strangely one night. It was weird. One minute she was laughing and smiling with her big green eyes and the next she was gone. Ahna died at the age of one.

And ever since then, my mother had been super careful with me. Nikki hated to mention Ahna because she knew how touchy the topic was. "No, it's okay." I reply. Nikki stares at me for a moment. "You sure?" She asks. I nod. My mother walks out onto the patio. "Lunch will be ready soon, Abrielle." She says. "Okay!" Nikki and I say in sync. "What's school like?" I ask, Nikki. "You've asked me this so many times!" She says, laughing. "I just wish I could experience it." I say, lowly. I didn't want my mother knowing I said that. She'd feel so hurt. She's gave me this good life and kept me safe and trying to make my life close to as normal as she can and here I am being ungrateful. "It's just pretty much drama, homework, and gossip." Nikki says, looking bored.

"You are going to be a senior next year." I say. She nods. "I know! I'm so excited. I would invite you to my graduation party but you can't come obviously. You're going to be a senior too!" Nikki says, splashing the water with her hand gestures. I sigh. "Homeschooling isn't the same to me." I reply. "Well, Abrielle I promise you I'll give you the best graduation party! It'll be you, me, and Elliot!" She exclaims. I smile. "It'll be exactly like my childhood birthday parties, and my sweet sixteen." I say. She purses her lips. "It'll still be fun." Nikki says.

"You'll be eighteen in a few months. You can go out on your- " we look up to my mother calling us. "Time for lunch!" My mother says. She was wearing a light pink dress and her brunette hair was in a tight-fitted bun. "Your mom looks she's an actress from a 1950's movie." Nikki whispers, as we grab a towel.

I look over at my mother. She did look a little too classy for this era. "She's always dressed that way." I say more to myself than to Nikki. "I'm just saying. She's really pretty. She looks a whole lot younger than my mom." Nikki says, as we finish drying ourselves and change into some dry clothes.

We make our way to the kitchen and sit at the silver counter. Our sandwiches and chips are freshly on my mother's flawless pearl white plates. "This tastes great!" Nikki tells my mother. My mother smiles warmly. Her perfectly-applied red lipstick revealed her pearly white straight teeth. "Why thank you, darling Nicole." She says. Even though, my mother has known that Nikki doesn't go by Nicole. She still continues to call her that. My mother has never been the one to go by nicknames.

As me and Nikki finally finish our lunch, we make our way towards my room. Nikki plops down on my bed. "Hey, what's this?" She asks. I look towards what she is holding in her hand. It was my notebook. "Does little Abrielle have a diary?" She says, as she flips open the first page. I snatch the book from her and close it shut.

"It's not a diary. It's a notebook." I say, holding it close to my chest. "For what?" She asks, curious. I sigh loudly. I sit down on the bed beside her. "It's a dream journal type thing." I say. She looks at me, waiting for me to explain. "Ever since I was little, I have had these weird dreams that seem so real." I explain.

Nikki stares at me. "My mother told me to write them in a journal." I tell her. I had never spoke of my dreams or my dream journal. The only person who knew of these dreams was my mother when I told her when they first began happening. It's not that I don't trust Nikki or that me and her aren't close, it was simply because I didn't want to seem more like a freak than I already did. It's not every day, you find a friend that's strictly kept away from society and doesn't experience 'the norm'.

"What are these dreams?" She asks. "I can't explain them. They are sometimes scary...but other times they're peaceful-like." I say, pondering deeply. She opened her mouth to say something but then Elliot flung open the door.

"Hey you guys." He says, as he drops his skateboard. "Hey Elliot." Nikki says. He had dark features like his mother, Elizabeth. "Hey, Ellie." I say, getting up to my feet to put my journal somewhere out of reach. They didn't seem to notice. "I saw you guys in the pool...without me." He says. He had a goofy smile on his face. Nikki blushes. "You did?" She asks. "Yep. I sure did." He says, winking. Nikki looks down at her hands. I've noticed she's been acting strange around Ellie lately.

"What's Charles up to?" I ask, changing the conversation. "He bought a new appliance for the house." Elliot rolls his eyes. "He can't seem to work it though." He adds. I laugh. "Charles is so funny." I reply. Elliot grins. "So where's the icecream?" He asks. I grin. "Down the stairs we go." I say.

We all make our way down stairs, and I grab us all an ice cream. As we sit outside underneath the shaded trees at a little white table for three, I watch as Nikki and Elliot awkwardly stare at eachother. Am I missing something? "Uh guys, why are we so quiet?" I ask. Their stares break away and they look at me. Elliot laughs nervously. "I don't know!" He says. "It feels great out here." He says. "It does." Nikki says.