Chapter 1

When you have a gut feeling about something, do you merely ignore or you act on it? I knew something wasn't right as I left school that afternoon. My heart kept beating fast as I took my bicycle from the parking spot provided by my school. As I got to my neighbourhood, my heart beat quickened as I reached my house. Everything looked perfect from the outside but the silence was heavy. I dropped my bike quickly at the entrance, I pushed which it opened with a little creak. ''Mom?'' I yelled as I entered inside the small cottage. The strong stench of weed and alcohol was in the air. I had already gotten used to it although I hated the smell. ''Mom'' I called out sighing as I hang my bag. Looking around there were empty bottles of Heineken, needles, and syringe on the table. Someone groaned, my head snapped at the source of the sound. I saw my mom laying on the floor high on whatever she took. I went closer, she was shivering while her eyes were half closed…her pupils were rolled to the back of her head. I carried her on the couch, while wrapping her I saw the bite marks and cuts. Breathing loudly, I took out my phone dialling for an ambulance.

My name is Alison Jackson and my life turned upside down after this series of events. I had an alcoholic and drug addict mother and I didn't know my father because my mother hates talking about him. I didn't know anyone from my mother's family as my mother refused to talk about them and claims that she's better off without them.

The sound of the siren woke me from my trance. There was a knock at the door, I stood up from where I was sitting adjusting my mother's head that was on my lap so it could rest the couch hand. Reaching the door, I peeped through the door hole to be sure who was at the door. Two men stood at the other side of the door. I quickly ushered them in, eyeing the stretcher as they rolled it in. The short one introduced himself as Philip while the taller muscular one was Jeffery. Jeffery wasn't much of a talker although he looked like he couldn't wait to get the job done and leave. I nodded to the direction where I wrapped my mother who was still shivering badly. Jeffery whispered to Philip as they both eyed my mom critically before positioning themselves to lift her. They lifted her into the stretcher gently, Philip smiling at me as the exited the house. They lifted my mom from the stretcher to a bed in the ambulance. Philip came back to me, ''We will need you to come to the hospital to fill some documents.'' With that, he left. The siren was deafening as it was turned on, gradually it faded. A wave of loneliness hits as I glanced around. The cottage was looking awfully clean for a drug addict and alcoholic to live in. My mom was a clean freak, she hated the feel of dirt or dust around. The walls were painted emerald green with flower designs, my mother had always preferred the colour green. She had always claimed she was an earth person and had the idea that she will die and return to the earth what she had taken from it. I looked around once more from the couch to the kitchen island to the dining room that had 2 chairs and a little table to the bare walls. The cottage was warm and welcoming although my mom never really invited anyone. Breathing loudly, I went to the window watching the sun set. It was one of the things that calmed me down whenever my thought going haywire. Darkness crept in slowly, I smiled sadly as I glanced around again before heading to my room. I stripped my clothes as I got into bed thinking of how to face my mother knowing she hated hospitals.