Chapter Ten

When Breanna turned seventeen, she was learning how to cope in her new environment. While it was no longer new, she was still adjusting. Breanna played the rebel child just a little bit and to this day, she isn't sure if her parents know. (They will now.) Breanna wanted to see her boyfriend at the time (the one that took away her self-esteem, caused her to be angry all the time, and made her think things that weren't true), so she came up with a plan. She would tell her parents that she was going to Myrtle Beach with her Archery Club friends. She had joined the Archery Club at her school a few months prior and had spent time with a few people after school. She had learned that anyone could go back on their word if it wasn't written down, so she wrote out where she was going and who she was going with. It was Spring Break and she had two weeks to waste. She had her father sign it and then she erased the names and put who she was really going with. Her boyfriend at the time, Alex, and his mother, Autumn.

Alex and Autumn were driving from Indiana to pick her up and Breanna was terrified of getting caught. They arrived close to midnight and Breanna quickly said goodbye to her family. She hoped Autumn would step on her gas and get out of there before they got caught, but that didn't happen. Autumn was looking up the route when Breanna's father and step mother, Nemo, came out. Breanna's heart dropped. She was afraid to breathe. Alex looked down and put his hand in front of his face as my dad went to the driver's side. They exchanged greetings while Nemo looked through the windshield. Breanna was convinced that Nemo recognized Alex and that this was all over. Her parents backed away from the car and watched Breanna, Autumn, and Alex drive away. Breanna exhaled deeply, happy that they could still go on the trip.

The trip was only two hours away from where Breanna currently lived. They spent almost a week at the beach, constantly in the sun and in the water. Breanna has always loved the beach and every time she was there, she imagined that she was a mermaid that could swim to the deepest parts of the water and disappear from human life forever. She wanted to be able to just swim away and come back to land when she wanted to, but she couldn't. By the end of the trip, Breanna had developed a sun allergy and her dad believed that the medication that she was on gave her a sensitivity to the sun. Breanna figured that it was because she had spend the better part of five days in direct sunlight without sunscreen. Her face had become swollen and red along with her shoulders and chest. She didn't mind, though.

By the summer, Breanna had broken up with Alex. She came to the realization that he was causing her to look down on her family and herself and decided it was time to work squarely on herself. She knew she had to do something to feel better and want to live even if she didn't know how to do it. It was time for her to heal and she wanted to do what she could to do so.