Anything Can Happen

“Why don’t you wear this?” my mom asked.
“Because its last season, and I wouldn’t be caught dead in that now,” I snarled back.
“But in the store you said you loved it!” my mom Angelina replied.
“Stop bothering me and take it back” That is how I used to treat my own mother.
My name is Grace Stewart, and I had everything I could ever want. For some reason I always wanted something else. I lived in a big house in Maine. I came from a rich family with no siblings. I was every guys dream and every girl’s object of jealousy. I am tall, blonde, and skinny, and that is all I cared about, looks. I was absolutely obsessed with perfection. Every little thing in my life had to be just the way I wanted it. I wanted to be the center of attention, and most of the time I was. Even though I was a junior in school, I thought I ran everything. I took so much of what I had for granted. I had a 20 year old boyfriend named Jimmy Hamilton. He was in college and I thought that it made me look more mature because I could handle a relationship with an older guy. In my mind, we would last forever, but boy was I wrong, I was wrong about a lot of things.
Me being full of myself, I never noticed other people and how they were feeling. Looking back now, I feel like a completely different person. I only had a few close girlfriends, but I knew I couldn’t trust them. They were just like me; they honestly didn’t care how other people were doing. I never saw if they were having a bad day. And if I did, I wouldn’t ask what was wrong. I didn’t notice that my mother and father constantly argued. I didn’t see that my parents’ marriage was falling apart right in front of my eyes. I was only concerned with what I saw when I looked into the mirror.
I was never close to my father, so I was kind of confused when I came home and he asked if he could talk to me. At first I just wanted to say no, why should I have to listen to anything he said? So I started to walk away, but he told me to stop.
“I know that this is going to come as a shock to you, but your mother and I are getting a divorce. I am sure that you have noticed that we haven’t been getting along the same, and we just don’t feel right about this anymore.” My dad said.
I was in utter disbelief. Not because my parents were unhappy, or that they were falling out of love with each other, it was for a completely different reason. I was so enraged that my parents thought that they could just do this and change my life without even considering me and how I feel. I was so mad I didn’t even respond. I just stormed up into my room. I was not about to let them think it was okay to ruin our perfect family. What will people think when I don’t have the perfect family and the perfect life? My perfection was shattered and I broke down. I called my boyfriend and told him everything.
“Come live with me babe, forget about them. You are always perfect to me, no matter what your family does.”Jimmy said
“Really, you mean that? I would love to come live with you!” I practically screamed.
“Yes of course! I will come get you at midnight, sneak out and meet me at the gate” Jimmy whispered.
“But your college is in Pennsylvania! I will be so far away.”I said
“It will all be fine, start packing up your things, see you at midnight.” And he was gone.
I started to think that maybe this wasn’t the answer. Maybe I running away will just make things worse between my parents. On second thought, I realized that at this point I didn’t care. I wanted to get away. I didn’t care about how they would be affected if I left. Why would they care? It’s not like they cared when they decided to ruin my picture perfection. In another state, no one would know about my embarrassing family. They would still think everything about me is just right.
I started to pack all of the things I thought I would need. Everything from clothes, to shoes, to hair products. I ended up filling three whole suitcases. I was packed and ready to start my whole new life. I stole 3,000 dollars from my parents. I had everything I needed and then simply waited. When it was about 7:00 p.m. my parents called me down for dinner. I sat at the dinner table and was completely silent. My mother apologized and said that everything will be alright. I continued my silence and they eventually stopped talking to me. I was being so ignorant and they said nothing, they didn’t even yell at me. I deserved to be screamed at, but my parents loved me too much. But I still was able to leave that love for my own selfish reasons.
It was 11:30 p.m. and I was nervous. My parents were both asleep, but I was worried that maybe as I was leaving my mom would get up to get a drink or my dad would go get a snack. I was shaking, but I knew that if I had the right determination I could do it. But what if they hear me? I had to be super quiet. It was 12:00, midnight. Sure enough, he was there. I grabbed all my suitcases and made my way down the stairs. Every time they creaked my heart stopped. When I made it out the door, I was so relieved. But I wasn’t free yet. Jimmy came and grabbed my bags and threw them in the back of the car. I got in and we were gone. I was thrilled.
I would have no more selfish parents and no more imperfection. All will be just the way I want it again.
“Are you ready to start our new lives?” Jimmy said
“I’ve been ready,” I replied.
We drove all the way to his college. We arrived at about lunch time the next day. We went to his dorm and I put all my stuff exactly where I wanted it. It was smaller than I expected, but it would work. He told me that we are going to a party the next night. I was nervous because I was only 17. He assured me that everything would be fine, because I would be with him. He told me that he loved me, and then went to play basketball. I took a walk, and thought about how perfect my life would be here. I mean, I guess that I thought about my old friends a little. But after all, they were fake and two-faced. How could I blame them? I was the same way. At that time, I didn’t think that it was necessary to be loyal to anyone. I wish I could take it all back.
When Jimmy came back we had dinner and talked about our future. He told me that we are going to get married and be together forever. I just smiled and kissed him. That night, we all ate together, his three dorm mates, him, and I. Then we watched a movie and went to bed at about two o clock in the morning. We got up at about three in the afternoon.
We were going to the party at seven, so I just sat around until five then started to get ready. I had a ton of outfits to choose from, so I picked a blue sparkly mini-dress and black heels. I curled my hair, and looked really pretty. When Jimmy and his friends saw me, their jaws dropped. I loved life here. Being every ones dream girl was amazing. I was so self-centered. Nothing was ever more important than me.
We went to the party and at first it was fun. Dancing was always something that I enjoyed. I also liked that everyone watched me when I did. I was having a good time, and so was Jimmy. When he started to drink, things changed. He started to get mad for no reason. He got aggressive and I decided to remove myself from the situation. I took a long walk and went to the local park. I sat there until about one in the morning. I went back into the dorm and all my stuff was trashed. My cell phone was broken and all my clothes were torn apart. Someone went through my bag and took all my money. I go into the bedroom and Jimmy was in there with another girl.
“Get the hell out of here” Jimmy screamed
“What? You trashed all my stuff, and now you are in bed with another girl! I am Done!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Yeah I trashed your things; you left and went with another guy! Don’t act like I am stupid, you are nothing but self-centered, selfish, trash!”
“I went to the park. You were drunk and being a pig,” I said, crying.
“Get out, I never want to see your face again, you skank” he screamed.
I just ran out. I had no clothes, money, or shelter. I knew I was alone, and didn’t know what I could do. I couldn’t drive home because I didn’t have a car. I couldn’t call for help because my cell phone was broken. I had nothing and no one.
At this point my main priority was finding shelter for the night. I was in Pennsylvania in the middle of nowhere. I was walking out in the woods and I walked into a field. There was a big tree in the middle, and I decided that I would just lie down and stay there for the night. As I did, I started thinking about life. I had just lost so much. I felt so hurt and betrayed. I just went from having everything I wanted, to having nothing but the dress on my back and the shoes on my feet. I started to think about how if I would have stayed at home with the people who love me, I would be warm in my bed, not having a care in the world. I left because I was unhappy, and now all I could do was regret my decisions. I always mocked people who didn’t have anything. I thought it was funny to pick on the less fortunate. I thought it was ridiculous that someone could actually be homeless. I never understood how that could happen, because all my life I had everything handed to me. I fell asleep that night crying.
In the morning when I woke up, it was cold. I needed to find some way to find people. So I started walking. I walked for hours. As I walked miles upon miles I started thinking how selfish I have been in my life. I realized how everything in my world revolved around me. I lost all the love that I had in my family for an extremely ridiculous reason. I saw how wrong I was to put myself first and not care about others. Because when I would say that I had a long day, when all I did was shop, that someone had a way longer day than me. Someone in the world didn’t have a home, or a family, or food. I had all these luxuries for free and I thought I had the right to complain. Who did I think I was? I started feeling dizzy. I tried to think why this was happening, and then I realized that I hadn’t eaten since three in the afternoon yesterday. I couldn’t tell the time, but I knew that it had been over twenty four hours and I needed food. So I started to run, trying to find any signs of life, but I just ran through fields. Suddenly, everything became blurry and I fell to the ground.
I woke up in a rundown little shack. I was dizzy and I didn’t know how I got there. There was some food placed on the little brown table, some fruit and stale bread. But at this point I would eat just about anything. I jumped up off the cot and devoured the fruit and bread. I sat there for a little bit. Then someone came in the door. As soon as I saw him; I knew there was something different about him. He was tall and blonde. He had the greenest eyes I have ever seen. He was muscular but his face made him look sweet and innocent. The way my stomach got immediate butterflies when he came in proved that the way I felt about him wasn’t normal. He saw me, and I knew that he felt the same way. It’s amazing how I saw him once and I felt like I’ve known him forever.
“My name is Braxton, how are you feeling?” he asked.
“A little dizzy, but besides that I feel fine,” I replied shyly.
“Well that’s good, I saw you as I was walking looking for food, and just couldn’t pass you up. So I carried you back here,” he said.
“This is where you live?” I asked.
“Yeah, my parents kicked me out and I had nowhere to go, I have been living this way for two years,” he replied.
I proceeded to tell him my whole story about how I ran away and had nowhere to go. We talked all night about all kinds of things. We shared all our hopes, dreams, fears, and ambitions. Talking to him was so effortless; it came as natural as breathing. We talked for hours. When it was time to go to sleep we both laid down.
We slept on the same little cot. As I slept I sat and thought about how juristically my life had changed in such a short amount of time. It had been a day and I felt like a completely different person. I felt like I met my soul mate. Who would have thought that the girl who had everything could possibly ever find love with the boy who had nothing?
I woke up and he was gone. I sat there for about twenty minutes until he came back. He had brought me a whole bag of clothes. He told me not to ask where he got them, and I didn’t. I put them on and felt much better.
Two weeks had passed, and we just grew closer. One morning he came back from his walk and told me to come outside. He led me to the bank of the river and there was a little wooden bench. He told me to have a seat so I did, then he got down on one knee.
“Grace Stewart, I have only known you for two weeks, but I feel like you have changed me. I love you, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I replied.
That was the only thing I could manage to say at that moment. I was ready to start living my new and happy life with him.
Six years have passed since my life had changed. Now, I am still married to Braxton and we have two kids; Emma who is two and Bradley who is four. We both found jobs and started to build our lives up again. I went back to my parents with my new family and they were so happy to know that I was alright. You should never be closed minded, because anything is possible. Your life is never set in stone. It can change in the blink of an eye, mine did.