It has been eleven years since that night. I have never forgotten it, since it took me from a happy life with my parents to living with my dreadful Aunt Nancy. On a lighter note, my name is Siscily Green and I am now sixteen years old. My hair and my eyes once shared the same hazelnut brown until my twelfth birthday when I dyed it ombré to look less like my aunt. My eyes are almond shaped and I have a distinguishing scar on the back of my lower right arm. I now live in California since my parents were originally from Cali, but flew to Italy on a business trip that was to last a couple of weeks. My mom was supposed to stay in California due to the fact that she was pregnant, but being a Co-C.E.O she had many things to do. My parents were the C.E.O’s of an environmental corporation meant to exterminate oil drilling in the northern hemisphere. They wanted to expand and go global, and tried to gather their associates to assembly about it. That’s why they were in Italy, to get in touch with a couple of their contacts. After they died, my aunt Nancy stepped up to raise me. They left a ridiculous amount of money, but Nancy was in charge of it until I was eighteen. Also I-. My thoughts were interrupted when a fat, pink-faced old lady stomped into the room, throwing her weight around and walking as slow as she pleased. She had an annoying voice that sounded reminiscent to nails dragging down a chalkboard. Whenever she approached me I always tried to ignore her and show respect, or she would lock me in the backyard for days on end, so I went on with my business, just lying in the couch since I’m not supposed to eat unless she gives me food (twice a day) or watch T.V. unless she thinks I had been good enough that day (I never am, apparently).
Today is the day I stand up to her. I thought to myself. I never do, but I will one day.

“You lazy little tart. Just what do you think you’re doing, lying on the couch watching T.V.?” The woman sneered, squinting so that the sharp crinkles around her eyes were more evident and the atrocity of her features showed.

“I wasn’t exactly watching T.V. I was just daydreaming for-your-information, Aunt Nancy” I replied to the woman as I kept my nonchalant countenance.

“Such a natural liar,” she chuckled spitefully “You must get it from my deceitful younger brother.”
“Yeah, and I probably got my taking-crap skills from him too, because I couldn’t put up with annoying things if I tried.” I replied, still keeping my calm composure and not bothering to look at her.
“So, you think I’m annoying? Do I annoy you, love?” She smiled with her features laced with hate.
“I don’t know Nancy, are you an annoying thing?” I asked trying to look serious, but it obviously didn’t work because her features shifted from endearing to ferocious almost immediately.
“Don’t you talk back to me Sisi. Let’s not forget that this is my house and you obey my rules unless someone wants to be homeless. Wouldn’t want to be on the streets now? Would you dear?”
My face reddened, not from embarrassment, but from the fact that what she said was true. There was nothing I could do about the truth that I lived with her, depended on her, and had to obey her or risk being homeless. For a minute I couldn’t believe Nancy had thrown this in my face. I stopped thinking, and words started to fly out of my mouth. I didn’t know what I was saying, but I just knew that I had to burn her. Guess today is the day I stand up to her.
“I will talk back to you if I fishing want to! I have put up with you for too long Nancy. I don’t even have a bed and you expect me to be nice to you! You are such a horrible old lady. Your mean attitude even shows from the inside out! I mean, you were never the nicest looking person. You are so fat that when I tried to picture you in my head, I almost broke my neck! I would have called child protective services a long time ago if I was allowed to use a phone to call them. So, you know what, I don’t care if I end up on the streets. I would still be a better person than you ever were!”, and with that, I stormed out of the house, having no idea what to do next.

. I didn’t have much other than the clothes I was wearing, and a tattered old backpack in which I stored my textbooks and notebooks for school. I also had a couple other things stored in it, since all those years with Aunt Nancy didn’t make me important enough to own a room of my own.
I jogged a bit down the street, until I had to take a break. It was rather warm outside, but the sun shone down rather harshly, making a warm day scorching hot. I dropped my backpack, before proceeding to ransack its small interior. Finding food or money is a lost cause, but perhaps I have a bottle of water? Sweat started to bead on the skin of my forehead, and get into my eyes. Seriously Sisi? You don’t even have water? I scolded myself. I pushed old notebooks out of the way, even older textbooks, a stolen lunch pail (from my aunt, of course), and a couple of books I read. As I rummaged through my belongings I found a small teddy bear. It was extremely well kept, despite the circumstances, and the only thing that revealed its antiquity was a barely noticeable tear below its right ear. The tear was very tiny, but it was big enough to hide something. It had the softest velvet fur, and eyes so dark, that if it wasn’t for its luster, could have been mistaken for two deep holes. After sixteen years, I still kept that teddy bear with me, despite the fact that it was a constant reminder of the crash. I poked around the teddy until I found the hole ripped in it from shrapnel, and pulled out from the hole underneath its right ear, a couple of quarters I had saved up from finding dropped coins around the house. What would I need money for in the middle of nowhere? Regardless of its inconvenience, I stuffed all the money I had into my pocket, and put the bear back in the backpack. I couldn’t find any water, but now that I think about it, I had enough money to buy some from a corner store nearby. I scrambled up my pack yet again, and started off on my way to the nearest gas station.
After quite a bit of struggling, I made it to Jimmy’s Liquor and Gas Stop. I stumbled inside, wiping sweat and hair from my face. I immediately turned my attention to the freezer and skimmed the rows of beverages for a bottle of water.
“Hey, you.” Called a voice from behind me, “We don’t serve homeless people, didn’t you read the sign? I have the right to refuse to sell you anything.”
“I’m not homeless,” I breathed out unconvincingly as I took out a bottle of water, “I was just walking to a friend’s house.” Apparently the shop owner wasn’t paying me any attention, and went on.
“Homeless people have a bad habit of loitering, and trespassing on public property, so I cannot let you stay here or else you might get used to-”
“Oh God, I’m not loitering! I have a house! I even have money!” I was totally breathless, and trying to talk louder than the shop owner made it worse. I took out the money to pay for my water bottle, tossed it onto the cashier’s counter and left. Being insulted like that, even accidentally, twice in a day was just too much. My parents were billionaires, for god sakes! But, I was homeless, no doubt about that. I chugged almost a third of the bottle, thinking it might be best to save some for later.
It was almost midnight by the time I came across an old, forgotten telephone booth, and took another break. This day was probably the most difficult I have had in my life. I walked towards the booth, and stepped inside, pausing to make sure there weren’t any cobwebs, rats or spiders inside. Jesus, I hate spiders. The booth didn’t look as old as I thought it would be, from the inside. This would be a fairly nice spot to stay in for a while, at least until tomorrow. I glanced up at the glass windows of the booth, in hopes of finding blinds, curtains, or anything that would provide a little privacy while I slept. It was pretty naïve of me to think that there may be, but it couldn’t hurt to hope. I spread out my textbooks on the concrete floor and used the lighter-weight notebooks as “pillows”. I left my bear in the bag, along with the pail, and stuffed the bag under the textbooks. This is probably the best bed I have ever slept in.

Whoa, that was really fast, they probably live around here. I thought to myself as the van door opened, and two suited figures came out. Never mind, I reconsidered as I opened the door to my booth and walked out to meet them in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Are you Ms. Siscily Green?” inquired the first figure, nearest the van.
“Who’s asking?”
“Old friends of your parents, nothing more” replied the same person, wearing a straight face, so I could not tell if he was lying or not.
“What do you know about my parents?” I shouted.
“More than you do or ever will” chuckled the figure in front of me, “Now, speaking about that, my associates and I have come to the conclusion that you do not live with you aunt anymore. Is that information accurate Ms. Green?”
“How do you know about that? I’ve only been homeless… um … I, mean walking around for half a day.”
“I guess that answers my question. Here is another one. Would you mind accompanying us Ms. Green? You are in danger out here, and recent situations has put your parent’s company in danger.”
“No! I don’t know you or how you know all this! I’m being picked up by a friend in a couple minutes anyways.”
“My question was rhetorical. You will come with us whether you want to or not. I just thought it was only courteous to ask first”, and with one hand, he ushered the man behind him, toward me. I punched him in the gut, hard, before kicking him swiftly in the shin. He collapsed. After him came another suit. I also aimed for his shin, but missed and hit a bit higher than I wanted to.
“Heh…whoops!” I called to the man who had fallen to the ground, as he rolled around in absolute pain, when something hard collided with my head from behind, and caused everything around me to go black.
“You couldn’t do that any earlier, Jones?” cried the man on the floor.
“I was having a bit of fun watching this all occur, sorry.” replied the man who clubbed me in the head with his briefcase.
“Like mother, like daughter, right?” replied another suited figure.
“Absolutely”, replied Jones as he laughed out loud.
“Should we go directly to headquarters, or should we stay back to put together a cover- up story for her disappearance?” asked the suited man in the driver’s seat.
“No, we’ll see whether she want to listen to us or not, and decide where to go from there.” responded Jones. And in a couple of minutes, the cab left the scene, cruising over the horizon, as if nothing had ever happened.