Chapter Text
I hate the summer. The sun blares down on me through my much too thin curtains, waking me from the little sleep I was getting. I went to sleep far too late and I knew it, but staying up and writing seemed like a much better idea at midnight than it did now. I had no clue what time it was, but the sun was up, and so was I. My father had told me this every day since he had deemed me old enough to work the farm, which was twelve. I kicked off my blanket and layed there on my bed for what felt like no time at all before forcing my eyes open. I make the mistake of rolling over and allowing my eyes to drift to a close.
“5 more minutes…” I mutter to no one, how convincing.
~*~
“Annabelle!” A voice calls out to me, jolting me awake. Good lord.
“I’m so sorry daddy, I swear I only closed my eyes for a second, but I’m really getting up I’m—” I open my door to see my father looking down on me.
“It’s alright Annabelle. I understand.”
“What?”
“You’re a teenager. It’d be crazy o’ me to expect you to be awake perfectly every mornin’.”
“So your not mad?”
“No, Annabelle, but I will be if you keep standin’ here talkin’ to me ‘bout it, we’ve got a lot going on today.” And with that he turned and started down the stairs, leaving me alone in my doorway. What did he mean by ‘we’ve got a lot going on’? I shut my door and readied myself, tying my long hair into a braid. I hated having my hair up, I preferred to let it flow in the wind on my horse, but I couldn’t risk it getting dirty on the farm.
Following my father down the stairs, I saw him sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper, chewing on bacon.
“Daddy you didn’t have to make breakfast, I coulda done it.”
He just shook his head “You child me too much Annabelle. sit down, I wanna talk to you.”
“What’s wrong daddy?” I felt my heart pound a little bit as I slid into the seat across from him.
“Well, seeing as your sixteen, I thought you do us more good if you got a job.” He spoke slowly. I looked him over for a long time before deciding that arguing about it wasn’t going to do me any good.
“But where would I work daddy? I’m not good at much…” it was true, my farm working skill were nonexistent, I was more of thinker to be honest.
“My old friend has an openin’ at his diner in town. He’s happy to have ya.” I knew I should be grateful for the opportunity, but I hated going into town. They always stared.
“Well, when would I start?”
“He wants you down there today, he’s got his best girl to train you, or somethin’.”
“What?”
“Annabelle, I know how much you hate goin’ into town, but can’t just sit in your room writin’ your stories and readin’ your books till you drop dead sweetheart. You need to make friends with some real people darlin’.”
“What?”
“Annabelle.”
“A-alright daddy.” I stood up and quickly stalked out of the kitchen and out the side door towards the stables mutter things to myself that I’m certain would land me in hell. Open the short door separating me from my horse, daisy, and began to untie her. “Oh daisy, you don’t deserve this. I knew hate town as much as I do.” My horse only stood solemnly waiting for me to mount her. I sighed and stepped up and on to my horse, and set off into town.
~*~
Entering the man’s diner was a kind of fear that could only be described as, well, I’m not sure, but I was damn bad. I felt like I was having 7 heart attacks at the same time, and also all of my bones had evaporated.
Standing in the entryway of the diner it felt as if everyone was staring at me. I could feel the judgement, the dirty looks. I could hear their thoughts.
“That’s her daughter.”
“Bet she’ll run off to California like her mama.”
“She’s got her hair too.”
“Family of freaks”
“Annabelle!” An unknown voice calls out to me asi turn my head in the direction of the sound, to find a sweet old man I instantly recognized. Mr. Jones had helped take care of me when mama left, and daddy was struggling. He came out from behind the counter at the other end of the diner, towards me, with a smile I didn’t know was capable of being given to someone like me.
“Your daddy tell you bout workin for me?” He said as he finally reached me. Not like I’d be out for any other reason. I simply nodded, it seemed my throat was too dry.
“Alrighty, well I’ll just quickly explain everything and you can take the next one who comes in, okay?”
I nodded again.
The next 15 minutes of my life were a blur of names, a list of locations as to where everything was, and something about the cash register I’d already forgotten.
“You get all that?” The sweet old man asked.
Nope, not even a little bit. “Yup!” I tried to smile, but I was certain I looked insane.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a young woman walk into the diner.
“Why do you seat that young man over there?”
“Oh, okay.” Turning to face the entryway, I was right, that was a girl, however short her hair was. I guess it was nice not to be the only girl with noticeable hair.
I walked up to the girl, who was at least a head, probably one and a half, taller than me. She had appeared a lot like a boy, dressing like one.
“Hey! Just you?”
“W-what?”