She stopped in her tracks trying to hold on to what little strength she had. The sun will be setting in just a couple of hours and Laura did not know where to go. She and her mother had another fight over the man she brought home last night. Her mother was a prostitute and it brought torrents of emotions that released a steady stream of anguished tears falling down her faded shirt. Yes, she earned enough money to keep her in school – a fact she always yelled at her when she was sober.
But the teasing and harsh remarks that were hushed behind her back were louder than the glaring red tables inside the restaurant window she had happened to be in front of. The giggling and raised eyebrows whenever she passed the halls never failed to remind her that she was just an eleven year old bastard daughter of a father she did not even know. Another man was there last night…drunk and reeking with the smell of probably 2 packs of cigarettes. She couldn’t take it anymore.
The swirl of smoke from the cigarette he had lit blurred her vision. She looked at the window pane with tears running carelessly down her pale thin cheeks as she saw the faint reflection of a restaurant and bank on the glass pane. Two things came to her mind. She will not go back to her mother until the day she can finally prove to everyone that she can decently fill her stomach and pockets with what she needed. She will get their respect. Yes. Someday, she will…