Page 6 of Brek's Obsession
And though no one knew why she had lost her voice, the kids thought it was hilarious that she couldn’t say anything back to them. That she couldn’t fight back or defend herself.
Her life was one big misery after another. Nothing went her way at home, and it was pure hell at school.
She had no friends. No one would even try to talk to her at all, not the girl that had to write down her response. Not the girl who was a total freak and the one people hated. And being that girl? She hated it.
Life at home with her grandfather saying cruel things about her, made her only wish more that she had a different life. And then on top of all of that, right after she turned 13, her grandmother came down with the flu, getting sicker and sicker as the days went on and she died a week later.
Her grandpa was insufferable after that. And she had no escape from him at home now that her grandma wasn’t there to protect her from the worst insults, he would throw her way, or from the kids and their taunting at school.
The only escape she had was through her homework and reading. She loved reading and walked to the library in town every day she could, so she could have time all to herself.
Those were the times she lived for and when the library closed, she cried each night knowing that she had to go back to her miserable existence.
In the library, she always felt as if she could escape into a book and often did. But having to go home and hear the nightly insults that her grandfather would throw her way, made her let out silent tears as she slowly walked home.
When she got to high school, her grandfather started to sleep more, and did less. She convinced him to see a doctor, and the diagnosis was not good.
He had lung cancer, and with treatment, it would only prolong the life he didn’t want to live anymore, and he slowly started to decline. She had to tend to him, go to school, and then come home to tend to him again.
He finally passed away right after her 18th birthday and she was shocked to find he had left her their tiny home in his will, as well as a nice little nest egg.
Her home had been paid off long ago, another tiny surprise that made her happy and she was able to go to online college after she graduated from high school.
Sienna hated to note that her graduation from school was one of the saddest days of her life. She’d had no one there to support her, not a single person that gave her congratulations for her accomplishment.
And she went home to her empty house all by herself. Crying herself to sleep like she did most nights.
She kept going to the library, using the free resources to go to online college, it was her only time she ventured into town at all. And when she ordered an ereader, finding books online to fill it and did her best to keep herself busy at school.
She studied hard, graduating after two years because she took any extra classes she could. She had decided to become a book editor. It was her passion and to get paid to read was her dream.
Her favorite thing about her new job was that she didn’t have to go into an office in order to work. She even was lucky enough to have gotten the job through an email.
She eventually stopped going to the library. She hated the stares she still got from people and though the librarian was kind to her, she was tired of people, tired of their questions and their rude behavior.
She became such a recluse the only time she went outside was when she was working on her large and beautiful gardens that she took such tender care of.
She had grown each plant from a seed and had ordered seedlings and plants from all over.
She had even taken the time and dug out a rather wonderful greenhouse to protect her plants through the winter months.
She had built it all with her own two hands and had felt such pride in it.
The glass that surrounded the plants was a mish-mash of different kinds of panes that she had found around the house and she was grateful that her grandfather had kept a lot of old parts of buildings and things from his job.
She was proud of her hard work and her accomplishments, even if life was lonely and hard.
* * *
Today had beena wonderful day and she didn’t want to dwell on the negative things in her life. One of the buds of a new flower she was trying to grow had started to bloom, and she'd read a new book that her boss had sent to her.
She was cooking a small meal in the kitchen, thinking over the romance in the story and wishing that she too had a love like they did. It made her long for something that she never had. She was pulled from her musings and sad thoughts when she heard a noise.
She set the spoon down that she was using to stir her dinner with and looked to the back door.
She walked over and looked out the window there but saw no one and nothing.
She shrugged, thinking to herself that it was probably Callie or Shadow making a nuisance of themselves.
