"Another Lonely Night": Jumble Story

Main Character: A homeless child.
Setting: A polluted stream.
Time: The night of a high school graduation.
Conflict: An important decision needs to be made.

I was ten when my mother began taking drugs. She would leave me home alone while she went out on a "date" with a new man every night. When she came home, she'd be hanging on his arm, falling over, and saying to me, "he's the one honey, please be supportive." I've been dragged all over the country; living in a new dump (what my mother considers home) every time we moved; I've been to 15 schools in the past eight years! Currently I live in an old run-down shack, right next to a polluted stream; my mother says it's her paradise, only because she's polluted herself half the time.

I am now 18, and tonight at my school is my high school graduation. I've always longed for this moment, but when one of my mothers men left her, I was the one who had to stay home from school, and look after her while she drank and did drugs to fight the pain. Because I missed so many days of school, I am not able to graduate; I have to repeat my grade 12 year all over again.

I only live a block over from the school, and because it is an outdoor ceremony, I can hear the whistles, the music, and the cheers as all of my classmates receive their diplomas, and move one towards adult hood. My heart aches, because i should be up on that stage, receiving my diploma as well, and hearing the cheers as I create a new lifestyle for myself.

I deserve better than this, I'm smart, pretty, and can survive on my own, there's no need for me to be living a life my drug addict mother chose for me.

I've been debating whether or not to run away or not for a long time. I want to, but god knows what will become of mom if I do; even though she has already his rock bottom. But then there is the question of what will become of me, where will I go? How will I survive on no money?

Until I figure out what I'm going to do, it's just another lonely night of looking after my mom, and thinking of what could have been.