Sweet Burden
Authors: K L Ogden
sweet burden
K. L. Ogden
The events portrayed in this book are fictitious.
Any similarity to persons, living or dead, is coincidental
and not intended by the author.
Sweet Burden
Copyright © 2012 by Kristi L. Ogden
First eBook edition February 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
sweet burden
K. L. Ogden
To my mother,
for always believing in me.
And my friends and family,
for never letting me quit.
Table of Contents
The alarm screamed in Hitomi’s ear. The repetitive beeps causing her to squeeze her eyes shut and smack the plastic box. She took a deep breath and rolled over toward the wall. Slowly opening her eyes, she stared at the dull blue of her bedroom. The room was dark and the tapping of rain against her window could be heard. There was a deep crack of thunder and she sat up quickly. The room lit up with a bright flash of lightning. It felt as though the storm was hovering right over her house.
There was a light knock on the door and then it creaked open letting in a flood of light from the hallway.
“Hitomi? Are you awake?”
Her mother’s silhouette appeared in the doorway blocking half the light. The outline of Regina Beaumann’s hair was the only thing that made her recognizable. She had long brunette locks, but always kept them gathered in a tight bun on top of her head. Hitomi rubbed her eyes as they began to adjust and noticed her mother had her scrubs on. Her mother worked as a nurse at the local hospital and most of the time pulled double shifts, leaving Hitomi home alone often.
“Yup,” she nodded. “Heading to work or just getting home?”
“Heading. Now get up sleepyhead before you are late again.” She quietly shut the door as there was another crack of thunder so loud the window shook. Hitomi fell back onto her pillows dreading pulling back the covers and loathing the idea of another day of high school.
After forcing herself to get up she pulled on her jeans that lay on the floor and rummaged through drawers to find a t-shirt. She slipped on her sneakers and buttoned up a cardigan over a t-shirt depicting a beach resort. She had never been to the beach. Actually, she had never been anywhere outside of Beach Village, Ohio. Hitomi couldn’t help but think when they moved there when she was a baby that Regina thought there was actually supposed to be sand and an ocean. But there wasn’t. There wasn’t anything in Beach Village.
Hitomi secured her long hair into a ponytail and grabbed her backpack as there was a blaring honk from the driveway. Opening the bedroom door she stuck her head out into the hallway.
“Mom! Tell Kerry I will be right out!”
She hurried around the room grabbing keys, wallet and a cell phone. There was another short honk and she realized her mom had probably already left. She ran downstairs and out into the rain. It was cold out. Unseasonably cold and she immediately wished she had grabbed a jacket. Hitomi plopped down into the warm velour of Kerry’s passenger seat quickly pulling the door shut.
“About time Hitomi. We’re going to be late,” Kerry smiled and backed out of the drive. Kerry was her best friend since grade school. She was the lucky one graced with curves, gorgeous blond hair, and rich chocolate eyes. Not to mention a car and a boyfriend. She felt a twinge of jealousy towards her friend. Hitomi was the exact opposite of her, long straight brownish-blond hair that always just hung there and not much in the curve department. She was barely 5’4” and built like a pole. The only thing going for her was the blue of her eyes, which Kerry described as the color of the ocean. There was another twinge of jealousy. Kerry had been to the ocean.
“We’re always late,” Hitomi rolled her eyes and dug through her pack hoping she had remembered everything.
“We are
not
turning around if you forgot anything,” Kerry laughed, knowing Hitomi too well. “You’re coming with Shane and I tonight, aren’t you?”
Hitomi shrugged. “I haven’t asked my mom yet. So, probably no.” Her mother had always been protective of her. Hitomi chalked it up to the fact she was an only child and her mother had never married, but now she was almost 18 and was beginning to expect a little bit of freedom.
“Oh, c’mon. She has to let you out of the house sometime.”
“Not according to her,” Hitomi sighed and leaned back deep into the seat. She glanced out the window and up into the sky. It was sinister and caused her to shiver. The cold was affecting her more lately, as if the chill was creeping into her body and trying to take over.
Within a few minutes the car pulled into the school lot. They were one of the last cars to pull in forcing them to park near the back with the freshman. Hitomi dug through her pack again searching for an umbrella.
Damn.
She had left it by the front door. Kerry was already out of the car hurrying towards the building with her umbrella hovering over her head. Hitomi swung the door open and secured her pack on her shoulder. She hung her head down starting after Kerry as she concentrated on pacing her steps quickly and not the thunderous sky looming overhead.
Once inside, the school lights flickered with promise of a power outage. Hitomi combed her fingers through her ponytail and tried to brush any water from her.
“Ladies, finally,” a deep voice boomed with a laugh. Hitomi glanced up as Kerry practically bounced into the arms of her boyfriend. She turned away from the couple trying to fight off another twinge of jealousy. Shane Noble was as good as boyfriends could get. He was tall and muscular. Hitomi let out a slight huff.
Okay, Shane is more like a Scandinavian god.
She shook her head and turned back to them forcing a toothless smile. They were quite perfect for each other; blond god and goddess. And there stood Hitomi, plain and alone. The bell rang and they hurried off to their classes.
After school, the weather had decided to calm. Glad that she left a jacket in her gym locker, Hitomi pulled it on and headed for the doors. She walked outside to the clouds releasing a misting of water. Again she shivered. But this time it was from the odd sensation that she was being watched. She felt eyes burning into her skull. Hitomi looked around trying to spot the origin of the creepy feeling. There was no one even looking at her. Most everyone had left for the day, while she had struggled with the lock on her locker.