BrookLyn's Journey Read Online Free PDF

phone as if it were the enemy.
    “Anytime, Sweets . ” S he smiled , got off the bed , and went into the bathroom.
    BrookLyn dialed her house number slowly , and she felt the flight of nervous butterflies in her stomach. She didn’t want to get into trouble , but it was too late for that. Her parents were never logical . T his would be seen as BrookLyn’s fault. In he r house her parents were never at fault — they ruled the roost.
    “Hello . ” Her mother answer ed on the first ring.
    Round one. “It’s me.”
    “Where are you?” Her tone was the familiar harsh and dismissive one that BrookLyn knew best. She also knew her mother’s lips w ould be pressed tightly together on the receiver. She’d seen her mother’s anger enough to imagine it without seeing her face.
    “My key wouldn’t work.”
    “That’s not what I asked you, girl. Now, I said, where are you?”
    “I’m at Gabriella’s house — Tiffany’s cousin from church. I called, rang the bell and banged as loud as I could on the door . I probably woke up the entire neighborhood. ” She sighed loudly. “ I couldn’t get my keys to work. ” BrookLyn repeated it as if it would change anything. It wouldn’t.
    “Your father , him change the locks. ” She almost yelled this which only served to confirm the amount of trouble BrookLyn was in.
    Was she serious? Of course she was . N othing in life was funny to her.
    “ H im worked a double shift . I would’ve heard you if you called or knocked.”
    “Okay, but you didn’t. ” BrookLyn fought to keep anger out of her voice, but it was hard. She did to try and get in. She did call. Either her mother really never heard her, or she just wanted BrookLyn to suffer. “Why did he change the locks?” She nervously chewed her fingernails , paying close attention to the ones she ’d already g nawed at. It didn’t make her worry less but it was a distraction .
    “He is allowed to do that, huh?”
    “Of course, but —”
    Her mother mumbled something under her breath in her stern island tongue that BrookLyn couldn’t clearly comprehend , but she knew it wasn’t good.
    “I t isn’t my fault I couldn’t get in.” She slightly raised her voice.
    “Why are you at Gabriella’s house instead of Tiffany’s? We don’t know her parents.”
    You don’t know Tiffany’s either.
    BrookLyn wasn’t going to explain all of that. Her mother was on a roll . “Tiffany is here too and this is where we stayed.” Was my life going to become full of lies? Probably .
    “Are you on your way home?” Her mother’s short tone had a ring of disgust underneath.
    They change the locks. They didn’t answer the door , or the phone . It ma kes sense to be mad at me in your dark, distorted world. You should have been expecting me, Mother.
    “Yes . ” BrookLyn managed to get the word out, truly annoyed but not surprised that she was the one being blamed for this. I t would take time for Max to show up to give her a ride home , but she didn’t mention that. I’m already in trouble , so what does it matter how long it takes?
    At the end of this year BrookLyn would finally be away from their prison. Graduation couldn’t come fast enough. That was the gateway to her escape. She was so jealous of her sisters and her brother Peyton because they ’d managed to escape. He ’d left two years ago , on the first plane out, to attend Florida A & M University in Tallahassee. Her sisters fled to North Carolina to go to school in Chapel Hill.
    If BrookLyn was jealous of anyone it was definitely them — their rank in the family, and their newly found freedom. Her rank as the baby of the family left her taking her parents’ anger all by herself. She didn’t blame them . She would’ve left too. She ’d always be the youngest, but BrookLyn wouldn’t always be in that house. Her time would come.
    All three of her siblings had accepted their high school diplomas, had walked across the stage , glanced toward BrookLyn with th