A/N The first part of this prologue is kinda boring, but it's necessary. It's the backstory for the main character. I promise though, if you even make it to chapter 2, it will get a lot better.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIv8CzOpQvL
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I love living alone. It's one of the only pros that comes with living in the foster system for eighteen years; you get to be left alone, and I have to admit, I quite like it that way. Once I got out of the house of my foster mother, I found myself a job, and an apartment. She's a bitch, who disliked me, but not nearly as much as I despised her. She's one of those people who seemingly performs acts of great kindness, but only does so to keep up appearances. 978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlOFUy6jecm
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This is why I'm glad I left, glad I'm alone.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLq1KiD23F
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There are many benefits that come with living in isolation. I don't have to interact with anyone else intimately on a daily basis. I don't have do deal with disagreements, confrontations. I don't have to compromise. I don't have to support anyone else; just my African Grey Parrot, Silver, and myself.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7yynUog9K
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However, living by yourself also means that you have no help, i.e. you have to do all of your chores on your own. I look at this as yet another symbol of my independence, albeit a huge inconvenience at times. 978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ34H0kpwOg3
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Once I got out of that bitch's house, I did interviews for a job at Burger King, the cashier at the local supermarket, and a waitress. I got accepted for all three. Things have always kind of worked out for me; ever since I was a child, I always seemed to get what I wished for. Firstly, getting accepted into a foster home; although the bitch never adopted me, most children in the foster system in Jamaica never see outside of a children's home.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw1jzGOnFLt
When I was six years old, I wished for a foster parent to take me in. I didn't want to stay at the home, fighting the other children for food and toys anymore; even then, I liked being alone. I wanted to live only with one other person - I disliked company - and I didn't want to be adopted; the idea that I'd have another human being tied to me for the rest of their/my life because they'd legally taken up the title of 'parent' disgusted me. The next day, I found out that a woman by the name of Ms. Williamson was interested in taking in a foster child, about the age of six. She came in and spoke to me, and even then, I sensed something off about her. She just seemed wrong; I knew that I wouldn't like her.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnv3JCLIe6f
However, she decided that I was 'the one', and I decided that if I had to put up with a two-faced demon for the next twelve years of my life to get out of this hell hole, I wouldn't complain.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9nWXc1O6VX
This wasn't the last time that this happened to me; Williamson knew nothing about me, but every birthday, I got exactly what I wanted.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlaYcW1zdZF
For my fifteenth birthday, she got me a full sized violin made of Brazilian wood, as well as a beginner's guide to learning it, although I had never shared with her, or anybody else, for that matter, my obsession with wanting to learn how to play the instrument. For my seventeenth, she grudgingly gave me a female African Grey parrot (again, exactly what I wanted), which I named Silver, although she herself hates birds.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UzrdMNPgZ
This would happen every single year.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vhlhDH1cK
My luck wouldn't stop there, either. I always got the test grades that I wanted, yet I've never studied a day in my life. As a result, I have a scholarship to go to University and do a degree in anatomy. Again, something ideal - a degree that I can use in a lab - because I hate interacting with people.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbNh8I6kJKw
That last statement brings me back to my loneliness. I live alone in my studio apartment, with Silver, and work as a waitress in a nearby restaurant on the weekends. I go to school on week days, and somehow, I manage to do all of this without exhausting myself.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTraWL6kvCy
As I pick up my garbage and haul it outside, I wonder to myself if being alone is really better than living with someone else. It would really be more convenient, and honestly, I don't think that I can do this all on my own.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpH0fA9uGw
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As I manage to throw the bag into the dumpster, I turn to go inside, only to see something red/orange under the mango tree right outside my apartment. I squint in an attempt to see the object properly, before freezing in fright. 978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7aWVJ1XAdA
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Not one... but two. 978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMma1ETWQNB
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Balls of fire.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpD7EceFC8Z
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As eyes.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoZ7opOSepg
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On... a bull.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡstkbuvUJnv
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A huge, black bull, by far bigger than any bull I've ever seen.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16JUepQVhm
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What.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBlF3CythPC
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The.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdLZfiUmeri
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Hell.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLuYWrgcoT8
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Please tell me that this isn't what I think it is.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjF4wWzCLJu
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To make matters worse, he's looking right at me, almost as if he's staring me down. I think I just peed a little.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvHmybqVcVX
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As if he can smell the fear - and the trace of urine - on me, me makes a grunting noise, as if he's laughing.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8vxjfVM5ru
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That's when I decide that I've seen enough, and I run back into my apartment so fast, that I trip over the threshold and fall straight on my face. I scramble up to lock the door, my heart beating so hard fast that my chest hurts.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD97zZb2PBQ
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Did I just see...978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZ8Bj5O6ZI
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No.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYdhpgMkwA
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But the eyes...978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNXaSsdq8Ff
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Did I just see a blasted *rolling calf?978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjku2t7XmTC
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Tentatively, I look out my kitchen window, which allows me to see the mango tree - and he's still there. Watching me through the window.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhH3grlTLSf
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I pinch myself hard enough to confirm that I am indeed awake, then I look up again.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBGH51K4VQ
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Still there.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGRupy1ZD9K
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What's even more interesting, something that I just realised, is that he hasn't moved from under the tree; he didn't chase me.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOxACrUZ3EN
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*rolling calf: Creature in Jamaican folklore resembling a bull, sometimes said to have blood red eyes, other times said to have balls of fire for eyes and sometimes said to have smoke coming from their nostrils. It is said that rolling calves are the spirits of dishonest/evil people, as well as butchers, trapped in this form, who supposedly kill anyone who crosses their path. Some stories say that they have a particular liking for children. They usually have a bell and/or chains which make noise, allowing others to hear them approach. I have personally heard several stories of people seeing rolling calves, and they seem to have a liking for rural areas. I don't know if the part about evil/dishonest people/butchers is real, but I haven't completely disregarded the people who claim to have seen it/known people who saw it.978Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡanVyp8Zlvc
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