Recognize

She was a beauty with her brown hair, and pudgy face. Blue eyes that sparkled to him when she smiled. Not yet developed into a woman, but still a woman. Young. Oh so young. But so was he.
They didn’t know the world. They didn’t want to. They were into only themselves, and each other. What new band was coming out, and what to do that was fun. They were naïve lovers, stuck in an experienced world.
But he moved. They said they’d talk. Write to each other, call each other every day or so. They’d be fine apart. The day he left, she stood in the street watching as his parent’s car rolled down the street and out of view.
He had told her not to cry, but she did anyways. She sat in her room and cried, not understanding why the world was so cruel to her. She just wanted her friend back.
She isolated herself. Her other friends began feeling bad for her, but she put them off. They began to ignore her. She changed her wardrobe to darker colors, losing her light blues in the transition. She wore her hair shorter. Started painting her nails darker colors.
They lost contact after a couple phone calls. She wanted him to come back, but he made new friends. He had moved on.
Every night for a month she would sit by her window and look out at the moon. She would wish to be out there in the world somewhere, back when he was there. Or back out there with him.
She was eating lunch alone in her dark clothes, short hair. People made fun of her now. They called her names. They said things behind her back. She would get into verbal fights with people in the hallways or in classrooms.
She’d sit there in the office, waiting for the principal to come back. She was always waiting. She just couldn’t deal with them. It was too much every day. She began sneaking out at night to run. Just to run.
She didn’t even think about him anymore. She just hated everyone. They hated her because she was different and not like them. She stopped running after she was caught by the cops one day and put into handcuffs for running from the police. She was crying by the time they caught up to her.
She began high school in a daze of confusion. She got into a group of people like her. Started only wearing black because that’s what they did.
They still felt the pain of abuse from the others in the school. She met a new older guy who liked her. He would talk to her sweetly, but her parents didn’t like him. His hair was a mess, he had a ring on his lip. This was not someone they wanted around her.
It wasn’t long before his sweet talking got to her. She fell under his spell, and had sex with him. He then ignored her. She was crushed.
She began cutting herself in the moonlight when her parents were asleep. She wanted them to find her body and not be able to save her if she died. The pain was better with blood.
She met a girl who was friends with some of her friends. It was her sophomore year in high school, and her wardrobe got darker. Her fingernails were now black. Her pants were now black.
This girl gave her alcohol. Alcohol made the pain feel better. She gave her a hit of marijuana. It made everything go away.
They would do marijuana and drink her parent’s stash of beer in the girl’s basement. It didn’t matter, the two guys they hung out with would usually take advantage and have sex with them even if they didn’t want it. They never really did.
Marijuana wasn’t enough to cover the pain. She started doing more to get a better high. Started doing worse in school. School was nothing but a pain she had to deal with.
She had a drug dealer by the end of her sophomore year. Sold her crack and ecstasy, sometimes painkillers he got a hold of. She smoked cigarettes to calm herself down at times.
Her junior year she wore all black and rarely fixed her hair up. They would do things with the guys, just to get a hold of some drugs. She didn’t really enjoy sex, but it was good for the high she would get later.
She wound up getting syphilis. Had to go to the doctor, who was quiet about it thankfully. Her parents would have killed her.
She wore too much makeup in the mornings. She looked like an old woman with a saggy face. The pudgy, cute face of before was gone, as if her sadness had just made everything droop.
She started skipping classes and school altogether. Started dealing drugs herself. Started selling herself for money. Eventually dropped out of school before her senior year. She was known as a slut by then and usually smelled like cigarettes if she was in school. She’d smoke them in the bathroom.
Her parents kicked her out when she turned 18. They didn’t want anything to do with a daughter that was throwing her life away. She only cared about getting high now.
She stayed on the streets for years. Through rain and snow. Stayed in stranger’s houses or one night motel rooms. Her teeth became yellow and broken. Her face sagged more. And her hair became a tangled mess. She’d occasionally have a boyfriend to room with, but it only lasted until she was caught with some other guy in their bed. Sex was now an addiction to her that came before she got high. Or at least she thought.
She had two miscarriages. Barely ate. Needed the money for drugs. Started doing heroin when she was 22. Started selling herself nightly for the money.
Wound up with herpes and two abortions.
Went back to selling drugs along with sex. Had an old man accidentally overdose on ecstasy. Had to throw his body in the river.
The cops were on her tail though. She began running. Moved from place to place but couldn’t get far. Eventually was spotted selling drugs by the police and ran. She was crying by the time they put in her handcuffs.
The cop who arrested her drove her to the police station. He took her in and put her in a jail cell. Did the paperwork for her, took the fingerprints and pictures. She was wanted for a lot of things.
His chief gave him a congratulatory for catching such a bad criminal. She was better off the streets now.
She sat in the jail cell until the officer came to get her. She went willingly, no longer trying to struggle or care or anything like she had before. They wanted to help her get off drugs and set up something for her. Her appointed attorney agreed, but she was looking at charges for worse.
They told her it was all over. She didn’t have to worry. She smiled. For the first time in years she smiled. And the officer watching saw her eyes sparkle.
She went through treatment, but her charges were worse. They had found the body of the old man. She was put in prison for life with no parole. She hung herself after two weeks.
Her funeral was soon after. Her parents and siblings came to give respect as did some of the policeman and guards. The officer was there. He looked at the casket with grief. He was single, and alone. His friends, the few he had, gone off to something else. His family would not allow him to marry anyone not in his religion. They had moved because of this.
He went home later that night and killed his parents. He then shot himself in the head as police arrived.
She was the only thing on his mind. And she didn’t even recognize him.