Thea skates on up to what has become her favorite bench. Why was it her favorite? because it was the bus stop, and the glass that surrounded the bench sometimes blocked the wind.. made it easier to sleep. She sits for a moment, resting her legs and looking at the people that walked by. They didn't pay much attention to her, just another dirty kid hanging out when they shouldn't. Why should they worry? she wasn't their problem. Thea takes in a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She lays down on the bench, clutching her skateboard to her chest and closing her eyes.

She wonders what other kids see when they close their eyes. Do they see their mother, cooking and cleaning and smiling, or maybe their father watching some sport on the tv? Do they think of their friends and teachers at school. She doubted it was anything like what she saw. She saw the man she had thought was her father, yelling and hitting her mother. She saw her mother laughing and spitting in his face. She saw her mother shoving needles into her arm and passing out, while her "father" got drunk and threw up in the living room. She saw the day her " father" started packing while her mother was passed out, and how Thea grabbed his hand and begged him to take her with him, how he had shoved her away and yelled, hitting her while he shouted that she wasn't his and to let him leave. She saw herself running after him, running behind the car for miles, even after the glow of the car's rear lights were long gone. She remembered her mother dragging her from town to town, following this man and that, all the while ignoring her. She saw the way her mother's beauty deteriorated the more she used drugs, her violent outbursts and mean words whenever a man left, blaming it all on Thea.

The last thing she saw as she started to drift off to sleep, was the one and only time her mother had been nice to her. They had been on their way into Hathian, and her mother was driving the car, Her mother was smiling and laughing, while singing along with the radio. Thea's mother poked her and laughed, giving her a bright smile before asking for another can of beer, which Thea opened and gave to her. Her mother reached over and caressed her face, obviously drunk. " I love you, you know that right?" Thea could hear her mother's voice, as if she was right there. Thea remembered how it felt, hearing those words that were seldom said. She smiled brightly at her mother, but is suddenly blinded by the headlights of a car. Her mother, in her drunk state, was driving into oncoming traffic. The light was so bright, Thea couldn't see, it's just a bright white light, but she could hear the sounds, as if she was back in that car. She could hear the squealing of tires, the crunching of metal, her mother screaming.. and then it goes dark. She remembers waking up, bumped and bruised, but her mother wasn't in the car. She can see herself undoing her seatbelt and climbing out of the car, and seeing her mother's body on the hood. She climbed up onto the hood, shaking her mother's shoulder and staring into her face. " Mommah, wake up." She remembers that even as she said it, a part of her knew her mother wasn't going to wake up " Mommmy pleaaase." Thea can see herself petting her mother's hair, and the blood that stained her fingers. She remembers lifting her mother's head and putting it in her lap. " Mommy I love you too." But soon everything goes black, and the memories stop as she finally falls asleep on her favorite bench.