The warm wind hit the air, as I blew out the candles, making a wish.  I wished to have a good future, unlike my mother and father. I wish to stay happy and to never be hurt again. Who knew that, it was my last time being able to blow out the small glowing flame, as people sang around me. Maybe if I had wished more meaningful, everything would be different. It was my sixteenth birthday, one of the best birthdays to come.

I sat there in the chair, the one that I had claimed, as mine. I was wearing the shirt that I had gone through everything with. It was a black and white striped shirt with one yellow stripe in the middle. My new parents asked me, why I wore it all the time, and at first I didn’t know. But as I sat in this chair I knew why I loved it, so much.

The black strips symbolized the hard times in my life. The times my father left, or when my mom got put away for life.  The white stripes, symbolized the times in my life that things were okay. There was no pain, but no really no happiness. The bigger yellow strip, symbolized where I’m at now. I’m happy with my life and I’m not getting hurt physically or mentally and I actually have a family that cares, even though their not by blood.  Yellow symbolizes my happiness. Who knew the rest of the strips, after it were gonna hurt more, then the rest.

My “family” gather around the table and seeing their bright happy smiles make me complete. Made me feel, as if they were happy to be there, as much as I did. I opened my presents one by one. It was actually my first present, after the one i’m wearing the striped shirt that I was given for my 13th birthday from my mother. As I ripped the birthday decorated wrapping paper, I saw the black little square box. I knew right away what it was it made my feel, so excited, as I stripped more away I  saw the printed letters of Morphe on the front. It was the pallet that I dreamed of having. I watched Youtube videos of people making themselves feel pretty, as they applied the beautiful colors onto their eyelids. I opened the rest and I got more and more makeup. And for the last present I opened was the first hundred dollars that I had gotten.

As I was I walked up to small room that I share with the other girl whose names is Harper. She’s around my age and as I feel as if I have gone, though a lot and sometimes I feel worse then me.  I set my makeup at my desk and set my money in my secret dresser drawer. I look in the mirror asking myself if I look any older. The only thing that I notice that is different is the pain in my eyes look a little less and my smiles seems a little more brighter. My names is Paisley Grey, I have blonde hair that is about shoulder length, my face is more freckles, then  normal skin and my eyes are grey, which is probably my favorite part of me.

“Paisley Grey, your friends are here for you.” Said Margaret

I ran down the stairs almost skipping the last four. I ran out the door, as I yelled goodbye. I jumped into the blue Honda Civic of my friend Chloe. I was given a Happy Birthday greeting  by the carload of my best friends. “Happy Birthday pasy” they scream. Pasy being the nickname they called me for the past three years. My best friends have been the only thing that has always been there for me, through the hard and now the good times. They were there for me when I would cry my eyes out in the bathroom, not know if my mom was going to be at home that night or if she was gonna come back drunk and on a drugs, from who knows where.

We pull up to the mall and it’s a saturday and all I see is people and cars. Denver is kinda known for the shopping and the malls are huge. Today was the first time I was allowed to go to the mall alone for the first time, because being 16 was the first time that my foster parents though that I was old enough to be independent and allow me to  go to a public place that can be very dangerous and very scary.

My friends and I go from store to store and making our last stop in Zumiez. As we walked in my eyes lit up right away on a pair of shoes that I saw on the internet and I don’t think I have ever though I could want a shoes, so much. I run to them and the yellow reminded me of my shirt that were all yellow slip on vans. I knew right away that this is what I was going to spend my money on and I asked for my size 7 and half to the guy who try convincing me that they would look great on me. But I don’t think that he knows that I already know.

I slip them on and they fit like a glove and I say “I’ll take them!” I walk to the counter to pay and I reach for my hundred dollars and I knew right away that I messed up. I had forgotten the money in my drawer at home. I call Margert to bring me the money and she was okay with it right away, because our house was not far from the mall. I stepped outside the store to explain where it was and were my secret drawer was located. I look into the store to see my friends laughing and looking and trying on clothes in the back of the story, so I decided like to walk to the front of the mall and meet Margate there knowing she would be there soon.

I walk out the door and who knew it was this dark outside and we had been here this long. I look at my phone and it’s 1 percent and as I go back to check the time it’s dead.  I waited at the front of the building where Margret and I had decided that we were going to meet there. I sat there for about 5 minutes and in the distance I thought I seen the black SUV that we drove. I began to walk into the distance struggling to see where I was going.  I look behind be knowing that there was someone behind me. I start to walk fast and my heart began to beat out of my chest. The black SUV that was there drove off. The guy was getting closer and closer and I began to walk faster and faster. I didn’t know what to do my phone wa dead and no one really knew where I  was. I start running and I as I look back the guy is running after me. I start to scream, but no one seems to hear me. As I look back for the last time I feel my feet slip out from underneath me.

The next thing that I remember is waking up in a dark place of a place that I don’t know.  I begin to panic because the air is thick and I fell that I am moving. I fell the bump on my head and I look at my hand not being able to see it, but as I move my fingers back and forth I can feel that there is blood on my hands and my head is bleeding. I begin to more and more aware of where I am. I am locked in a trunk of a car and I have been kidnapped. I begin to scream, I scream as loud, as I can, but it wasn't helping.

I felt the car to  a stop and I could hear the man's voice a voice that sounded familiar to me. I kept quit hoping he wouldn’t open the truck. I reached in my pocket for my phone that was dead, but it was gone. I just wish that I could I had it, so I could turn it on hoping that it could find my location. I could hear the the man was getting car and then got back into the car and drove off.  

I could hear the car pick up speed and the car moved fast and fast. I started to look around the trunk, as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I found a can of paint and a shovel. I started to kick out the light out of the trunk, so I could see where I was and get some fresh air. I kick the lights out and saw i was on  a main road and saw cars around me. I waved my hands back and forth and back and forth. I knew i had gotten the cars attention. I threw the paint out the holes and it trailed us for miles. I knew they had called the cops. i heard the man in the car yelling. Then he exited of the highway.

We began to drive on back roads which felt like hours. He then pulled off and I could hear him get out of his car and I knew he was coming to the truck. Before I could  think to grab the shovel and hit him. He sprung open the truck and I knew it was him right away. It was my dad that I haven’t seen in year and even though the last time I saw  him was 6 years ago, I knew it was him. We began to have a conversation because he knew I knew it was him.

“I tried getting you for years, but I never passed the drug test.”

He began to push me around and he said if I ever told anyone it was me he was going to kill me and my family and he said he wanted to kill me anyway if I obey him. He started to push me around the gravel lot and I fell to my knees crying.

“Why are you doing this?” I scream

“ I know your the reason why your mom and I’s lives are a wreck and why we are not together anymore. When you were born everything went to crap”

I began to hea the police syringes and i could see the light. My dad jumped into his car and he drove so fast trying to get away. The police were getting closer and closer. I layed on the ground crying and waving my hands. The police came and said your okay. I said “i’m Paisley Grey and I was kidnapped by a man I didn't know.”

A month later I sat in my room, looking in the mirror where my scar was still healing after my dad hit me with the shovel. The people asked and asked what he looked like and I still kept making up the same lie I told them before.

Another month went by and as I sat at the dinner table Margrete told me my father is back and wants to take me into custody. My stomach dropped. Paisley Grey was released into the custody of her father Tom Park and died later that year, after being beat to death.