Stealing Her Back - Mira

"It’s not what it looks like."

Mira had a family once. Not anymore. Now she has her dead fathers jacket, and a sleeping bag in the woods. She was a normal teen. Graduating high school. Ready to go to college in the fall, but one fateful day while studying for finals everything changed.

Her mom and step-dad kicked her out of the house, cut her off. Left her to fend for herself. Her step-dad Greg happy to have the burden out of his life. Her mother, Elaine, choosing him over her. Willing to believe his fragile lies to avoid loneliness. Sacrificing her own daughter for what she convinced herself was happiness.

First she couch surfed in the summer with sympathetic friends, until they all went off to college. Starting their lives in a way she may never be able to now. After couches dried up she did infrequent stints in shelters, but shelter beds aren't forever. Too many missed curfews while scrounging for food. Too much hassle having her bike inside because she couldn't afford a bike lock. Now a clearing in the woods by her old house is the closest she has to a home. She longs for a safe space. Just four walls with a lock on the door. Anything.

She watches sometimes. See's Greg drinking beers before lunch time on the weekend. Blacking out on the couch by mid afternoon. Through the windows she watches her mother sob quietly to not disturb Greg's drinking. She wants to reach out, but she knows how that will go. Knows how Greg will twist things, blame her. How her mom will buckle and fall for it again and again.

Today while watching though she saw something that destroyed her. Greg carried a large tote to his truck. Old clothes of hers, and heirlooms. The last shreds of her past, the truth that it was once her home and family, were being discarded. She followed him on her bike as fast as she could to a parking lot. She watched him methodically place each piece of fabric through the slot of a donation bin. Every sign that there had ever been a family being given away like it was nothing.

She had to do something. She had to take back part of her life. Even if it was just scraps of cloth. Even if it was just the memories. Before she lost everything that mattered.

Who are you? Str