Isobel glanced around nervously at everyone surrounding her. It was the night of the Winter Formal, and everyone seemed to be having an amazing time but her. This is the reason I never come to these things, she thought. She had been rooted to her spot on the wall for half an hour already, and the obnoxious dance music combined with flashing blue lights, a lame attempt at creating a snowstorm affect, were making her head spin like she was riding a merry-go-round.

“You’ll never be like them anyway,” taunted the evil goblin who lived in the back room of her brain, who never failed to remind her that she doesn’t deserve to be happy. If I start walking home now, Isobel thought, I can get home and feed Stefan. He was her pet tarantula, and the only creature who she felt she could really talk to.

Vicky scowled as she slammed the door of the average-looking, two story brick office building that was her home from nine to six every weekday. She had had so much potential as a young woman. She had been smart, beautiful, athletic, and on her way to a paid internship at Vogue Magazine. Her bright future had all gone down in flames during senior year when she, like many foolish girls her age, had gotten pregnant. She was forced to stay at home and get a minimum wage job at the local supermarket instead of moving to New York and living the fabulous life she was meant to have. This is all that ungrateful brat’s fault, she thought venomously. No matter how much she tried to suppress the thoughts, Vicky had always deeply resented her daughter.

A cold, wet projectile landed on Isobel’s forehead and interrupted her thoughts about which bugs would be best for her spider’s digestive system. She cinched the hood of her black sweatshirt tighter around her face, shuddering at the cold and darkness beginning to seep into her bones. The rain made rain made her think about Riley Torrez, and that field trip in seventh grade to go apple picking. The downpour had begun suddenly then too. Riley had given her his sweatshirt; he noticed how she was shivering in only a thin black tank. She was sure Riley didn’t even remember that day, now that he was the captain of the football team and the most popular boy in school, and she was nothing but another invisible, depressed girl who hid in the library during lunch.

Vicky didn’t even understand how that girl was her daughter. She was pale and quiet, with unruly dark hair while Vicky was tall, tan, and perfectly blonde. If only her daughter had been more like her, she probably wouldn’t have held on to all of her resentment for all of these years.

I shouldn’t even be out here, Isobel thought. If only Mommy Dearest hadn’t pushed me to go to that stupid dance, I would be warm and safe at home. Her mom was always pushing her to do things she didn’t want to do, like go shopping for new, preppy clothes at the high end strip mall near her house or try out for the cheerleading squad- anything that would bring her closer to living in that neat little square that all the popular girls fit into, the one that her mother had been in when she was in high school. Tired of the monotony of her long walk home, Isobel began to play a game with herself. How close can I get to the cars speeding past me before one of them hits me? “Like anyone would even notice if you were gone,” the goblin whispered.

Vicky’s drive home was getting unbearable. Every mile she got closer to her average suburban house and unattractive, middle-aged husband made her skin crawl like that freaky spider her daughter loved. It would help if I just took another Ativan. She searched through her purse for one of the magical pills that took away all of her pain and gave her the energy to get through another tiresome evening. The longer she couldn’t find the bottle of pills, the more desperate she became, until she decided just to take both hands off the wheel to search. She was so preoccupied with her mission that she didn’t even notice the loud thump that rang out when her car swerved off the road for a split second. Never mind, Vicky thought, for suddenly the weight that had been weighing her down for so long had suddenly lifted, and she smiled.