Amanda Perring Narrative

Amanda Perring carefully stepped off the bright yellow school bus onto the clean, asphalt driveway leading to her parent’s garage. Her house was a classic, one story suburb on the outskirts of Los Angeles, located in middle class neighborhood where no one had to worry about money but there wasn't much extra to spend. Her mother and father were both respected doctors and were almost never home when Amanda was. Every day on the bus, she would sit at the very back with no one else, completely silent the entire way home, most often reading a book. When she had first moved to her new school a few years ago, Amanda had been the easiest kid to pick on with her high grades and care about school.
The bus was the worst place for Amanda, because she was stuck in such close quarters with other kids for almost an hour. She was stunned at how cruel some kids could be but understood that sometimes, people needed someone to pick on. The bullying slowly stopped after the first year, because no one ever really got a reaction out of Amanda. She just quietly sat at the back of the bus, opened a book, and blocked out the rest of the world.
While walking up the short sidewalk to the front door, Amanda thought about the first year of living here. Her parents were always stressed about the new neighborhood and keeping the house looking nice so as not to draw attention from our neighbors. At her old school, Amanda had plenty of friends and always had someone to talk to or sit by at school or on the bus. In her new town, she never had the opportunity to start over and make new friends; the stress from home followed her to school and made her more withdrawn than other students. Amanda’s thoughts were interrupted by a realization that in her rush this morning, she had forgotten her keys. Amanda turned towards the sky and sighed loudly before shimmying between the outside of her house and the bushes towards her living room window. It had been broken for years and with a little jiggling, opened easily. After tossing her backpack inside, she clambered clumsily inside and landed on the worn out carpet floor next to the tv. She quickly righted herself, picked up her backpack, closed the window, and headed upstairs to her room. Her room was an assortment of book, stuffed animals, and movie posters. Her four walls were completely covered in posters and decorations she had collected over the years. On the ceiling above her bed hung her favorite, which she liked to study if she couldn't sleep at night. Thankfully, since it was Friday, she didn't have any homework and her classes were easy. 6th grade was hardly stressful, and Amanda kept up with her schoolwork with ease. Even though she didn't have any friends except for a couple people she occasionally talked to, school was Amanda's sanctuary. Her classes were interesting and she always had something new to do that interested her. Because of the lack of homework, Amanda tossed her backpack into the corner of her unmade bed and went back downstairs to watch tv. Every Friday, she would treat herself to watching her favorite series, “Stunning Feats of Nature.” Documentaries had been Amanda’s favorite for years, and she felt accomplished when she learned something from watching tv. The show today was all about ocean life and …show more content…
She had thought ab being kidnapped before, but never from the comfort of her own home. The thought of home brought tears to her eyes, and they quickly formed streams flowing down her cheeks onto her arms and eventually onto the dirty mattress. She cried for her lost normal life, for how hopeless her situation seemed, for the now flickering lightbulb dangling above her head that she recently started to hate. An encompassing sense of loneliness surrounded Amanda, and she could feel herself slowly giving up from the inside out. She rolled onto her side, knees to chest, face buried, and cried until she was exhausted and finally fell