My Paper Heart Read Free

cluttered the living room, and it looked like that opened up to the outdated yellow kitchen. I guessed bedrooms and bathrooms were all that we had left. I followed Aunt Dee down the short, narrow hallway, careful not to make too much noise.
    "That's the bathroom," Aunt Dee whispered as she pointed at a closed door.
    "There's only one bathroom?" I tried not to be too loud. Aunt Dee nodded, not losing her stride as she opened the door almost directly to the right of the bathroom. How could I live with one bathroom?  I had a hard enough time in the dorms, sharing a bathroom with all the girls on my floor. Sharing a bathroom with two other women was not on my list of high priorities.
    "And this is your room." Aunt Dee flipped on the lights. As my eyes adjusted, I wasn't pleased with what I saw. The room was barely bigger than my closet back home, and it looked stuffed with the twin bed, white wicker night stand, and a huge desk along one of the walls that was piled with what appeared to be craft supplies.
    "Sorry, this has been my scrapbooking room for the past ten years, but I'm sure you can share with my supplies." She smiled as she patted me on the back. "This is Brittany's old bedding, but we can go to Wal-Mart later and see what we can find you for a comforter." I smiled weakly. I was so tired that I didn't have the energy to protest sleeping on the hideous bubblegum pink bedding.
    Aunt Dee left me in the tiny room alone with my thoughts. I was lucky that I was so tired that there wasn't much time to think. I didn't even feel like exfoliating, washing my face, or even putting on my pajama pants. I turned off the lamp and collapsed into the cheap polyester comforter.
    There was a window directly over the bed. Sheer, white curtains could barely keep out the moonlight that streamed in. There were more stars out than I could ever remember seeing anywhere. When I was younger I used to wish on stars all the time. Living near a big city, I couldn't see as many as there were here. My eyes slowly started to flutter and close as the grasshoppers chirped outside my window, and my last thoughts were of the stars, hoping that wishing on stars wasn't just a fairy tale, and maybe if I wished hard enough I could be back home.
     

Chapter 4
     
    I could have slept all day long, but I awoke to the bright sunlight streaming in from the tiny window. I would have really been more upset if my nose didn't perk up to the smell of something amazing coming from the kitchen. The last time I had a home cooked meal was when I visited one of my sorority sisters over Christmas break. My mom didn't cook, and my dad definitely didn't get any of those southern cooking genes. I wiped my eyes and slid my feet out of the fluffy pink marshmallow cavern I had made for myself in the tiny bed. I squinted as I peered over at the pink alarm clock on the night stand. I was too tired to open my eyes all the way, but the sunlight was too harsh to keep them closed.
    "Eight A.M.?" I sighed and stood up. If I was awake anyway, I might as well start off the rest of the first day of my new life in the south.
    "Oh, it sounds like Libby is up!" I heard Aunt Dee yell over the sizzling sound of bacon.
    I shuffled along the floor barely awake as the top of my sweatpants hung off of my hips. I made a point of double knotting the drawstring so they wouldn't fall. I wasn't sure how keen Aunt Dee would be to see my stomach, or anything else that could be seen for that matter.
     It was hot out already, and even with Aunt Dee's fans blowing and the window air conditioning unit going, the cooking was just making it hotter. The house looked even more outdated in the daylight. The walls looked like they could use a few coats of paint and all the light fixtures looked like they were straight out of a museum. I wondered how Aunt Dee didn't notice all the work that needed to be done to the house, or if she even cared.
    I rubbed my eyes to look and see where Brittany was. I thought since