CARINA

chapter 1

*Around 14 years later*

CARINA'S POV:

Waking up to an annoying sound everyday is a boring and basic thing to do. And I'm not basic, in fact I'm quite fucked up. So, casually me being me doesn't mean some boring alarm sound, no oh no, it means 'Sweet but psycho' by Ava Max blasting through my room. That is if you can even call it a room. I mean yeah it is where I sleep and all but that's it. It literally consists of an old mattress, and a wardrobe. But hey, I'm not going to complain.

I stumble out of bed, finally deciding to turn my alarm off and get up. I catch a quick glance of the clock and see '6:05am'.

That is when I begin to panic.

You might ask 'oh carina, why are you panicking ?'

Well you see, like I said before my life is fucked up, and so as part of my fucked up life I have to have make breakfast for Rebecca, my mother, and Lewis, my step-dad, so that it's ready for 6:10am or I will get a beating for them both.

In a matter of seconds, I find myself rushing down that stairs ignoring that pain I felt all over my body. As soon as I reach the bottom of the stairs I rush into the kitchen, and just to my luck I find an angry Lewis and an even more pissed off mother.

Knowing what was about to happen I try to make a run for it. Stupid, I know. But when it comes to these two I just forget how to fight back.

Pathetic really, isn't it?

Just as I reach the front door a hand snakes around my wrist, pulling me back so that my head slams onto the floor. Black dots begin to block my vision and a sudden wave of nausea hits me.

I feel hits, slaps, punches and kicks land all over my body, followed with hurtful words, such as;

'whore'

'worthless'

'waste of space'

'slut'

'pig'

The list goes on really. Nothing I haven't heard before. But I never cry or show any sign of it effecting me, because why give them the satisfaction of making me cry or 'weak'.

This went on for an hours before they were interrupted by a knock at the door. I was ordered to go to my 'room', and now normally I wouldn't allow people to boss me around but as I said earlier when it comes to them I shut down.

Slowly, getting up off the floor I limp to the stairs, clenching my stomach and gripping onto the banister for support.

It took a painful 2 minutes to get up not even 30 steps. Once I reaches my 'room' I went straight to my window to see if I could see who was here. However, the one thing I least expected to see was there.

A police car.

Now sitting on the floor, I crawled to my 'bedroom' door and put my ear to it. This is something I know I shouldn't do however, I need to know why the police are here.

'could they have found out about the abuse? was I finally free?' I thought to myself.

Considering I wasn't exactly close to the front door I couldn't actually hear everything that was being said however, I did manage to catch some of it.

"Rebecca and Lewis Hunter... ...arrest for... ...illegal..." a male voice said.

That is when I decided to stop listening what was being said.

'my mother is getting arrested along with her no good, son of a bitch, evil, heartless, co... , sorry got a bit carried away there, ...husband'

'what's going to happen to me?'

'will I be sent to an orphanage?'

I was brought out of my thoughts be my 'bedroom' door opening. I froze. Not knowing what to do, so I just froze. However, my thoughts got the best of me and my breathing begin to pick up the paste. I felt a hand being placed on my shoulder and only panicked more, causing me to back away from whoever was here.

The next thing I know I am being brought into someone's embrace. I begin to calm down once I realise that this person wasn't going to hurt me.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by the person who is holding me saying "Are you Carina Hunter?"

At first I was unsure what to say. Do I tell him the truth or should I lie? In the end I Decide that it's probably best for me to answer him truthfully and so I mutter a quick and simple 'yes'. At this he nods slowly standing up and tells me to pack my stuff as I am to go to the Police station with him.

I only nod, not trusting my voice. It only takes me 5 minutes to pack my things. Seeing as I only have 4 hoodies and 2 pairs of jeans.

I walk out of my 'bedroom' only to be greeted with the same man from earlier. We walk, well i limp, down the stairs and out the front door to a police car.

Once in the car, I look out the window in hopes that the man wouldn't start a conversation. However, that didn't seem to work as, as soon as we set off he starts to talk.

" I should probably introduce myself so that you feel a little bit more comfortable. My name is Theodore Winters, as you can tell I am a police officer and I was assigned your parents case" He stated, as though it was a well-known fact.

"What will happen to me?" I asked in a voice just above a whisper. But to my surprise he heard what I said.

At first he looked a bit pitiful by that soon changed to a small but sad smile, and said "well little one, I'm not entirely sure, there is a social worker waiting at the station for us and then we will find out where you will go".

I understand his statement, and can't help but pout at him calling me 'little one '. I mean yeah I am 16 and only 5'1 but that doesn't make me little.

He seems to notice this and chuckles while facing forward and driving.

I now can't help but think about what might happen to me, but I guess we just have to wait and see.

-------

Please feel free to let me know about any mistakes I have made so far.

The song below is 'sweet but psycho' by Ava Max (was the alarm song at the beginning), for anyone who hasn't already heard it before.

Thank you xx

18/01/2021