Enchanted

Prologue

It was painful enough that every night the complete darkness was a constant reminder that my mother was underground rather than in the other room. It was painful enough knowing that alchohol is the reason my father doesnt love me anymore. But the worst part was, you never knew how drunk he was when he'd come home. You'd never know if tonight was one of those nights where you'd have to hide in your closet. Tonight was one of those nights but recently every night seemed to be one of those nights.

I lay in bed when the front door finally slammed shut. A string of slurred curse words was heard after that by the sickeningly familiar voice of my dad. You could hear his footsteps approaching the kitchen and his hands rummaging through cabinets and drawers.

"Oh, Zoey!" he called, sending goosebumps down my arms.

His footsteps then approached my bedroom. I clutched my comforter in my hands because i didnt know how much damage he was going to do. I was hoping he would leave once he noticed that the door was locked but i knew that nothing would stop him from getting his way.

"Open the goddamned door, Zoey!" He yelled, but i kept still not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, there was a sickening crash and my father was standing on top of a broken down door. I screamed once i noticed the knife in his hand and scurried away from him. He never used a knife on me before but he's also never been this drunk before. He laughed at me as he slowly came closer. I took this as my chance to leave and run but when i started running, he roughly caught my arm ad pinned me to the wall.

"You fucking slut. You think you can run away from me!" He scolded, pressing the cold blade to my neck.

Thats when i let out a blood-curdling scream. He quickly shoved his hand onto my mouth and pressed the blade harder onto my neck.

"You better shut the fuck up, bitch. Theres no way you can get out of this situation. You think Linda (my mother) can save you? No, shes lucky that she cant see what a failure our daughter turned out." He accused, tears running down my cheeks.

He suddenly let go of my mouth and jerked me onto my bookcase, leaving a nasty bruise to be on my stomach. Before i could get up, my father gripped my hair in his hands and pulled me back.

"You know how much it hurts to come home not to your wife but to your pathetic,ugly daughter!" He screamed, then slapped me so hard on the cheek that i fell to the ground.

Once again he picked me up by the hair and wrapped his hands around my neck, squeezing until the darkness came. I braced myself for death but at the last second heard the front door getting kicked down and shouting but saw only darkness.

*****

The faint sound of beeping and hushed whisperes are what brought me back to the world. As i slowly opened my eyes i was surrounded by white everywhere. I thought it must be heaven but as i looked to my left i was greeted by a familiar woman. My eyebrows then knit themselves into confusion.

"Hi, im Claire. Your mother and i were best friends in college." Thats when i remember her from my mothers funeral.

Thinking back i was able to remember darkness,screaming, and my father and his foul breath. I remember the pain and the feel of the blade on my skin. All that should have brought me to one conclusion-death. But this isnt heaven or hell. What? Claire seemed to catch on to my confusion because she began explaining what happened.

"Your father tried to kill you that night but your neighbors heard your screams and called the police. They came just in time and took your father to rehab but the court cant do a trial without you. So after you recover youll have to go to court and testify what happened. After that they were planning on taking you to a foster home but when i heard about it all the way from Seattle i wanted to take you in. So i came here to ask if you would like for me to be your legall gaurdian. Would you like to live with me and my family?"

"Yes." I replied