Never Giving Up

Chapter 1

Annie laid down on her bed and listened to her parents fighting again. They constantly fought about how fucked up Annie was. Her mother would blame it on her step father and vise versa. She had to listen to it almost everyday of the week and she couldn't handle it. A seventeen year old girl shouldn't have to go through all of the stuff her mom and step dad placed her through.
She was never good enough for them. She tried her hardest to be the perfect child and do what she was told. She obeyed her parents and she used to respect them, but when someone beats you... You seem to lose that sense of respect that you once had for that person.
It was crazy. She didn't do drugs. She didn't smoke. She didn't drink. She didn't sleep around. Her grades in school were great. So why did they think she was so fucked up? When Annie was fifteen, she and her sister went to a party. Her sister, being eighteen at the time, decided to get drunk. She was in no condition to drive, so Annie took the wheel. They were driving home and they were stopped at a stop light. When it was their turn to go, a truck ran the red light and rammed into the car that Annie and Natalia were in.
The man that had killed Natalia and greatly injured Annie, was from the party they had been at. He was completely wasted and walked away with a few scratches.
Annie's parents blamed her for the death of Natalia, and for almost everything else from then on out.
At school, people would make fun of her and call her a murderer. She had many labels, but "murderer" was the worst. She never let go of that. She started having panic attacks and her anxiety would start to incline day by day. Nobody in that damn school was willing to help her or be her friend. Nobody wanted to be friends with a killer.
She would have little anxiety attacks in the middle of class and she would start shaking and crying. Everyone pointed at her and laughed. They called her crazy, psycho, and pathetic. She began believing what they had said. She tried to run away from home so many times, but the police had always found her.
Her father had died when she was seven and then her mother got married to this other guy shortly after his death. Natalia was his daughter and that is why he blamed everything on Annie.
Natalia was always there for Annie, especially when nobody else was. They had a strong connection with each other. Annie visited her grave quite often and always brought roses. She brought orange ones, they were Natalia's favorites. Annie would sit by her grave and talk as if she were still here.
Annie's step dad, Ross, would threaten her and often beat her. He is a very abusive stepfather and had been like that since the funeral. He would beat her for being home late or not doing what he said. He never waited for anything. He is not a patient man. If he wants something, he gets it when he wants it.
Annie's mother never liked her. She looked at Annie and saw a pathetic excuse for a human being. She told Annie that she was pathetic and useless... Ugly, annoying, a bitch, and so many other things. She hated her and wanted Annie out of the house.
Since Annie's depression started, she would talk to herself and try to find a friend somehow. Sometimes a voice would answer back and say, "you're fine, just deal with it." She never understood why it was like this, but also never questioned it.
When she turned seventeen, Annie dropped out of school and took online classes. She failed to do them everyday. She would lay on the loft in her bedroom and cover herself with a blanket while rocking back and forth. The loft was about four feet from the high ceiling and Annie had placed a rod around it so she could put a curtain on it and block out everybody.

Annie's mom kept yelling at Ross and he threatened to hurt her too. He threatened to kill Annie a few times, but obviously, he never did.
Annie heard Ross beat her mother and she began crying. Her mom was yelling and screaming in pain. This sounded worse than any other time before. She heard her mother yell, "Natalia deserved to die and you do too!"
Annie ran to the phone and dialed 911. The police arrived shortly after she had called and they were inside the house moments later. Ross had been arrested and Caroline, Annie's mother, was taken to the hospital.
Annie couldn't be by herself at a time like this, so the police took her to the station. They let her settle down before they started questioning her.
"It's okay Annie, just take your time."
She took a few deep breaths and she stopped crying.
"Now, we are going to ask you a few questions and we want you to answer them as truthfully as you can."
"Ok... I-I-I will."
"How long have your mother and Mr. Ross Martin been together?"
"Almost ten years."
"In that time, did he ever threaten to hurt or kill you or your mother?"
"Yes, many times."
"Why didn't you call us before now?"
"I was afraid he was going to catch me, and beat me again."
"So he has abused you before?"
"Yes, almost everyday..."
"Did you and him ever get along?"
"Yes we did."
"Could you tell me when he started becoming aggressive and a-abusive?"
"His daughter, my step sister Natalia, was killed in a car accident. She died from the impact of the other car. There was a drunk driver and he ran the light and was going about 60mph. It killed her almost instantly. At the funeral... He wouldn't stop staring at me. He looked me in the eyes and said 'you killed the most important thing in my life...' I had never seen him so infuriated before. It terrified me."
"So after the funeral, he began being abusive and his over all attitude had changed. Where exactly did he beat you?"
Annie lifted up her shirt and showed the officer her bruises and scars.
"He would sometimes scrape my skin with broken glass or something sharp enough to make me bleed."
Her back and stomach were covered with scars and bruises. The officer shed a tear and apologized for what she had gone through.
"I'm fine now that I'm out of that house."
"Sir, we have a report on the victim. Would you like an update?"
The officer jumped up and excused himself out the door. Annie could tell that something was wrong. It was definitely an update on her mother and for some reason, she was concerned about it.
The officer was gone for about ten minutes, but then he came back in.
"Annie, did you and your mother, Caroline, have a close relationship?"
"Well not exactly. I know that she doesn't love or care about me. But I love and care about her."
"Then we will need to escort you to the hospital as soon as possible."
Annie followed the officer to the main lobby of the building and they ran to a squad car. Officer Brown raced to the hospital and reached it ten minutes later.
"Annie, when Mr. Martin hit your mother, he used a baseball bat. He hit her several times in the abdomen and broke one of her ribs. It punctured her lung and she has been having a difficult time breathing. If they do the operation on her, she might lose her life, but if they don't... she definitely will die. You are the closest relative she had and we need your permission to do the operation."
Annie looked at her dying mother and began to cry. She and her mother had been close at one time, but they slowly grew apart after she remarried.
"Is she on any medication at the moment?"
"No ma'am"
Annie looked at her pain ridden mother and she looked too pathetic. She could tell her mother was in pain. She couldn't move and even if the operation had come out as a success, she wouldn't be able to do much.
"No."
"Excuse me ma'am?"
"I said no. Don't do the operation. It is completely worthless if she will be in pain and will constantly be having to take medicine. Don't do it."
The doctors looked at her in shock and one of them approached her. He placed his hand on her shoulder and began to comfort her.

Annie stayed at the hospital with her mother and didn't leave her side. The doctor that had comforted her earlier came in and told her the full diagnosis of what had happened.
"When your mother was hit, I'm guessing she tried to curl up and disable him from causing any further damage. As you can tell from her head, he hit her there and must have also had a knife or something sharp. She has cuts and many open wounds on her back and sides. She does have a punctured lung and three broken ribs. It also looks like he hit her in the knee. Her knee is dislocated. He probably tried to keep her from getting away."
He paused for a moment and realized that this was pretty hard on her.
"My step sister died pretty tragically too. I've lost many of my loved ones, and now I have no where else to go... Officer Brown said that I will have to be out in an orphanage, but I'm seventeen. Nobody's gonna want a seventeen year old girl. They all want some cute little girl that looks like she deserves a good home."
Annie held her mother's hand a tear dripped from her eyes.
"My mother and I didn't get along much at all, but I still loved her."
The doctor was called out of the room and another one came in to give her an update.
"Ms. Martin-"
"My name is Annie. Annie Thomas."
"Ms. Thomas, your mother doesn't have much longer. I would say maybe an hour at the most. Would you like a chaplain to come in or would you like to be alone?"
"If you don't mind... I'd like to be alone with her."
"That's fine. Is there anything that you need?"
Annie shook her head and the doctor left. First Natalia, and now her own mother. She felt like it was some sort of pay back. Like Ross wanted her to feel the pain of losing someone by another person's hands.

She sat by her mother's side and didn't let go of her hand. Only did she realize after her mother had passed, that she had been holding Annie's hand as well.
She gave her mother a kiss on the forehead and left the room. She sat outside the closed door and balled her eyes out. She had nobody left.

She
Was
Alone.