the lucky one - a taylor swift au

chapter 1 - run

Kayla's POV

My lip quivers and i bite down on it, tasting blood in my mouth as i attempt to suppress my tears. the one time i did cry just made everything 10x worse. so i let Priyah stand over me with her minions as she throws insult after insult my way, i ignore her, trying my best to carry on scrubbing the floor. "nobody has and will ever love you, every year you try and try but nobody ever could find a place to love a shit like you!" i just sit like an ignorant duck, taking it. as she carries on. even though i've heard the same words a million times, they still hurt. i just don't understand why she picks on me, what did i ever do. 

i try to control my anger by digging my thumbs into my fists but she's done this to many times, she's pushed me past my breaking point, so when she finally begins spitting in my direction my mouth opens and lashes out saying "why don't you pick on someone your own size for once!" i covered my mouth as soon as i said it, shocked at myself, and dreading what was to come. i cry out as she pulls me up by my ponytail to standing height. "help!" i say as i watch miss martin's figure appear in the hallway. but she doesn't do anything just dumbly stands there and watched for a second before moving on, to drunk to understand what's going on. i feel hands clamp onto my shoulders as i get dragged into the kitchen. as soon as we come in i make out feet scampering away, probably terrified of what priyah will do to them if they get in her way. i dont blame them. i hear scraping sounds and then the running of a tap followed by the thump of something hitting the bottom of something else a few dozen times. my ponytail gets yanked up and i follow, i know there is no point to fighting it, i watch as she pulls me in front of a bucket filled with ice water. no. not this again.

 i try to prepare myself as i hear her wicked laugh and feel myself being plunged deep into it. i feel my arms try to push myself up but it's not use they keep pushing and pushing down on my head. my mind goes foggy as i rapidly lose breath, just before i think im about to die i get pulled up swiftly, before straight back down. the cold fills my whole body and i can feel myself begin to shake. i sob underwater as i pray for this to end. 

the minutes pass and i lost count at 26 times but they just keep dunking me. when they finally leave i slump down, gasping for air and shaking as silent tears stream down my face. after a few minutes i realise they aren't done, they will never be done. so if i stay here they will just inevitably come back to torture me further, so i haul myself up and make my way up to my dormitory. it is empty and it takes me a minute to realise that it's sunday so they will have all gone to town, again i didn't get invited, just ordered to clean. as i pull the wet shirt from me and begin to slip into my only other outfit i realise that this isn't sustainable. there's no point being here anymore, why would i not take my chances out in the real world. i've always been told that i'm mature for my age and surely anything is better than here. i thought about it a lot before, but this is my perfect opportunity. i mean everyone is out other than miss martin but she won't be hard to sneak past.

if i'm going to do this i must act fast so i quickly stuff my few belongings in my book bag given to me by my school and clutch mr fluffles, my rabbit. as i quickly look around my room once more before grabbing my penny jar that i collected, it wasn't much but it should be enough to get a bus or something. hopefully. so i left. just like that. walked out the backdoor, climbed the fence and ran. i had no direction as to where i was going but i felt free, for the first time in years, i ran free. i ran until i found a little village, i recognised it as it was on the bus route to school that i took every day. i felt slightly bad about leaving my school and my friends, but i knew that this was for the best. i would miss them and i think they would miss me, but one day when i'm older i promised myself to write to them, informing them of my adventures and telling them how sorry i was to leave them but i had to escape that hell. as i began imaging what i would put in those letters i was interrupted. "hello dear, are you lost?" she asked, it was a lady who looked about 50 and had kind eyes. i couldn't tell her where i came from so i just shook my head and began walking in the opposite direction. towards the place i knew the bus stopped everyday. i read the sign and realised that there would be a bus stopping by in fifteen minutes, so i just needed to not be found for another 15 minutes then i would be out of here. i read the bus map and realised it was going to finish in Tribeca. i concluded that's where i would go, i had heard about it and i had been to new york once, i couldn't remember but i had a picture of me and my dad in times square when i was 3, it was our last trip before he died. i figured blending in there wouldn't be hard.