I'll Always Love You

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Just keep running. Don't stop. Whatever you do, don't stop. I love you carebear, I'll always love you...

I could hear my mother's voice as it echoed through my head. My little six year old legs hadn't stopped, not even for a second. They ran straight out of my house and my neighborhood. The only place I had thought to go was the one place I felt safe, which was my pre-school.

I still remember every miniscule detail of that day as if it was only yesterday, and not ten years ago. Mrs. Green, my pre-school teacher, had yelped in surprise of me bursting through her classroom door on a late friday afternoon. Immediately she had noticed the tears streaming down my face, "What's wrong sweetie?"

When she said that, I just started bawling even more. I wasn't able to talk to her about the scene I had witnessed until I had calmed down 15 minutes later. "My uncle hurt my mommy and took her away from me. She's sleeping and she can't wake up."

Mrs. Green's eyes had widened and her face had gone pale. "Does your uncle know you're here?"

I shook my head no. "My mommy told me to keep running and to not stop, so I ran all the way here."

"Okay, good. I'm going to make a real quick phone call. I need you to stay here, Taylor, and I'll be right back," she assured me as she slipped out of the classroom to the office. I later found out that she had called the police to come pick me up.

From then on, everything changed within a matter of months. I moved into my aunt's house across the country in California. My uncle went to jail, he was also proven to have mental disorders.

I was just glad to be free of the unhappy memories that I had left. The beginning of my childhood wasn't exactly a happy one. My dad had died right after I was born while serving in the military. I knew it was kind of bad to say, but since I never knew my father, so it was hard to miss him.

When my dad died, my mom moved in with my dad's brother since he had a stable job and was willing to look after us both. My mom wasn't close with her parent's, so she never considered moving in with them. The first couple of years were okay while living with my uncle Kurt. He fed us and let us stay in his guest bedroom. My mom even got a part-time job as a secretary in a doctor's office. Things were looking up, until everything got worse than before.

Kurt would have major mood swings: He would get home from work happy, whistling as he undid his tie. Then, all of a sudden he would start screaming at my mom. He would say that she was worthless and never deserved his brother.

Moving in with my aunt was the best thing that could have ever happen to me. Her name is Tess, and she is only 32 years old. I didn't know her very well when I first moved in, but she quickly made me feel welcome. She knew the whole story of what had happened, and she knew I had some pretty bad emotional damage because of what Kurt did to me and my mom.

I have to say, living with her is awesome. She has a really spontaneous personality, but she was really laid back and not over-protective. Basically all of my memories are with her, besides the select few I let myself remember from when I was a little girl. Even though she was only 22 when I moved in with her, she took over the role of my mother pretty quickly.

We live together in an apartment on the water in Sausalito, a small town outside of San Francisco. She worked as a stay-at-home journalist, writing pieces for the local newspaper. That meant that she could get up and go to bed whenever she wanted.

"Morning kiddo," she said as she sleepily walked down the stairs in her pajamas.

"Morning" I replied as I finished off my cereal.

"Ugh. It's so early. Why do you get up this early again?" she questioned me while taking the cereal off the table and shaking the last of its contents into a bowl.

I smirk at her as I reply, "School? Remember that thing you used to go to before you graduated?"

"Oh yeah, that. You should probably get out before you miss the bus."

"I'm going, I'm going," I mutter under my breath as i grab my bookbag and headed out the door. I still could'nt believe that I was being forced to take the bus. I was a sophmore in high school, and all the other sixteen year olds in my grade were learning to drive, while I was stuck riding the disgusting school buses.

"Hey Tay," greeted one of my best friends Hannah as she rested her elbow on my shoulder.

"Hi Hannah Banana," I say back. She sticks her tongue out at me when I say her nick name.

"You know I hate that name! Bananas are my least favorite fruit!" She complains as we climb aboard the bus.

"I know. That's why I call you that!" I laugh. We talk for the rest of the short ride until we reach our high school.

It must be the ugliest building in creation, and I get the joy of spending every day there. Hannah shoots me a look when we see Samantha Bell flirting with my crush, Will Sanders. Just great It was only the beginning of the day, and I was already wanting to walk right back out the door.