Funerals are never fun. People dressed in black mourning someone they didn't truly care about. Then there are the people who care. Unfortunately, no one at my funeral cared about me.
My only true friend had died two years ago in a brutal car accident, and my family had always been wrapped up in their own individual hells. Mom had turned into a bitter alcoholic who couldn't bear to look at her drug addicted son or her remaining daughter after my twin had died when we were seven. My father was always out of town on "business" visiting his girlfriend in New York. No one had even cared what happened to me.
The other attendees consisted of my classmates and a few faculty members. Even they looked bored out of their minds as the priest droned about how I had been a good daughter with a bright future. Total bullshit. It wasn't as if I had anything planned for my future aside from getting out of the hell I'd called home. Just months before, I'd been on the fast road for completely ruining my life forever. At least until the man beside me had shown up and turned my life upside down.
Chapter One
Summer. Hot, sticky, sweaty and a total waste of three months. Everyone insisted on wearing clothes designed for women with perfect bodies even if they were less than perfect. Men walked around without shirts on, flaunting what they thought passed for a desirable body. I hated the season with a passion because it left me with nothing to do but avoid my family. Even now I could hear my mother arguing drunkenly with my father, who was heading to New York again. From the smells coming through the wall, I knew my brother was on another bender, though on what, I had no clue.
"Prudence! Come say goodbye to your bastard of a father who is on his way to New York again." I flinched and reluctantly slid a bare cotton sheath on over my skimpy underwear. It wouldn't do for my parents to see just how scarred my body had become after all the abuse I'd put it through. Not that I thought it would do anything other than make them curse the day I was born yet again.
Dad stood by the door in an immaculate suit, though his lip was slightly split where Mom must have slapped him. She was sprawled on the sofa, a bottle of Jack raised to her lips. Her strawberry blonde hair was even more frazzled than normal and the stench of booze choked the air.
"Bye Dad." I gave him a half hug and turned to disappear into the kitchen to get myself a bottle of water and look wistfully out at the pool. I had always loved swimming even if I didn't like the heat.
Sighing, I went back to my room and tore the sheath off, hating the cloistering feel of it against my battered skin. My last fight had been against a giant woman with a devastating punch. I'd eventually bested her, though I didn't escape unscathed.
"Hey Prudence, wanna come smoke with me?" Daniel poked his head in and I could clearly see the fresh scabs where he'd been clawing at his face. Bile rose in my throat at the sight. He had once been a straight A student and a star athlete with a bright future, but that had changed after he and his girlfriend-my best friend-had been in an accident. To kill the pain of losing her and losing his future, he'd turned to drugs. My grief had blinded me to what he was doing until it was already too late.
"No thanks, Dan. I'm just going to watch some movies for a little while then go out. Go enjoy yourself." Only a cold resignation filled me when I looked at my brother. I wasn't able to fight his addiction without him being willing. And I had tried until I had very nearly killed myself from the effort.
A long few hours of boredom stretched in front of me. Though I’d told Dan I was going to watch movies, there was nothing I wanted to watch, nothing that would distract me from my own personal hell. Finally, I put my music on shuffle and trained for the fight I would be in later this evening. No one had ever questioned why I wanted a room full of exercise equipment and it kept me fit and toned, though I still had pronounced Irish curves.
