Chapter one William “day -9”
“Click“ The door shuts I walk to my room and grab the pack I keep under my bed. in it I keep what I need for the cliffs: my sleeping bag, my knives, some food and my journal I’ve been keeping it for about a year now; it’s almost full. turn off the light and mess up my bed that way I can just say I got up early if that bastard comes back or as I call him in front of Tyler the fucking “emperor of the lolly pop guild” I hate him, I hate him more than anything, the only reason I stay is because of Tyler I couldn’t leave him alone with him he's only 11 but then again I'm only 15, 16 next week but I had to grow up fast, to fast I don’t want him to live like that.
I don’t remember much about mom, she died when I was very young. I never knew her so it wasn’t that bad when she died, I got Tyler. There’s only one thing I know about her... she’s an idiot. How could she not be to stay with him, let alone marry him and have kids with the guy. Tyler gave her the greatest gift possible freedom... freedom from that asshole.
I look at the mirror in the bathroom and fuck, a black eye. Can’t hide this. Well it’s now or never. I go out the back door so no one notices. They probably wouldn’t say anything but this way’s easier. I'm not even doing this to hide from Dad, I do it to hide from the town. “Wouldn’t want to hurt his public image”, I would never hear the end of that.
I usually use the low branch to jump over the wooden fence that leads to the forest but when I do I feel an intense pain in my ribs. Hopefully it’s just a crack and not a break, it’s a lot harder to hide a break then just a crack and if I don’t hide it and someone finds out what’s happening then they take me and Tyler away, and I'm not letting Tyler become a kid in the system. Dad’s terrible but at least I'm the only one who gets hit and this way I can protect him.
I get to the forest and now I get a few hours of peace. The few hours to the cliffs goes by in what feels like minutes it was 9:30 when I left and now it’s around 11 its Thursday so that means school tomorrow its about 2 hours away so I have to leave before 6am it’s not too bad, it's worth being away from him, no fear, no worrying about what he’ll do, just peace, and the cliffs look so beautiful in the moonlight, when it’s dark you can’t see the bottom. I light a small fire curl up in my sleeping bag and go to sleep.
