Gracie

1

Gracie sat at her small wooden desk on Thursday afternoon, doing homework. She didn't like doing homework, in fact she hated it, but she knew she had to do it, or her step father would be angry. And she really didn't want to make him angry. She spent about an hour finishing all her homework, before she walked downstairs, then out into her back yard. The back yard was one of her favourite places in the world, as she could always escape from her step fathers wrath, with his terrible cane stick, whenever he was angry - which was quite often, she would climb up into the high branches of the large fig tree in her garden. The top of the tree was her favourite place, as no one ever came up here and could hurt her. She sat down on a comfortable branch, and looked out over her neighbourhood.
She lived in Sydney, but not in the city. She lived more in the richer area of the countryside. Not that Gracie knew she was rich, as her step father never gave her gifts, or clothes, like all her friends at school had. She had always assumed, that after her father had died, when she was 11 years old, that they had lost all of their money. She had always had lots of toys and clothes when her father was alive. Now she hardly had any toys, and only a few pieces of decent clothing. She didn't realise that they were actually very wealthy, her step-father was just very good at hiding it from her. He was very cruel to her, but he never hit her in front of her mother, and he made Gracie swear to never tell her mother, or he'd cut her tongue off. And Gracie didn't doubt he would.
So she had kept quiet, enduring, letting her mother think that her husband was a kind and loving step father to Gracie, when really, he was the exact opposite.
She sat in the tree for a few hours, ignoring the rest of the world. Then, as she was climbing down from the tree, her father walked outside, and frowned when he saw her.
"What are you doing girl? I told you to do your homework!" He said, grabbing her by the hair, causing Gracie to wince.
"I... I already did it."
"Oh really? Well then, now you can go and wash the dishes. Your mothers not feeling well." He said, practically throwing her through the doors.
"Is she ok?" Gracie asked, rubbing her head.
"It doesn't matter, I'll look after her. Just shut up and get to work." He said crossly, shoving her in the back. Gracie doubted he would be very good at looking after anybody, but she obeyed, and stumbled over to the kitchen sink, and began washing the dishes. Her mind was a little distracted, she just hoped her mother was alright.
By the time Gracie had thoroughly scrubbed all the dishes, and her hands were red raw, it was time for dinner.
She sat with her mum and the evil step-father. Dinner was usually filled with awkward silence, her step-father attempting to sound like a good father to me, and Mum awkwardly laughing occasionally. That night was no exception. All in all, dinner was not a pleasant occasion.
"Thanks for dinner mum. I'm going to go to my room now."
"Your welcome darling. Goodnight." She leant over to give Gracie a quick kiss on the check. She didn't look too sick, which was a good thing. My step-father however, looked like he would happily have murdered her right then and there. Gracie quickly turned away from him and escaped up stairs to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. She then flopped onto her bed, exhausted and ready to fall asleep.

Gracie woke up the next day, ready to get dressed for school. She could hear her step-father snoring through the walls. Disgusting animal, she thought to herself, shaking her head as she pulled on her well-worn school clothes, shivering slightly in the cold.
She then walked downstairs to make herself some breakfast. Her parents didn't usually get up for another 20 minutes or so on Friday as neither of them work today. Gracie poured herself a bowl of cereal and walked out into the backyard to eat it.
When she was finished her breakfast, and was slowly walking up the stairs to get her bag, she could hear her parents starting to wake up. Well actually, she heard her step-father whack his head on the bed frame loudly and curse, causing Gracie to grin widely. They then began talking quietly, and she could hear her mother attempting to soothe her husband. With an extra spring in her step, Gracie went up stairs, grabbed her bag then walked back down stairs to her parents room to say goodbye before she had to walk to school.
As she walked in, and saw her step-father still rubbing his head lightly, she had to fight the urge to giggle. He would definitely not be too happy about that.
"Hi Mum. I'm heading off to school now. See you later." Gracie waved to her, ignoring her step-father, who did the same.
She walked out of the house, into the fresh morning air, breathing deeply. Her school was about 10 minutes away from her house, and her best friend Lacey lived a few houses down from her, so they walked to school together most mornings.
When she reached Lacey's house, she knocked on the front door lightly. After a few seconds the door was opened and Gracie was embraced tightly by Lacey, her mass of red, curly hair almost blinding her. Gracie laughed and hugged her back.
"It's good to see you too Lacey, but would you be able to let me go now? I can't really breathe." Gracie wheezed out after a few seconds. Lacey grinned, and let her go.
"Sorry. I was just excited to see you that's all. It's been almost a week!" Lacey had been away from school for a few days as she was sick, and now she was recovered she could finally come back to school, and Gracie wouldn't be so bored. Even though Gracie had quite a few good friends at school, she wasn't as close with any of them as she was with Lacey. They had known each other since they were toddlers, and had been inseparable ever since. They kept talking excitedly the whole time as they walked to school.