~ Breathe ~

{Chapter 1}

Sitting beside her brother on his bed, Christella was checking over the last of her school work. Putting the sheets of paper into a folder and placing the folder into her schoolbag, Christella stood up and stretched her arms.

"Heath, is anyone home?" Christella asked, looking to her brother.

"I dunno. Why?" He looked up from his homework.

"Just fancied going downstairs for a bit."

"What's stopping you?"

"Uncle Vincent."

Heath's eyes flashed with anger for a moment before turning back to his sister.

Vincent had resorted to beating Christella years ago, his reasoning being that she was attention seeking and that this was the only way he could discipline her.

Due to this, she rarely came out of her room if she could avoid it, knowing that every time she did she would be ducking for a hit.

Christella, now thirteen, was not only worried for her own welfare, but Heath's too. She felt that if he got hurt it was her fault. Why the children were still living with the abusive man, who clearly was sick in he head, they had no idea. But they were sure that as soon as Christella turned sixteen, they were moving out.

"Heath! Christella! Get down here now!" Primrose shouted harshly.

"Just my luck." Christella muttered to herself.

"If he does anything —" Heath was cut off by Christella.

"Heath, if he does anything you aren't to intervene. I can take it."

It was true, Christella was strong, and she could take the beatings, but what Heath didn't know was that Christella was growing weaker. She wasn't getting enough food or water into her system, and with her growing at a fast rate, (although she still was very small, smaller than the other children of her age,) her endurance levels were dropping rapidly.

Heath and Christella's cousin, Daniel, was stuffing his face with food, so much so that it was dripping down his front.

"Would it kill you once in a while to eat like a gentleman? Maybe you should adopt some table manners?" Christella was naturally a very sarcastic person, getting her in trouble frequently. Somehow, her comment wasn't heard — or maybe it was ignored, but either way, no reaction came from anyone apart from Heath, who snorted and started laughing, covering it up with a cough.

"Back up to your room, now. If they're leftovers, we'll call you back down and you can share them." Primrose said sourly. The two nodded and ran back upstairs. "Be quiet!" Their aunt shouted after them.

A good fifteen minutes later, Christella was called back downstairs. She trotted down the stairs with a grin on her face, expecting food as her Aunt Primrose had promised.

"Go put the plates in the sink and wash them." Vincent ordered, letting out a belch mid sentence.

Christella nodded and collected the plates quickly. "Do it faster!" Her uncle yelled. Christella was small, allowing her to be more agile then her uncle who was like an oversized truck, but today, she had no time to duck out the way as her uncle slapped her across the face. She fell to the floor, every plate but one smashing.

"Pick them up! Every last bit!" Vincent yelled.

"May I use the vacuum cleaner to clean it up?" Christella asked.

"No," Vincent cackled as if it was the most humorous thing he'd ever heard. "It's brand new — worth more than you! Why would we let you even lay a dirty finger on it?."

'This is child abuse.' Christella thought angrily.

She began to pick up all the broken pieces of porcelain — she was getting somewhere too, until Daniel came over and pushed her down to the ground. He placed his foot onto her back, before laughing and running up to his room.

Christella blinked back the tears forming in her eyes. It wasn't necessary hurting her, it was the fact that her own family could be this heartless that was upsetting her.

Once the plates were off the ground, she went back up to her room.

"Ow." She winced as she pulled bits of porcelain out of her skin and cleaned the cuts out before Heath could see. But luck didn't seem to be on her side today, as Heath walked right into the bathroom.

"That looks painful. Do you need help?" Heath offered a kind smile and Christella returned it gratefully.

This wasn't even the worse of what the poor girl had been through, her uncle showed no mercy when it came to 'teaching Christella a lesson.'