Alison Richards is a girl who has gone through thing most people don't even go through in a lifetime. She moves from Atlanta, Georgia to a small town called Pickering, Canada. In a whole new country, Alison hopes her past doesn't come back to haunt...
Bang! My head hit the cold metal lockers. Blood ran down my face like a river of horrific memories. Razors, yelling, cheating, blood, kicks in the stomach, therapy, blood, pills, depression, loneliness, more blood. That's how my life was, it was run with blood. My salty tears burned my purple cheek. How did I let this happen? How did my life turn to be total and complete crap?! My head pounding and my vision getting blurry.
"So little miss rejection, have you learned your lesson. Don't EVER flirt with my boyfriend!" Nicky Cameron's voice pierced my ears. Her asshole of a boyfriend, Jake Romero, smiled and fist bumped his best friend, Theo, both enjoying my pain. Nicky and her group of girls, Casey and Lucinda, stopped kicking and pushing me. They stood there admiring their own work.
Just as they were going to leave I pushed myself up saying words I regretted immediately, "He we hitting on ME, Nicky!" A dark cloud surrounded me as they froze. Nicky clenched her fists and turned around with determination. The clicking of her heals brought shivers down my spine. 'The end' is all I could think about.
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She stood tall in front of me. She pulled my already messed up, so I stood their in her control. "Listen here scum of humanity! My boyfriend would never cheat on me with a slut like you! You're a pathetic little girl who has daddy issues!" my blood went cold,"Nobody in their right mind would look at you for anything but disgusting and stupid! So why don't you go ahead and kill yourself," an evil smirk grew on her face, "Oh wait, you did try. I guess better luck this time." She dropped me walking away. I was alone. I felt numb. I felt horrible. I had all these feelings, but, like Nicky said, nobody cares. I collected my books from the floor. I picked myself up and ran out of school. Even though every bone and muscle in my body said to stop, my heart and feet kept going. I ran because that's all I could do. I'm a coward, that's what we do. We run and run and don't want to stop because we're afraid. The wind kissed my tears away. Twigs and leaves cracked as I ran through the forest to my house. I saw a large white house sitting on flat green grass. From the outside, it looked like a perfectly normal house for a perfectly normal family living inside. I opened the backdoor with the spare key under the 'welcome' mat that was anything but welcoming. I threw my backpack on the kitchen table hearing yelling and screaming upstairs. I grabbed an apple juice and walked down to the basement. The basement, my home, my safe spot. The cold wind greeted me. I went to my bed and reached under to get my first aid kit and makeup. The ointment stung my face as I put it on my cut up face and arms. I put on my makeup to cover up my bruises. I looked in the vanity mirror to see a slightly tan girl who looked normal. I frowned as the girl in the mirror mimicked my motions. It was me. How could I forget my own reflection? Maybe because she looks happy? Or maybe because she doesn't look like she's been through hell and is still stuck there? I turn away and lay on my bed looking at the ceiling. I heard glass break and more yelling coming from upstairs.
The sounds were almost a ritual. Next comes the sound of a slamming door and running down my stairs. "What do you think your doing? You're supposed to be at school, dumb-ass!" My dad yelled. His eyes looked hungry for a fight. His sleeves were rolled up showing his large arms.
"It's 5 o'clock dad. School ended at 4:30. I walked home," I said barely a whisper.
"Leave her alone, Charlie! She's just a kid!" my mom screamed running down the stairs. Her hair was everywhere. She had a cut on her lip and blood racing down her hands, probably from cleaning the glass.
"She's not a kid! She's my daughter and if I want to beat her like a piñata I will!" He pulled off his belt and hit me repeatedly. I squirmed and yelped, trying not to make noise. One noise equaled ten more beatings. He finally stopped and walked up the stairs. When the door closed, my mom broke down into tears. She kept saying sorry and apologize for something she didn't do. I pulled myself up with what little strength I had left and hugged my mom. She sobbed into my shoulder muttering here and there, "How could I marry him? Why is he hurting us? Why is he mad?" These were all questions I myself haven't been able to answer for years, so I just hugged her. I hugged her to try to confort her, to try to quiet her sobs, to try to say 'everything is going to be okay', but I couldn't lie to my mom. I knew that there was nothing I could do, but how could I rip what little hope she had left.
We sat there deep in each others thoughts. Finally, my mom stopped sniffling and crying to say a full sentence aloud. "I'm leaving your father." The words hit me like a smack in the face.
"What?" I was stunned. My mom was always too afraid to speak out against the monster I called a father, let alone leave him. "When? How? Does that maniac know?" my eyes grew wider and wider for every question I asked.
"No he doesn't, and were leaving tonight. I finally called the police on that man. They're coming any minute," she looked at me wanting me to respond, but I couldn't. I sat in silence thinking, 'what if he finds out? He could kill us and run away! What if he gets out of jail? Will he kill us then?'. Questions and more questions buzzed around in my head. "Please honey, say something."
All I could come out of my mouth was, "He'll find us." The words only came out as a whisper, but in my mom's ears they were loud and clear.
Her eyes watered and tears threatened to spill, "Honey, he's brainwashed you for too long." A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. My mom turned around and a faint smile appeared on her face. She looked at me and pulled me up to my feet. "He won't ever hurt us again. Not him, not students at school, not teachers will hurt us any more."
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We heard the door open and footsteps, many footsteps. I heard Charlie yelling and hollering. "What is this? Natalie! Stephanie! Was this you! NAT! You know I'll find you! You can't run away!" As he spoke I could hear police telling him his rights and handcuffing him.
My door opened and we were greeted by a man and a woman in police uniform pointing their guns at us. "Are you Mrs. Natalie Sanchez?" the woman asked as she lowered her gun.
"Yes, yes it is and this is my daughter, Stephanie," the tears she was holding back finally erupted and she ran to the woman hugging her. "Thank you so so much!"
The woman with a kind smile hugged her back, "It's part of my job. I'm just happy to help you and daughter."
They looked at me as I stood there, still silent. "Honey, are you okay?" my mom asked wiping her tears.
I blinked finally saying, "Is he gone for good?"
"Yes Stephanie, he's gone for good," the officer answered, "You have nothing to be afraid of now." For the first time in 4 years I gave my mom a purely blissful smile. I'm free!
This story is for my best friend, Alison! (Love you Ali!!!) I base the main character, Stephanie Sanchez, on her. She is the most amazing and beautiful person I know, but in her mind she's nothing.(NOT TRUE AT ALL, YOU'RE AWESOME ALI!!) She's been through too much and this book will hopefully make her happy!
