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The stone wall was cold against my back, making all the hits I was getting linger so much longer than I could handle. It seemed I had angered my father earlier in the day, and now I was getting punished for it. After trying to leave home, my father had chased me down the street and now, here we were.

Hot tears poured down my face as my father screamed in my face, his dirty, unkept nails digging into my skin roughly. His words flew over my head — my head was hurting way too much to comprehend what he was saying.

Suddenly, his hand was at my neck, pushing me up against the wall, restricting my breathing. "Do you hear me!" My father screamed. I nodded.

What happened next, I never would have predicted. It seemed my saving grace had come— my father was pushed to the ground by a tall, muscular man, with red curly hair. I flinched as I heard his body hit the ground as my father had pulled him down to the ground with him.

"Leave! I'm going to call the police!" The tall man yelled, regaining his balance.

"She's my daughter!"

"I don't care! Get away from her! I'm going to report you!"

And with that threat, my father jumped up and walked off, pulling his hood over his head.

"Oh god — you're bleeding." The man rushed over to me. I tried to get up to move away; he might hurt me. "My name's Josh, what's yours?"

I didn't speak. All I could do was edge away from the possibly dangerous man.

"I won't hurt you." He said, offering his hand out for me to hold. I placed my small hand into his much larger hand and he helped me up gently.

"Tell me what you want to do." Josh asked.

I stayed silent.

"We need to get you fixed up, so I can take you to my house or something, or I can take you to a hospital."

"Not the hospital," my voice was barely a whisper.

"Okay," Josh nodded. "I'm going to call my friend okay? He's going to come pick us up."

I nodded. I had no idea why I had just agreed to go with this stranger, but I had a feeling that I could trust him.

I could feel my body shaking as Josh walked me to the curb, helping me sit beside him. It was chilly outside, and I was only in some leggings that had a hole in the leg, and a short sleeved shirt. It looked like Josh had noticed how cold I was, as he took his shirt off and gave it to me.

"I know it has no sleeves, but it's another layer."

I stared at him in disbelief. It was cold, and we were in Ohio. Ohio is literally always cold. Bone chillingly cold.

This man was quite literally ready to give the shirt off of his own back just to keep me warm and comfortable.

It seemed like hours had passed in the freezing cold weather, but finally, a car pulled up just in front of us, and Josh stood up quickly to help me up. He opened the back door of the car and closed it behind me, before walking around to the other side of the car to the passenger seat.

As I looked at the person in the front seat, I could physically feel myself closing up. My heart pounded as I panicked; what if these people were bad?

"Tyler, turn the heating on, she's stone cold."

The guy — Tyler — in the front seat turned a dial and heat filled the car. I was relieved to have warmth finally enter my body, after being deprived of it for so long.

"Josh, where are we going?" Tyler asked, looking from Josh, to me and back again.

"Somewhere quiet." Josh replied, picking something up from underneath him.

"My house? The only person there is Jenna." Tyler looked to Josh for confirmation. Josh nodded.

Suddenly, Tyler's eyes were on me. "What's your name little lady?"

I felt my breath hitch in my throat, as Tyler fought to make eye contact with me.

"A-Aria."

My voice came out shakily, and unsteady.

Josh turned around to face me. "Aria, you're safe now, I promise. No one you come across from here on out is ever going to hurt you ever again."

My hands shook. "My father — he'll find me. And he'll do bad things."

I watched as Tyler's jaw tightened; he looked mad. I whimpered and covered my face with my arm — he was sure to hit me.

"Aria, you're safe."