Safe and Sound (Watty Awards 2012).

Chapter One.

Author's Note: Ohmygosh I'm so exited! So, this is my new story and I'm uber happy to share it with you guys! Let me know what y'all think of it. Comment/vote/fan if you like it! :D

-The theme song for this book is 'Safe and Sound' by Taylor Swift, hence the title.-

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Chapter One.
Madeline's Point of View.

"Madeline Christina Harwell!"

I flinched at the screeching tone in my mother's voice as she used my full name and scuttled nervously into the kitchen.

"Yes?"

I squeaked.

"I need you to watch your brother tonight."

She snapped, not bothering to explain why. I remained in the doorway for a few seconds longer, wondering if she was going to say anything else. Her thin, dark hair was cut in a ragged bob, and she was an overly thin woman. Her clothes hung off her body and her lips were dry and chapped; always bleeding.

"What are you still doing here?! Get out of my sight!"

She snapped, her sharp brown eyes turning to glare at me.
I jumped-startled by her outburst- before obeying and hurrying back out of the kitchen and into the living room.

With a name like Madeline Christina Harwell, you'd think that my family would be posh, right? Wrong. I lived in a crumbling terraced house with my alcoholic mother, Cora, and my gorgeous little brother, William. The house was shabby and run down- the wallpaper peeled, and paint flaked off the grubby walls. The carpets were dingy and horrible, and the rooms had a damp odor about them. It wasn't really a pleasant place to live.

We had just moved here from a few towns over, and our old house had been pretty much the same as this one. If anything, it had been worse. Mum hadn't completely trashed the new house yet, but it was only a matter of time. I couldn't wait until I would be able to leave this hell hole, but at the same time I didn't want to leave my little brother here. He was everything to me and at the moment, mum didn't tend to take things out on him. With me, it was another story. I hated to think what she would do to him once I was gone. The thought was unbearable.

"Oh, and I need you to take him to nursery in the morning. Mrs Norris said she can pick him up."

My mother's words cut through my thoughts and I pressed my forehead into my hands with a sigh. Of course she would make me take him for his first day at nursery. If she was going out drinking tonight then she would be in no fit state to take him in the morning. William had turned three not too long ago which meant that he would be one of the youngest kids there. I was sixteen years old and was the new girl again and, despite all the times that I had started new schools, it never got any easier.

"Maddy?"

William's little face appeared in front of me, his big hazel eyes staring up into mine. I lifted my face from my hands and pulled him onto my lap.

"Maddy can you play with me?"

His chubby fingers curled into the material of my shirt, and I nodded my head at him.

"Sure thing, Will."

William looked at me happily, oblivious to the horrors around him. I stood up, resting William on my hip as I carried him up the stairs and into our shared bedroom. It was just as horrible upstairs as it was downstairs. The room was small with a double bed, a wardrobe and a small chest of drawers. All of William's toys were kept under the bed that we had to share. We should have been able to keep them downstairs but mum didn't like it when William left his toys lying about.

I set William down on his feet and he bounded excitedly over to the bed, dragging some toy cars out from underneath it. He threw the cars up onto the bed and then clambered up onto it. I sat down beside William in the middle of the bed, and he immediately began running the toy cars up and down my legs. I longed to be his age again.

He was so blissfully unaware of what was going on around him, and he was always so happy. I watched him as he played with the little cars. His curly hair was a dark, rich brown colour that formed a halo around his head. He had big hazel coloured eyes and pale skin with a smattering of freckles across his cheeks and the bridge of his button nose. He had inherited his dark hair from mum, whilst I had gotten dad's honey coloured hair. I hadn't seen dad since he found out that mum was pregnant with William. I didn't even know if he was alive or not. He had sent us money every month for half a year before seeming to disappear off the face of the earth.