Like a Grape (Shidge AU) [Book 1]

"Because I love you!" (30K Special)

(This is basically 2004 in the "Like a Grape" timeline following Colleen and Sam before they were married and had Katie and Matt.)

Darkness. It was nightime as Colleen ran. Hot tears fell down her face as she ran. The poor fifteen year old couldn't take it any more. She was running into the forest with her father's gun in her hand. She was running away from life, her problems... her father...

"COLLEEN!" She heard her father exclaim in anger. His deep, cold voice filled Colleen with fear.

She had to get away from him. She couldn't live like this anymore. Many times, she almost tripped on roots, but she couldn't stop. No! She wouldn't let herself be caught by the person she used called father. He wasn't the same person as when she was young.

When she was four, she had a happy family. Her father, mother, and her three year old younger sister, Emma. It was blissful and happy. Until one day when her mother left. Without any words, she up and left all three of them. Her father didn't take it well. He was always angry and sad. One day, he didn't come home till late. He was drunk. He hit them for the first time. Colleen thought it was just one night, but no... after a while, he was always drunk. He was an alcoholic by the time she was seven. He was always short tempered and often beat up her and Emma.  It was a dark and bleak time for her. Her only escape was school, and she often wished she could stay over night. She did it once and got in trouble.

Around sixth grade, started to sexually abuse her and Emma. She couldn't take it. She wanted to kill her self or run away, but her father would beat her up if she tried either. But in seventh grade, she found out about the Galaxy Garrison program for young cadets. She was never really interested in space, but if she could escape her father, it was worth it.

Her and Emma applied for it and made it in, all right under their father's nose. They would even forge his signature. And in the middle of the night, they left while their father was asleep and walked the whole way to the Garrisons.

Their father, for years, couldn't find them. It was a wonderful for the two.

"COLLEEN!" He yelled again as he was started to catch up to her.

She was so frightened. She had to keep running. She couldn't let him get her again. She couldn't go back to how things were.

Tears continued to fall as they started to cool her cheaks. Her lungs were burning and her legs were hurting. They stung as thorns brushed up against them. She weaved her way through the endless amount of trees as she hoped to loose her father in the distance. Her heart was pumping fast as she heard it clearly. She was in so much pain, but the fifteen year old refused to give up. She saw a small plateau of many rocks. She started to climb them as fast as she could.

That's when she felt and hand grab her foot. "Colleen!" Her father shouted sternly. He gripped her foot tightly.

She yelped in fear and pain. She held on as she tried to pull her foot from his grasp. She tried with all her force, but his grip wouldn't loosen.

"Get back here now!" He sternly called, anger radiating his being. He sounded drunk, like he always was.

She threw her foot back as she kicked him in the face. That's when she was able to pull her foot loose and climb the rest of the way. She pulled herself up as she continued to run. She was loosing speed. She didn't have much energy left. She looked back and didn't see her father. He must not have been able to climb.

In the beginning of her sophomore year, he found them, or well her. He pulled her out of the Garrisons and took her home. Once home, he yelled at her for leaving and proceeded to beat her up. At once point, she found an opratunity to leave. She ran to her father's room, grabbed his gun and snuck out the window. She had her phone and quickly texted the last person she had texted and wrote "Goodbye". She left her phone at home as she booked it for the forest.