My Heart Knows EDITING

Chapter 1

Dani's P.O.V

I walked off the subway with my guitar in hand and sighed heavily. What now? I looked around me, breathing in the New York air. There is people everywhere..running, walking, children and adults. I have always wanted to move to New York, ever since I was young, I have always thought of it as so beautiful. I ran down the path holding my guitar for dear life, a strong feeling of regret running over me.

I have no money, no apartment, nothing. I came here out of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I had to leave my home in Texas, and here was where my heart was set, so it made sense to come here. It got really hard at home, hard enough for me to have to escape the prison I felt I was in. Back home, I have a sister and a brother, and of course my mother and father. My mother is the most beautiful and caring person I've ever met, but my father, on the other hand, is the opposite.

I've known since I was little that he never cared about me in the slightest, despite me being his only daughter. He treated me badly from a very young age, purely because I'm not an exact copy of Jordan, my brother. In my fathers eyes, I was never as good as Jordan, therefore I was classed as a let-down.

Jorda is three years older than me, and the sweetest boy I have ever met. He was my protector throughout pretty much my whole school life because I got bullied. Whenever something bad would happen, Jordan was always there, no matter the time or place. He felt like it was his duty to look after me. Jordan never found out about the way my dad treated me, because if he had I know he would have stopped it. The abuse got so much worse when Jordan left home, crossing the dangerous line from emotional abuse to physical abuse.

I would have fought back, I could have stopped it, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt my own father, no matter what he'd done. I just wasn't strong enough. The abuse then begun to extend to my little sister, Karla. It wasn't as bad as some of the stuff I recieved, but it was there, and it still ruined her childhood, and it was heartbreaking to watch. Karla is 4 years younger than me. So when Jordan left home, she was 11.

As you can imagine, it got worse when my sexual orientation got out. At the time I had a best friend called Lexi. I thought she accepted me for who I was, but I guess I thought wrong. When I was 15, she told every guy in school that I was gay, so naturally, the whole school knew. I had already been bullied my entire life but it got worse, so much worse.

My father hated he fact I was gay, he tried to 'beat it out of me', and I let him try. I may seem weak on the outside, but I have mental resilience like diamond, unbreakable. It was when he started to threaten Karla that if she ended up the same way, she'd never see light again. This was breaking point for me, I couldn't protect my baby sister. Then, on my 17th birthday, Jordan came home for the weekend. I told him everything and he so got angry, that he attacked my father. They fought until eventually he grabbed Karla and I, and left.

We stayed with Jordan for 6 months and i'd never felt so free, it was so nice. However, 3 days after my 18th birthday, my father appeared at the front door and threatened to call the police if he didn't get us back. I promised Jordan I would protect Karla, and then we were back at our hellhole of a house. It didn't start again for about 3 months. One night, when I was finishing some work for college, Karla came in to my room, hysterical. She lifted her shirt and showed me her back, it was covered in marks. I got angry at my father for the first time and hit him, hard. He then locked me in the attic for 2 weeks. I only got one meal a day. I fell dangerously ill and Karla was so worried she started sneaking me food. I got better in no time, kicked down the door and ran to my room, I have never been the same since.
I braved it out until Karla was 16. Then Jordan came and took her away from my parents. That was when I grabbed my guitar and never looked back.

I walked down the busy streets of New York for what felt like hours until I came to a dimly lit, small diner called 'The Spotlight Diner'. I took one step towards the door before remembering I had no money. Devastated, I turned to carry on walking, but in the corner of my eye I spotted a $20 bill. Bending down to pick it up, I finally felt some relief since first walking into this city.