impossible Purpose (discontinued)

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PROLOGUE  

Hayley scowled and kicked a stone as she thought about what she had just done.  

It was dark out, and the night air was chilly, but Hayley barely noticed as she pulled her backpack strap back on her shoulder from where it had been slipping down. Although she had no clock and no way of knowing, Hayley guessed that it was around midnight from the position of the moon. Either way, it was no time for a young girl of seventeen to be out on the streets alone.  

Hayley had what seemed to be a permanent frown etched into her face. It was probably something to do with what had occurred little more than an hour ago - hell, it probably had something to do with everything that had been occurring for as long as she could remember. But this time was worse; worse than usual, that is.  

As per usual, Hayley and her uncle had been fighting, with her mother throwing in the odd random remark here and there, shifting from her side to her uncles, depending on who she felt like barracking for. She couldn't even remember what they'd been fighting about, now that she tried to think back to it. They had been shouting, and Hayley vaguely remembered her mother shouting something about rats in the fridge, when her uncle had taken it to the next level.  

"You're as bad as your father, scum he was!" Her uncle had screamed, spit flying from his blackened and undoubtedly rotting teeth.  

Hayley had fallen silent for a second; her voice dropped to a furious whisper as she replied, her voice seething with hate and fury "Leave my father out of this." Her uncle laughed curtly, not an ounce of humour in it.  

"Oh, you have a problem with me calling that worthless man what he is; scum?" Hayley felt uncontrollable shaking take over her body as she tried to contain her fury.  

"He... was... not... scum." She replied slowly, her blue eyes hard and not leaving the gaze of her uncle's murky brown ones.  

"Hah! Then why'd he leave you? He's a bastard, and we both know it! He's even more worthless than you, and that's saying something!" He barely finished his sentence before Hayley flew at him with an outraged scream, her fist connecting with his gut. He let out his breath in an 'oof' and his eyes widened in surprise.  

"Sock 'im one 'ales!" jeered her mother, who had, until now, been unusually silent. Hayley knew that the talk of her father had gotten through the haze her mother's thoughts were usually in. Her mother hadn't been right since her father disappeared, and the 'weeds' she had been growing in the backyard for 'relaxation' were no help.  

As much force as Hayley had packed into the punch, she didn't manage to knock her uncle off balance. She tried to swing another punch, but her uncle was on his guard this time and caught her fist in his. He grabbed her other hand, and with both her fists in his, squeezed as hard as he could, a cruel grin on his face. Hayley cried out and dropped to her knees, hanging her head with a scowl on her face. Her uncle shover her hands down hard, causing her to fall to her hands and knees in front of him.  

"Don't mess with me, you b-" He began to scream, before he was cut off by Hayley's mother shouting deliriously.  

"You know not to aggravate your uncle, Hayley, he might set the rats in the fridge on you!" She scolded loudly, as if talking to a naughty five year old child.  

It was all too much; the shouting, her mother, the pain, the reminders of her father. With a sudden movement that startled her uncle so that he was too slow to grab her, Hayley ran out of the room. She didn't own much, so it didn't take her long to grab an old, shabby backpack and shove it all into it. Some clothes, a hairbrush, a photo of her father and her, and a knife were among the things she packed. Zipping the backpack up, she'd pulled it up on her shoulders. She could hear her uncle screaming in the other room, and knew he would come to shout at her some more if she didn't leave soon. She had opened the door and stepped out of her room by the time she heard his loud, angry footsteps approaching.  

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