Everything Opposite

Chapter One

*Trigger Warning*

Ryleigh
Let's keep this introduction short, shall we? My name is Ryleigh Rowan Harper. I'm fifteen years old. My best friend is named Logan Blake. I live near the city Columbus, Ohio. I grew up in a small town in South Carolina. I'm what most people consider "emo". I didn't take it as an insult. I like what I like. My music has meaning and stories behind them. They delved so much deeper than most music on the radio today. I didn't talk much, I tuned the world out with music. I was raped by my father and his friends. I lived alone with my parents. No pets, no siblings. Just me, myself, and I. I supposedly have a brother.

I never met my brother. I wondered and thought about him a lot. If we were alike in any way. My parents weren't nice people. They often beat me around, screamed in my face, threw things at me, and sent me to bed without food. Often, I found myself in the bathroom making lines on my wrist.

Tonight, it finally went too far. I was done being the toy they could smack around. I ran upstairs, grabbing my iPod and a hoodie. I slid my razor into my pocket. A quick glance in the mirror told me that my face was already bruised and swelled. I didn't want to think about the rest of me as I slipped on my low top black Converse.

"I'm sorry, Logan, I can't do this anymore,"I thought. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"the voice of my father rang through the house from the kitchen. I heard glass break and knew he probably threw another empty whiskey or beer bottle at me. I didn't waste time sprinting to the front door. I left it open behind me and didn't dare look back. After about a mile, I pushed my earbuds in at full blast. Doubt by Twenty One Pilots began to play.

I found myself running and running. The song changed to the next on shuffle. "Maybe I'm better off dead,"Kellin Quinn's voice sang in my ears. I found myself singing along lightly, tears falling down my cheeks. The stars shined brightly overhead. I put my hand in my pocket, meeting the cold, hard metal of my razor.

After a moment, I climbed up and sat on the railing overlooking the river. I thought once again about jumping and letting the water catch me in it's embrace. One final last hug, after all. I didn't, though. It would kill Logan if she was the one to discover me or if she heard from someone else whenever someone noticed I was gone and fished my cold, dead body out of the frigid, cold water.

I shivered as a breeze hit my shoulders. I untied my hoodie from my waist and slid it over my head. I closed my eyes, letting the music fill me. I was careful to keep my balance so I wouldn't fall and meet my death. I doubted it would be so terrible. I missed getting to play music. My parents broke my bass the day I brought it home. After while, I snuck home a guitar and a ukulele. They smashed the guitar. I had the ukulele until tonight when they discovered it.

*Flashback to early that night*

"What is this?"My father yelled as I walked through the door and my mother tried pushing him back. "Uh,"I said. "Uh? That's all you can say? We had this talk. You're to stay the fucking away from music, you little shit,"he screamed at my face. I don't know where he took my ukulele. I felt my tears falling.

"You little bitch!"my mother snarled. My cheek stung. She slapped me. My father stormed back into the room and slapped me again and again till I collapsed, the room spinning around me. He began kicking me. I tasted blood and I wasn't so sure I hadn't chewed through my lip or cut my tongue.

As soon as he disappeared to the kitchen, I stood and ran upstairs. I slid shoes on, tied a hoodie by my waist and shoved my iPod in my pocket. It was a gift from Logan. I wasn't quite sure where she had gotten it but it had served me well and I took good care of it. I couldn't breathe without it, it kept me sane.

*End of flashback*

I opened my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. It still felt like a punch to the gut. If they hated me so bad, then why even bother giving birth to me? Why keep me? I sighed and swung my legs back and forth before deciding to climb down. I stood, looking down at the water from behind the railing. Cars were driving by.

I turned around. Without paying much attention, I stepped off the sidewalk and into the middle of the road. I thought that I'd wander town for awhile and see if I could find somewhere to stay or at least sneak through my window when they were asleep. I stood in the street a minute. Rain was starting to fall. I heard thunder in the distance. I tilted my head up and closed my eyes. My music was still playing along and I turned the volume up another notch.

I heard a horn blare loudly and opened my eyes to see bright headlights bearing down. I couldn't tell if they were slowing. I was frozen in place. "Well, here goes nothing. Maybe Logan will think it's an accident. That's how it will appear,"I thought and let myself fall to my knees before closing my eyes.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Someone yelled. I opened my eyes to see the car stopped a few inches from hitting me. The owner of the car was standing in the open doorway. I nodded, my body shaking. I didn't believe I could stand. I just had a brush with death. After a minute, I heard the first car door close then another opened and closed.

I tried to focus on my breathing. My vision was blurry. I couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't think straight. The people from the car came closer, though. I could only make out the shadows of two men standing over me. One reached a hand down before realizing I couldn't take it or move on my own.

The other guy pulled the car over while the first guy lifted me and moved me over so I was on his lap on the sidewalk. My earbuds had fallen out and I wasn't sure where my iPod was. As the other guy walked toward us, I saw them dangling from his hands. I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing as my hand gripped the stranger's shirt. Their voices sounded familiar. A jacket was being wrapped around my shoulders.

A/N: Hey y'all! Welcome to Everything Opposite. This book is an alternate universe story to The Urie's Daughter. You'll be meeting more of Logan Blake shortly. A shout out to JacobAlexannderConne for being awesome as always. I wanna wish her a very happy birthday! I hope you like this story so far. You'll meet our strangers in the next chapter. Much love!

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