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The last thing Keeley Salazar could remember was her parents arguing in the car before they crashed. Now three years have passed and a lot has changed. She's no longer seventeen, but now on the verge of turning twenty years old. Oh, and...
Out of all 365 days in the year, June 16th will always be the day that Keeley would remember till the day she died.
It was the day that everything changed.
For the worst...
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Keeley Salazar looked out the car window and zoned out as she passed by corner stores, sheriff stations, and children playing in the park, hoping it would make the drive home faster.
She had just dropped off her brother Manny and his best friend Randy at a graduation party thrown by a couple of their friends. Before that, the family of four were out at their grandpa's house, just a little get-together to celebrate his last day of school and his first day of freedom.
Keeley, on the other hand, wasn't too ecstatic to become a senior. Most teens her age would've been thrilled for school to be over and enjoy the long summer vacation, not Keeley though. School to her was an escape from the shithole she and her brother called home. Even though Keeley had managed to maintain good grades during one of the horrible times in her life, she stayed after school for some "tutoring" even though she didn't need it.
Her teachers never questioned why she was always at school so early in the morning and Keeley wished they did, wished they could've asked her what was wrong. Why she flinched everytime someone placed a hand on her shoulder, why she always wore long sleeve shirts on hot days, but they didn't and she really couldn't blame them. Keeley had become way too good at hiding her emotions over the years, acting like nothing was wrong when in reality she was in pain, crying for help on the inside. And she couldn't tell anyone because she was afraid of what her father would do to her if he found out.
For five years, no one knew what went down in the Salazar house.
No one knew how Matthew Salazar verbally, mentally, and physically abused his family. Not even his old co-workers back in Atlanta P.D.
When it first started, Keeley excused it because he was always saying harmless words and she ignored them to the best of her ability because she knew her father really didn't mean them, at least that's what she thought. But when he burned a lit cigarette on her arm, she knew it wasn't going to be the last time he did and he wasn't even drunk.
It was like drinking was a way for him to cope with losing his job but when that didn't satisfy him, he figured beating his family would. And it wasn't like losing his job pushed him over the edge, he was always showing these violent signs for as long as Keeley could remember.
The agitation he would show when no one exceeded his expectations, the anger in his eyes when someone talked back to him. Keeley knew it was always there and dreaded the day when he would finally show his true colors.
