A Lonely Path

Prologue

Tonight was different from the other nights. Tonight it was colder than usual for a summer night, but I guess summer is coming to an end. The wind blew through the leaves of the tree beside my window. I could hear the sound of crickets from outside and frogs croaking. Apart from the new change in climate, it was a normal Friday night. Maybe not normal for other people, but normal for me. My mother was in the sitting room. Lying drunk on the sofa, her head on the lap of some stranger. A new one every week. I was used to it though. This has been my life for the past two years.

My life as far as I can remember had been perfect, apart from the fact that my parents never stopped fighting. I don't mean once in a while arguments. I mean full-on-screaming at each other fighting. And I guess it eventually got too much because when I was fourteen my dad left. Most people would be sad for a while or whatever, but I was happy. I thought him leaving would be the answer to my pleas. That finally the fighting would stop and I would have a normal life. However, it was quite the opposite. My mum got so depressed she didn't do anything. She stopped working, only taking night shifts at a bar once in a while. She expressed her sadness by drinking all the time and changing partners very frequently. She was so different from the woman I used to know. My older sister and I didn't do anything, we didn't even know what to do! Which is why after taking you two years back to the beginning of it all I must show you the end.

This is the story of how it all changed for me. It might have taken some very dramatic things for that to happen but at least it did.

I was in my room which I shared with my older sister Aubrey. My lovely sister Aubrey. She was the person I looked up to the most. She seemed so oblivious to all that was happening in our lives. While I was on my bed with my earphones in listening to music - very loudly - she was on her bed reading a biology textbook while texting her boyfriend and painting her toenails. She really can multitask. But she was so smart too, which is why I admired her. Anyway as always she eventually fell asleep and I was still awake.

Insomnia. I couldn't get my eyes to close. I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling above my head. Sometimes I thought it would fall on me while I slept from how cracked it was. It never happened, at least not yet. As I listened to 'stay with me' by Sam Smith, I heard footsteps coming down the corridor. The footfalls were heavy on the floor. I should have done something, but maybe it was because the music had moved me so much or I just didn't care anymore because I didn't move an inch off the bed. I lay there waiting for what was to come.

A man walked into the room. It was very dark so I couldn't see his face. All I could see was his large, stumbling silhouette walking towards me. He reached for me and I backed away, frightened. He kept moving closer, my heart involuntarily beating faster in my chest. Slowly he brought his dry, crackled lips to my ear and whispered. "You're a pretty one. Eh?" He blew into my ear. The pungent smell of his alcohol filled breath hitting me, almost suffocating me. He reached for my wrist, his incredible strength almost breaking my fragile bones. I was pulled off the bed, and I tried with all the strength I could muster to stay away from him but it wasn't enough.

I was dragged out of the room. I knew he was taking me now and what was going to happen. Yet I had hope, I had faith. I think that is what made this moment in my life all the more painful. As he heaved me past the sitting room and I caught a glimpse of my mother. Lying limply on the sofa. She was drunk. She didn't know what was going on. I didn't blame her, I still don't but I wish that she was there to stop what was about to happen.

He dragged me to my mother's room and shoved me to the floor. I felt the full heavy weight of him as he leaned towards me. Slowly kissing my face and neck. I felt sick. My skin was like a disease to me, even though it was a part of me. I couldn't take it anymore and so I reached out and punched him. Hard in the face.

I could never have expected what happened next. In that moment everything seemed to be in slow motion so I noticed every detail, like how he slowly clenched his fist, or how the light from the window just caught him as he had an evil menacing smile in his face. I didn't remember much after that, just the rock solid feel of his knuckles hitting my face.

Then everything went black.