Quinn O'Connell was the pretty girl in pink, the homecoming queen and all-around straight-A student. Most people saw her as uptight, narcissistic but most importantly... They saw her as a control freak with her perfect blonde hair and patronising sm...
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The water was searingly hot but somehow, so blissfully cool as it erased the filth from her body, Quinn O'Connell's mind raced in circles during the quietest moments of the evening, the water piled to the very edge of the huge stone bathtub held her gently, kissing her skin with a kindness that she hadn't known for the longest time. Head tilted back to stare holes in the ceiling, Quinn could only hope for a life in which this silence was normality. Somehow, her life had gotten so off track, in a moment she had gone from the girl with the fancy new stepdad to something else entirely.
In thirty-seven days, Quinn O'Connell would be eighteen years old and as if that was some kind of immense achievement, it would allow her release from this prison that held her captive. Quinn had a plan, she had been saving any and all change she could scramble together, she didn't know where she was heading but she knew for certain that it was far away from Forks Washington and its spiteful mayor. Quinn would never be safe here, in the town where everyone worshipped him, nobody would believe a scorned girl, not when she had such an outlandish story behind her claims.
Doctor Elizabeth O'Connell had made the worst decision of her life five years ago when she left her sweet pre-teen daughter with their neighbour for the evening so that she could go to the towns annual charitable ball. All the best names in Forks were invited, the doctors, teachers, the police department and their families themselves. Liz O'Connell's first mistake was adorning that stunning red gown, her second was the champagne that she allowed to touch her lips and the third was when she accepted his offer to dance.
Jensen Hargreaves seemed so perfect to an overworked, underpaid young mother. Of course, he was rich, handsome to all the blushing ladies of Forks but he was also mysterious with his previous life experiences that awed sweet Elizabeth, the woman having only left the state once. She didn't expect to fall so quickly for the handsome man, he worked constantly, he was strict and he even had a child of his own from a previous partnership, a little girl three years younger than Quinn herself. But Gabby Hargreaves was out of the picture, living a lavish lifestyle in new york with her mother, provided for by her dear old dad with whom she met only once a year. Jensen promised Elizabeth everything she had always wanted and the town loved the promise of their young romance.
Quinn shifted in the bath, the water dripping like a waterfall over the side but she knew that she was at least safe there, in that warm water, the lock firmly in place over the door giving her at least a snippet of calm.
Elizabeth O'Connell lived the dream so wonderfully, she married the man of her dreams, got the beautiful house and lavish lifestyle any girl would swoon over. It took seven months for the cracks to form and when they finally had, it was too late to reverse. Jensen Hargreaves was a sadist and he was wealthy enough that his escapades didn't stir a frenzy.
But the worst part wasn't when he carried out his desires on Elizabeth, his devoted wife. No, to her, seeing the beaming young women funnel through Hargreaves house, positively giddy with the chance to please him, that was what truly broke her. Quinn was too young then, too young to look past the expensive lifestyle and happiness, she accepted the act perfectly, ignorant to when her mother began to split at the seams.
One night, as always, made all the difference for Quinn O'Connell, the night where her mother died, was the night where she wishes that she had. Even now, the thought of slipping beneath the lavender-scented lapping ripples of water, never to resurface, was a tempting offer. Quinn O'Connell wanted just a moment of peace from the shadows of her mind, from the fake beams and semblance of control.
Control was one thing that Quinn O'Connell desired above all else, it was the one thing she had never had. Quinn couldn't control when her father left her, when her mother fell into a pathetic fairytale, she couldn't control her mother's death or anything that came after. Quinn had no power to say no to anything asked of her by Jensen Hargreaves because no didn't mean anything to him. No was just a word, albeit a word that drove him to the brink of blinding red rage and saying no was even more dangerous to Quinn than the impossible word 'yes'.
So Quinn O'Connell controlled everything else instead, she controlled every aspect of her fake life within the school and it didn't matter if everyone saw her as a control freak, that was absolutely what she wanted most, to be able to control some part of this wretched fairytale. Quinn O'Connell wanted power.
Quinn wasn't sure what life she wanted to make for herself once she left, with the ridiculously small amount of money that she had, but she knew that she wanted it to be a million miles away from her hell hole in Hargreaves House.
