Chapter 2 prologue



••Three years ago••

|CARLA'S POV|

I CAN'T ACTUALLY SAY my life had been easy because it definitely wasn't and I can actually tell you with complete honesty that my life was messed up. But I wasn't like those girls who ran away from their problems, I always stood tall and faced my problems, ready to kick it's damn ass.

Right at that moment, I was ready to kick my problem's ass.

Droplets of sweat trailed down my shoulders as I stood in the alley way, glaring at the group of boys who exchanged high-fives for a stupid joke Daniel made. Arizona's sweltering sun created holes on my back, and burned my skin harshly. The boys in front of me didn't help my miserable state nor did their nonsensical laughter.

Daniel and his ass-like friends were known to be trouble makers in the neighborhood and I was the very person they loved picking on. Yes, I'm a girl, but one thing I hated was people taunting and pushing me around. Daniel was fond of doing such. Every single day, I just endured them, swallowed my burning rage and retort.

I did that because of Mom, she wanted me to learn to control my anger even though we both knew I was very short-tempered.

I didn't wait for the assholes in front of me to finish with their horrible laughing because I was never patient when it came to dumbasses like them, "I guess you're out of horrible jokes so why don't you move your damn ass away," I sneered.

"Oh my," the blonde haired chuckled," I didn't know you could still talk, considering the fact that you must be weak from the beatings you always receive," the boy taunted while the others laughed about it.

I clenched my fist while my face morphed into a snarl. I was really trying to control my anger at that moment but the rage was too much and it would have been really good for those boys if they'd kept their mouth shut.

For the few seconds I stood there, I kept reminding myself not to loose control because if I did it wouldn't end well for any of them. But unfortunately, because I stood there without any form of response, Daniel decided to dig his own grave.

"I can't believe there's a man you call father when he has no care for you. And we all know that he wouldn't hesitate to kill you," he feigned pity. "There's a reason for it though. It's because you are worthless," he shrugged and immediately laughter rose into the air.

Hot blood flowed through my veins at his sentence and I immediately threw away all my self-control. "Say that again," I gritted, my eyes piercing painful holes into his, "I dare you."

"What are you going to do? Beat me?" his annoying laugh filled the street yet again.

My blood boiled as determination and anger took over me. I dropped the bag of apples I had been holding on the ground and stepped dangerously close to his plumpy figure, "When I'm done with you, you're gonna wish you never said that prick."

"Come on Daniel, show this girl who's boss," one of his friends called to him, as a sign of encouragement. Losers.

"You heard him, Daniel," I said, my tone mocking him, "Let's show them who's boss."

Daniel smirked and stepped forward in an attempt to throw a punch but little did he know I wasn't the girl he could beat up. I'd been quiet for so long but it was time to teach him a very big lesson.

I grabbed hold of the fist he had hurled in my direction and squeezed it, feeling all his finger bones crack under my palm. I chuckled at his pain filled facial expression before letting go of his hand. It's like he didn't get the hint because he charged at me again but this time, I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, making him scream in pain. With my legs, I kicked his and he fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Fat fool.

Just when I was about to turn away, one of his friends had to come into the scene. Getting close enough, he threw his right leg up for a kick but I grabbed his leg before it got to my torso, for a brief second, his eyes widened before I yanked his leg really hard which made him to loose his balance.

I gave the remaining three a side eye, daring them to try to fight me but like the chickens they were, they ran away, leaving their friends who were lying helplessly on the floor.

With a smirk on my face, I watched the two of them grunt in pain, "that's exactly what you'll get the next time you mess with me."

I watched them in amusement as they glared at me but my moment only lasted for a while. From behind, someone yanked my hair really hard and I let out a scream. "You worthless bitch!" the very familiar voice snarled behind me.

"Dad please, let go," I begged and I hated it. I hated begging him like that, but I couldn't fight him because he was my dad and I wouldn't have been able to.

"You're good for nothing, do you know that?" he yanked my hair harder, grabbing hold of my right arm.

"You're hurting me!" I screamed. The boys who I had beaten were on their feet and laughing at me as my dad dragged me away. I wonder why everyone enjoyed seeing me in pain.

He finally let go of my hair and I struggled to get out of his grasp. When I succeeded in getting out of his grasp, I made a run for it, but I hadn't quite gotten anywhere when his rough hands came from nowhere and tightened on my wrist. I tried to fight away his hands but my feet ended up dragging along the sandy soil when I lost my balance.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson when we get home since you've decided to render yourself useless!"

"Stop it!" I cried as he dragged me along the streets, his insults raining heavily on me.

All my pleading fell on deaf ears as he carelessly dragged me away. The people in the neighborhood watched me in sympathy as I cried, but I didn't need anyone's sympathy because I was no longer a weakling. No one had helped me while I was tortured and disgraced by my dad, so what was the use of even depending on them. Those who even tried to talk to him only ended up getting insulted and since then I had been fighting for myself.

My foot suddenly hit a stone and I fell hard on my knees, bruising it in the process. I winced in pain as my dad pulled me up without caring that I was hurt. Why would he care? He was a monster.

He dragged me all the way home, the most dangerous place in my life. He jerked me up to the dusty doorway and kicked the door open before pushing me in with all the power he had. I landed hard on the floor, my head making painful contact with it.

Before I had the chance to let out a groan, I felt his hands on my neck, depriving me of oxygen. I dug my finger nails into his wrists as I tried to get my neck free from his grasp.

Letting out a strangled scream, I reached up for his face and clawed at it, hard. He removed his right hand from my neck and slapped me right in the cheek, leaving a sting. His hand went back to my neck, squeezing my lungs. His eyes burned with hatred while my lungs burned with severe pain.

"What are you doing?!" I heard my mom's horrified voice before she came into my sight, "let go," she cried as she tried to get my father away from me, successfully pushing him away from me.

Mom helped me up as I gulped and gasped for breath, my heart beating frantically. My mom pulled me into her arms as I tried to control my breath. In. Out. In. Out. When I was finally relaxed, I turned to face my dad who was pacing up and down restlessly in the living room.

"What is wrong with you Dave?!" Mom broke the tension filled silence, "Don't you have a heart? You want to kill your own daughter!" she yelled, making me flinch. I had never seen my mom that angry in years, she was a very calm and peaceful woman. But at a situation like that, she would definitely get upset especially when her own husband was a beast.

"Did you say, my daughter?" he scoffed turning around to face us, "she's your daughter not mine." He darted his cold eyes to me, "and you, you've rendered yourself more useless by going around fighting everyone you see."

"I don't go around fighting just anyone," I retorted furiously, "I only defend myself Dad! Anyone who messes with me would beaten black and blue!" I barked.

"How dare you raise your voice at me, huh?!" he barked, angrily, stepping closer to me and when I didn't respond to him he muttered, "I wonder why I haven't killed you yet."

"The same way you-"

"Please dear, don't bring it up," Mom begged from beside me, cutting off what I was going to say to Dad. I looked directly at her face to see a tear had fallen. I reminded her of the incident and as much as it pained her, it hurt me too.

"I'm sorry," I brought my hand up and wiped the tear away from her face, "I shouldn't have-"

"It's okay," she smiled sadly at me.

I turned to face my dad who was fuming like an angry bull- he's worse than that. My hands clenched into a fist, as always when I was around him. I can't believe I called such a man my father! That man had no gratitude, he was heartless! A messed up shit.

He called me useless and abused me because I was a- girl. I remember vividly how he kept on ranting on how he wanted male children not useless females. He would create problem for us and then accuse us for it, most times he'll tell me that I was the damn reason behind the problem. His abuse injured my heart and skin, sometimes even my mentality.

I know he hated me so much but at least he could've pitied Mom. She was never at fault, she wasn't the one to give herself male, she would sweat to get food on our table and then Dad would end up criticizing it. What a scumbag.

"I've had enough of your crap!" I yelled at Dad, my hatred for him increasing every second, "we've had enough of it," I rephrased, "I can no longer condole your abuses, you of all people should know Mom can't have males all by herself, you are at fault here. The better it sticks into your dumbass brain, the better for all of us because this isn't the nineteenth century where people select the genders they want as children. Enough of the discrimination!"

"How dare you?!-" my dad's angry voice boomed around the house, not bothering me one bit because I had once again lost all my self control.

I raised my right hand up, telling him not to utter any more word, "I wasn't done talking!" I seethed.

"What are you doing?" Mom asked, pleading for me to keep quiet but it all fell on deaf ears.

I kept hard gaze on him, "you've been a dingus and you know it, when I look at you, I'm ashamed to call you my Dad because I don't see a father in you. All I see is a beast. I'm not gonna hide in the shadows anymore because I'm not scared of you any more so I'm just going straight to the point," I brought my fingers to my chest, "I no longer see you as my Dad, I hate you-"

I was cut short when my dad's rough hands whipped across my left cheek. He mercilessly wrenched and yanked my hair, his fingers tangling in my messy waves. "Let go of me freak!" I barked, only getting him more furious as he yanked my hair harder.

"You're hurting her," Mom cried, trying to get dad's hand away from my hair but he pushed her away and she fell hard on the floor.

"Mom!" I shrieked in horror. At that point, my blood boiled frantically. How dare he?! I brought my knee up, and kneed him hard in the groin. He staggered backwards, letting go of my hair while I ran to Mom on the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked, worried, lifting her up and taking her to sit on the couch.

"I'm fine, you really need to control your temper around your dad-"

"He's not my dad," I stood up, suddenly annoyed again. I glared at my dad who was groaning in pain opposite me, literally feeling the steam coming out of my ears. I needed to pour my anger out but I wasn't going to do it there or else I'd trash the whole house. With no more words uttered, I matched towards the door, ignoring my mom's questions of where I was going and ran out of the house, knowing exactly where to release my anger.

𖣘𖣘𖣘𖣘

"What a jerk!" punch. "How could he be this heartless to his kids?!" punch. "He's no longer my dad anyway." punch. "But I'll make sure he pays." I seethed, giving the punch bag another punch. Sweat rolled down my face as I glared at the punch bag, hoping to at least put a hole in it.

This was how I dealt with my anger, punching the bag in the gym. There was a time in my life when I had enough of being a weakling and not being able to stand up for myself. It was here. I learnt defense moves in this very gym and poured out my anger here. It was no secret gym because people did come there but my parents never knew I came here.

I was about to throw another punch when I heard a male voice, "You really have to take it easy kid, you're gonna put a hole in that punch bag."

I turned around to see the owner of the gym, Mr Paul. He was always around when I came there and he was in fact the one who thought me some defence moves. "That's exactly what I was praying for sir," I said, my tone humourless.

He let out a low chuckle, "well, I can see you're getting better."

My anger slowly faded away and I gave him a genuine smile, "Thank you sir."

He returned the smile and walked away. I turned my attention back to the punch bag and then imagined my dad's face. The anger grew up and then I gave punches cognitively.

I don't know how long I had been in the gym but it was late when I made my way back home, successfully sneaking into my small room. I made my way into the- also small bathroom and had a shower.

I looked into the mirror and winced at my reflection. There was a bruise on my neck, in the shape of my dad's hands. There was also a purple spot on my shoulder from where he had hit me with a stick the previous day. My entire body was covered in scars which I had to hide everyday.

I sighed and made my way to my bed, hardly getting comfortable in it, but I gradually felt myself loose to the claws of sleep. My eyes fluttered close and darkness took over.

♣♣♣♠♠♠

I was brought out of my sleep when I felt someone's hand on mine, incessantly tapping me-and I wasn't ready to get up yet as exhaustion still ran through my veins.

I hadn't been sleeping well-or rather slept at all. The bruise-like shadows under my eyes were enough evidence that nightmares did plague my nights, and it took everything to calm my racing heart each time I wake up to the sound of my own screaming, tears clinging to my lashes.

I rolled over, trying to get more sleep but a familiar voice prevented me from doing just that.

"Carla," tap. "Please get up."

"Mom?" I asked incredulously, slowly opening my eyes. I blinked repeatedly until my vision cleared and I saw mom in front of me, looking worried in the middle of my room that was illuminated with dim glow by the lamp she must have turned on.

I shot out bed immediately, standing in front of her, "Mom what is it?" I whispered, my eyes trailing down her hands to the luggage she was holding. Was she leaving me? "Mom, I don't understand."

"Get your stuffs, we're leaving," she ordered in a whisper.

"We're leaving for good?" I asked and she nodded, "But it's late."

"Don't worry, I've got everything under control and we have to leave this night because your Dad is planning on doing something drastic tomorrow."

"Of course," I muttered lowly.

"Go pack." I did as she said and ran to pick up my bag of clothes. My wardrobe was really small so most of my clothes were kept inside the big bag. I packed everything I needed, clothes, toothbrush, undergarments, some shoes and hairbrushes before turning to face Mom.

"come on," she gestured for me to follow her. We tip toed out of my room, careful not to crash into anything as all the lights were turned off. We passed my parents room, hearing the sound of my dad snoring. Pig.

We successfully made our way out of the house, sighing in relief of not getting caught. I waited as mom closed the door gently behind her before turning to face me, "I had called my younger brother earlier and he's waiting for us at the end of the street so he could take us to a better place to start afresh."

I couldn't stop the joy that burst through me as I nodded my head in understanding. We both came down the porch steps and walked into the streets with our bags hung on our shoulders. I breathed in the late night air, not sparing one glance at the house that held so much miseries.

Even if we were able to successfully escape, would I be able to escape the painful memories that would play in my head in the future?



That's a wrap! :) What do you guys think of this surprisingly long prologue?