Chapter 1 Rayna

"You're not going to school today until you're done cleaning!" My mother roared at me.

I turned, startled, "I'm done with my chores, ma."

Her only response was a resounding slap that has my neck snapping to the side. I cup my flaming cheeks.

"You useless girl," she snarled, advancing at me, "How dare you talk back to me? It seems you're beginning to get too audacious."

I staggered away from the wrath blazing in her eyes.

"What's going on up there, darling?" Uncle Timothy's voice barked from below.

I glanced over my shoulder to see my silver haired uncle standing in the middle the living room and glaring up at me.

"She refused to do the cleaning," mother smirked at me.

"Th-that's not true," I rushed to say, "I've cleaned the house already."

"What about the garage at the back? Did you clean it?" She raised one brow at me.

I gaped at her. Since when did cleaning the garage become one of my duties too? As if it wasn't enough that I had to clean this endless mausoleum from top to bottom every single day, still cook, do the dishes and any other errand they required.

As far as I knew, the garage wasn't in use and hadn't been in use in years.

"But nobody ever goes there," I said carefully.

Weeds had overgrown the small garage and the wooden walls were so rotten, I doubted it was safe for anybody to be inside there. The whole place needed to be bulldozered.

Green eyes narrowed at me, "It's high time people started going there again."

"Why are you bothering explaining yourself to her?" My uncle snapped, "If she wants to continue living under our roof and being taken care of, she had better get that garage sparkling."

Taken care of? I was the one who was taking care of myself and them. I was more than earning my place here. I did the work of more than a dozen house staff.

I glanced down at my red and peeling hands, "I have a test today. I'm not lying, it's the truth, you can call Mrs Rivers to confirm."

My mother snorted, "I don't care if you have your final exam today, you're going to do what I said you should do or you won't leave this house."

I ground my teeth together. This was exactly what had happened to me last year. I had missed so many days and even missed some of my finals.

The result was that I didn't join my classmates to graduate. I was determined to leave highschool so i could be able to disappear with my degree at least. I couldn't go through everything I had gone through in my mother and uncle's hands only to leave empty handed.

"It seems to me like little Rayna now think she's so grown," the man below growled, "Well, in that case, I don't think we need to continue feeding you."

For the last six months, I had been surviving on only scraps from their table, so it wasn't like there would be any difference.

I kept my gaze downcast to hide the hatred blazing in my eyes. I didn't want to receive another of my mother's slaps.

"Get to work you maggot," she snapped.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied meekly and made to rush to the attic where my room was located.

"Where do you think you're going?" Her cold voice stopped me in my tracks, "Is that the way to the garage?"

"Actually, ma'am, I'm headed to my room to change out of my uniform," I explained.

Her lips pulled back in a sneer, "Do you think I have time to wait around for you to make fashion choices? Get to work, now!"

My uniform was already hanging on by threads and I was sure I would look like someone who had just crawled out of her grave by the time I got to school.

"Please, ma'am," I gasped, "It won't take me more than a minute to change out of my uniform."

Another slap landed on the other side of my face, this one with enough fury behind it to send me crashing into the rail of the staircase and almost toppling down.

"Arrrgh," I cried out as my hip knocked painfully into the wooden edge.

"So your uniform is of more importance than my precious time?" Mother hissed, "If you aren't at the garage in the next second, I'll pull you out of that school completely. It seems it's becoming too much of a distraction."

With a horrified yelp, I took to my heels, flying down the curving staircase, past my leering uncle and out the back door leading to the abandoned garage.

Tears filled my eyes as I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stared into the dark space.

I coughed as dust filled my nose and it only made my eyes water more. I looked around to make sure I couldn't be seen from the house before stripping my uniform white shirt off.

A hand over my mouth and nose, I grabbed the cleaning supplies right outside the door and stepped into the garage.

As I began to clean, I couldn't help but wonder why my own mother hated me so much. Sometimes I tried to convince myself that she wasn't really my mother, I imagined that my real mother was out there, searching for me and when she found me, she'll embrace me and love me.

Or maybe my father would come for me.

I didn't know who he was or if he was even alive. My mother had refused to tell me anything about him. Even going as far as to become violent when I tried to press the issue.

I sighed and continued to scrub the floors, tired of my own impossible fantasies.

Nobody was coming to save me.

My name is Rayna Giancarlo and I'm an abused daughter.

But not for much longer. I was going to get my degree and leave this life far behind me.