Surviving With You: Prologue

1983

Detroit, Michigan

"Christian, Ana, come here please," I slur.

I sway to and fro, and throw my left hand against the wall to try and keep my balance. A cheap bottle of vodka in my other hand. I glance inside my bedroom and spot my son Christian and Ana huddled together under a blanket on the dirty worn out mattress.

It was never supposed to be like this.

This was not the life I had envisioned for my child.

I hate myself for doing this to him. I hate myself for letting him abuse my son. I hate that we let that monster hurt our two perfect angels.

Carla and I were inseparable as children. We grew up together in a small town in northern Texas. We always said we were going to marry a rich man, and that they were going to take us away from that small Texas town. As fate would have it, Carla met a guy named Frank who was in the Army. He was on leave and was set to ship out overseas that week.

Carla lost her virginity to him. I lost my virginity to one of his friends who was in the same unit.

I would always think back to that night. The night I felt so safe and cherished. I didn't know his name or what his parents did for a living. I never knew if he had any siblings, or what he preferred when it came to cake or ice cream. All I remember of him was his hair and eyes. Brown with a hint of red, and crystal clear blue eyes. Those same eyes that would always haunt me in my dreams.

When we both woke up that morning, they were gone.

A couple of months later, we both found out we were pregnant. It's funny how we both got knocked up at the same time at the age of seventeen.

My parents gave me two choices. Have the baby and I get kicked out, or have an abortion.

I choose to have the baby.

My parents kicked me out and Carla's parents did the same thing to her. We both packed up everything we could carry and left.

We both hitched hiked as far as we could. When we got to Tennessee, we met a man named Tony that said he would help us out. Since we were both pregnant, and with nowhere to go, we both agreed.

That was the first biggest mistake we ever had made.

He drove us to Detroit since he said that is where he 'worked.' We thought that we would be waitresses at a diner or at least something that could help us start over. Little did we know, that once we gave birth, that we would become addicted to drugs and sell ourselves for money.

So here we are, five years later in this shitty ass apartment, in the slums of Detroit, Michigan, where Tony, our pimp, is having sex with Carla in the other room so we can have some cash so we can feed our kids.

A lone tear slips out of the corner of my eye when I see my son walking towards me with his hand in Ana's.

Christian is such a good little boy. He is intelligent, smart, funny and very sensitive. He has his father's floppy copper colored hair and my gray eyes.

Ana is such beautiful little girl. Long brown hair, bright powder blue eyes, an upturned nose, and rosy cheeks.

Christian and Ana are inseparable, just like Carla, and I was at their age. We were both so close as children and as teenagers. I am thankful that they have each other.

"Yes, momma?" Christian whispers.

The bottle of vodka slips out of my hand as I lean over and softly kiss my son on his forehead.

"Are you both hungry?" I run my fingertips through his hair.

"Yes," they both say in unison.

I chuckle and kiss them both on the cheek.

Suddenly, the door to the other room slams open and out walks Tony who is trying to button up his pants. I stand in front of the kids and try to stand up straight. He's drunk.

He finally buttons his pants and runs his hand through his dirty, unwashed hair and looks up at me.

"Ella, your turn. Get your ass in here!" he snarls.

I nod weakly and turn around and look down at the kids. They are both holding each other tightly. Ana's eyes are closed tightly, and Christian is running is hand through Ana's hair soothingly. I choke back a sob.

This wasn't the life I wanted for them. I didn't want this. I didn't want my kids to be nearly starved to death. I didn't want them to have a mother who couldn't put food on the table, or couldn't provide them with proper clothes to wear.

We failed them.

Tony stomps over to me and pulls my hair and smashes his mouth to mine. I can smell the stench of alcohol on his breath. His disgusting tongue slips into my mouth, and he grinds his crotch into me. He pushes me back, and I immediately look to see where the kids are. I look towards the bedroom, and they are huddled together on the mattress. They are both silently crying, and both are shivering. More tears slip out of my eyes when he drags me to the bedroom and throws me on the bed next to a passed out Carla.

I curl up into a ball and cry.

I can hear Tony unbuttoning his pants in the background, and I faintly hear sobbing in the other room where the kids are trying to sooth each other. This causes me to cry harder into the dirty mattress.

He suddenly pulls my legs down and roughly pulls my jeans off of my legs. I close my eyes tightly and imagine I am somewhere else. Somewhere where our kids are laughing and playing happily in a large meadow. There are no pimps. No drugs. No hunger. No abuse. No uncertainty.

Some place where there is no fear.

But right now, fear and uncertainty are what they will ever know.

AN: This story will be different than any other story I have written. It is AU/OOC. No cheating but there will be violence and language. I am still working on A Different Path to Fifty and that story will be coming to an end soon.

This story will probably be hard to read for some so I just want to warn you all beforehand.

I do moderate guest reviews, and I am all for constructive criticism, but if there are reviews that simply want to complain or attack me for whatever reason, I am deleting them. I love reading your reviews but I cannot stand the coward guests who love to simply bash writers just because. If you do not like the story, DON'T READ IT. I know this story will be hard to read but if you do not like the direction it is going, then just stop reading.

The story will probably be in short chapters. I usually aim for 2,000-2,200 words but writing shorter chapters will help me update faster than I usually do. I will update when I can so please bear with me.

Thank you to all the lovely ladies at FSoG Fanfic Obsessed for encouraging me to post the story a little early. You guys are awesome. :)

Chapter one will be in set in the future. Let me know what you all think and if you are interested, I will continue it.

I will set up a Pinterest page here soon and I will post a link when I have one up.