The rain pelted down on the sidewalk around me as I walked, why had I decided that I was going to run away when it was pouring rain. I'd just dyed my hair for god's sake and now all the colour was currently running down the side of my face, fuck.

I should probably tell you why I'm on the run. It's kind of a long story so get your popcorn. To fully understand I have to give a little back-story. My name is Isabella Maria Swan, I'm 15 years old and I've been in the foster system since I was about 5 years old. My mother was an alcoholic and drug addict and my birth father, well I don't know much about him. My mother "raised" me from birth until I turned 3, we lived in run down apartments, homeless shelters and on occasion my mom's pimps place. I was definitely neglected in all of this. When we lived in this one shitty apartment I was left alone a lot. There was never food in the house so I often went hungry. In the last apartment building we lived in, there was this one college student living next door to us, the walls were thin and she could hear me crying one night out of hunger, she came over and when she saw that it was just me alone, sitting in the living room, dirty, crying and hungry she called the cops and they came and removed me from the house.

That's when child protective services stepped in and took me out of the house permanently. I was in really bad shape when they found me I guess. I was way too small for my age, like skin and bones. I was covered in bruises, shaped like hand prints, all over my body, as well as dried blood. I had been abused by not only my mother but also her friends. I spent most of the night in the hospital, I don't remember all the stuff they did on me but it sucked when they had to stick an IV in me to get fluids into me as fast as possible. My mother was found that night working in the strip club she favoured. She was high as a kite and drunk. She was arrested on the spot and has gotten 40 plus years in prison for neglect and abuse, as well as all kinds of drug charges that came up after they searched our apartment.

I was placed in the care of my mom's sponsor, who hadn't done much to help her I'd like to point out, until I was 5 and she got sick of caring for me, from there I was placed into my first foster home. That had been the place I'd stayed in the longest, almost 5 years, but when I turned 10 I started to act out and the family couldn't take care of a troubled child with babies in the house. After that I bounced around a lot, not staying in a house for more than a year. I was trouble.

The distant sound of police sirens was slowly getting louder, bringing me out of my thoughts. Oh yeah, now I remember why I'd run.

I ducked under some nearby trees and sat down in the bushes as two cars came zooming past. Yeah they were looking for me. And don't judge me like that, I'm not really that much trouble. At 15 I was in my 25th foster home, 6th this year alone, and it was horrible. It was a single man, which should be a red flag in itself by the way, he was a creep! I had tried to tell my social worker but he didn't believe me, or care for that matter, of course. Tonight I had been in the shower when I heard a noise outside the door. I peeked out of the curtain just in time to see him shut the door. He'd been peeping on me in the shower. I quickly got out and dressed. I packed up the few belongings I did have an tried to leave. He tried to stop me, tried to kiss me also and I shoved him off of me. He fell into a table and busted his head open, yeah he didn't want to kiss me after that. He called the cops and I took off. Which leads me to where I am right now

When I figured the coast was clear I climbed out of the trees, brushed branches out of my soaked hair the colour was ruined no doubt but there wasn't anything I could do now. I walked a little further until I found a starbucks. Walking in I found that it was mostly empty, save for a few college kids getting coffee for their all-night study sessions. I snuck my way into the bathroom and locked it behind me, the likelihood that anyone would come in was slim to none at 8 o'clock at night.

I slipped off my jacket and cursed myself for not covering my hair, as now my jacket had my blue hair dye all over it. I tried my best to rinse it out but it was pointless, the jacket was stained blue. I left it on the counter by the sink and used the hand dryer to dry off a bit. My pants were still soaked but there wasn't anything I could do about that for now. I washed what was left of my make off and used an elastic band I found in my bag to tie my hair up in a messy bun on the top of my head. I probably should have tried to do that earlier but the damage was done. Once my top half was mostly dry and my face was no longer stained blue from my hair I made my way out of the bathroom. I pulled my wallet out of my backpack and was please to see that I had enough money for a cappuccino. The guy behind the counter gave me an odd look but I just smiled.

Coffee in hand I made my way back outside. I didn't know where I was going to go but a shelter would probably be my best bet for the night. Most of them would probably be closed or full now but sometimes they took pity on kids.

The first three shelters I stopped at were either closed for the night or already overfilled. The lady at the last shelter said that the youth care center was just a bus ride away and they usually took in anyone under 18 if they had room. I didn't know if I should bother risk bothering going that far out but it was my last hope of getting out of the rain tonight that didn't include being brought in by the cops.

The bus fare took the last of my money and after getting shit from the driver about my hair staining the seats I made it to the shelter. Knocking on the side door where the sign at the main door told me to go I knocked on the door and waited.

The door opened to reveal a large man.

"Can I help you?" He asked looking me up and down.

"Got any beds left?" I asked. He looked a little put out. "I'll take that look as a no," I sighed.

"Sorry honey, there's another shelter a block from here, I could call them if you want," He offered. I brushed him off.

"Nah, I'll go see if I can find something else, thanks though," I said. He nodded sadly before shutting the door. I walked further into the ally and found a section where the roof was covering the ground. It was dry and would due for the night. Hopefully the cops will give up on looking for me by tomorrow and I'd be able to go to my friends place. It would be the first place the cops looked once word got to my social worker.

Sitting down on the ground I rested my head on the brick wall. It wasn't comfortable at all but it would do for the night. My eyes closed and for a while I felt relax.

"She's over here!" I heard a voice call in my half awake haze. The next thing I know I'm being cuffed and thrown into the back of a cop car. Shit.

- Monday Morning (Two days after the arrest)-

"Isabella Swan, you will face 5 months in King County Juvenile Detention Center, for assault causing injury to Mr. Mark Glaciar, as well as property damage up to $600, effective immediately," The judge banged the gavel onto the desk and I was dragged away by two officers. Jesus it's not like I was going anywhere.

I watched the world go by from the back of the cop car as we drove to the King County Detention center. It would be my last bit of freedom for the next few months. Those property damage charges were from a few months ago. In one of my foster homes the dad was an ass, he was beating on one of the other girls so I took a bat to his precious car. Nothing had been done about it back then because of the abuse but the judge had looked into my file and saw the report, she felt that I deserved to be punished for it. I thought that was BS but no one cared what I thought.

When we arrived at the detention center, I was escorted out of the car and to a holding cell. When I'd been arrested on Friday night they'd brought me here for holding till I could see the judge on Monday, so I'd gone though the whole pat down and removal of personal belongings like jewelry and all that. I was put in the holding cell because there was someone going through that a head of me that I had to wait for.

It didn't take that long before the officer came to get me again. I walked through the metal detectors and all that jazz, and then they brought me to my room. I was considered non violent so I had a roommate. It was a girl named Mia who had been arrested after she got caught robbing a bank with her then boyfriend. She had a 6 month old daughter who she got to see every other weekend when her mother brought her in. She had a good relationship with her parents so they took the baby after she gave birth. She seemed like an all around good person who got mixed in with the wrong crowd.

- 2 Months later -

Juvie wasn't so bad. We got three meals a day and I had a bed to sleep in. I mean it wasn't that comfortable but it was a bed nonetheless. School kinda sucked but it's school, it sucks no matter where you are.

Mia is really my only friend here but it's juvie, not the best place to make friends, a lot of the girls don't care to make friends either. I've also met Mia's mother and daughter. Her mother's nice enough and her daughter is pretty cute. Seeing her brought up a lot of feelings from my past.

"Swan let's go, shower time," The guard called walking past my room. I sighed and stood up, grabbing my towel and a clean uniform. We wear gray shirts and pants as our into the bathroom. I strip and walk into the showers. It was weird at first to shower in a room of people but you get over that pretty quick.