Chapter 1

My alarm clock rang, and I groaned. Squinting at the clock, I looked at the time. 5:30 AM. Time to fix Charlie his breakfast. Rolling off my mattress, I stumbled down the stairs, my back aching from last night's beating. I sat down in the small kitchen, looking at the yellow cabinets. Renee had painted them before she had died.

I let out a yawn, and rested my head on the table, my eyes shutting...

I awoke with a jolt what seemed to be 30 seconds later. My entire body tense, I looked up at the clock on the microwave... it was 6:00. I had 15 minutes to make Charlie a perfect meal.

Racing to the refrigerator, I pulled out two eggs, and grabbed some bacon from the freezer. Tossing some bread in the toaster, I began to fry the bacon and scramble the eggs, praying to God that nothing would burn.

Ten minutes later, Charlie walked in, his eternal scowl on his face. Timidly I sat his plate in front of him, took a step back, and watched as he took the first bite. His face twisted into a furious glare, and he stood up and hurled the plate at me. I ducked, and it shattered on the wall behind me, scattering shards of glass and bits of bacon and egg everywhere.

"This is BURNT!" he screamed, and began to remove his belt.

"Charlie, no, please!" I bent over and began to pick up some of the pieces. "I can make you a new plate, it will be better this time! Please!"

"I don't give second chances," he growled at me. A body crashed into my side, throwing me to the floor. I cringed as I felt te sharp sting of leather on my body, again and again. "And to think I was going to go easy on you today!"

I just closed my eyes, and waited for him to stop. Eventually he grew tired of hurting me, and walked out the door, but not before screaming, "Whores like you don't deserve to live!"

I lay there, counting slowly to ten before getting up. I didn't even cry. I hadn't cried since I was eight.

Crawling on my hands and knees over to the closet, I pulled myself up by the doorknob and grabbed a broom. Stumbling back to the kitchen, I proceeded to scrub the walls and floor until they were relatively the same color as before.

I looked at the clock. It was eight. Time to get ready for school.