"Up, get up right this minute!" Victoria screeched, her nasal voice bringing me out of my hazy, restless sleep. Mornings were always like this, sometimes, when I woke up with a carefree feeling (something that was extremely rare) I would smile to myself, I would think of how ridiculous my situation was, how Victoria made me feel like Harry Potter or something with the way she would rap on my door, not wanting to enter my pathetic cardboard box of a room, as if I were a disease.

She banged the door one more time before storming downstairs to cook James his usual feast of a breakfast. I crawled out of bed, literally, and stepped towards my small chest of drawers, I pulled out a pair of navy skinny jeans and a Stone Sour shirt. I sat on my bed, putting on my converse and opened my door, bracing myself for what stood ahead. I took the stairs carefully, knocking on the kitchen door before entering. James looked up as I entered, smirking at me, his greasy hair falling in front of his vile face.

"Morning" I greeted, trying to be polite as possible. After all, today of all days I needed to be on their good side, I needed to try to get out this house without any bruises, broken bones and without tear-stained cheeks. They grunted in reply as I sat opposite James, keeping my eyes down on the table. Victoria placed a slice of dry toast in front of me and I groaned inwardly. Why was it that they could afford to eat like royalty, to live like royalty but then as soon as it came to me they 'couldn't afford' to sustain that way of life. I thanked Victoria, and began to eat the measly slice of toast in front of me, trying to disguise my hunger by eating slowly.

I was always hungry nowadays, but I daren't ask for more food, Victoria and James made sure I was well informed of how unwelcome I was in this house, of the fact that I was lucky to have what I had, to be fed and have a place to sleep. It may sound ungrateful, but I didn't think I was lucky, to be honest I thought I had the worst stinking luck in town! I didn't feel lucky to be fed enough to keep me going but not enough to satisfy the constant feeling of hunger. I didn't feel lucky to have the sleeping chambers I had now, the room was so small a full size bed wouldn't fit in it and it was so narrow that there was barely any space between the edge of my tiny bed and the wall. And I definitely didn't feel lucky to be in this house, especially with them. What was lucky about what I had? Realistically, there was nothing. Barely fed, unloved and the 'family' punch bag.

Today was different though, today I was going to leave, leave and never look back at this god damned dump. I would never again live in fear of beatings; I would be my own person and make a life for myself, a life that included absolutely no one from this ratty little town.

After the usual verbal abuse I was excused and told to leave for school. I went upstairs to go and collect my books. At least that's what I told them. As soon as my door was shut, separating me from them, I grabbed my school bag and emptied all my school stuff, shoving it under my bed so it was out of sight. I then shimmied along the wall to my chest of drawers, I emptied the contents into my bag, which I'm sad to say, fit. I had so little clothes now it was quite sad. I had to buy everything myself, using the wages I got from my ill-paying job at the Newton's store.

I went down the stairs and bid farewell to Victoria and James, making sure they knew I had left. I walked along our quiet road until I reached the corner, I turned left, the opposite direction to school and headed towards the woods. Once there I sat on a tree trunk where I could watch the house from. Now it was just a case of watching and waiting.

20 minutes later I was freezing and my butt was numb as anything. I rooted through my bag, pulling out a hoodie and pulled it on, revelling in the warmth. Soon after Victoria climbed into her expensive Porsche and pulled off the drive, on her way to work. It was only James left now, but I was beginning to get impatient and, knowing James, I would have to wait a hell of a lot longer.

I began to walk through the woods, not venturing too far from the trails, after all, this was me we were talking about and with my luck and coordination I would be on my butt in a matter of seconds if I approached anything too uneven. I went back to the log I had sat on around every 10 minutes to check if James had left yet. After about an hour I went back every 20 minutes, and after another hour it was every 30 minutes.

I was really anxious now, earlier when I was packing my bags and readying myself to leave I had been fine, better than I expected, I suppose that was just the adrenaline though wasn't it? Now, with hours having passed and not long left before Victoria would return from work I really was getting worried. If James didn't leave the house soon then I wouldn't have a chance to get into the house again, it was obvious that he wasn't going to work today, my only hope was that he found another reason to leave the house, even if it was just for 20 minutes, that was all the time I needed,

The worry started to really get to me and I began to feel faint, I sat down on the log and put my head between my knees, trying to calm myself. I never had dealt well with pressure. After a few minutes of sitting like that I felt calmer and sat up, I looked over at the house and my heart dropped as I saw that his car was still there. There was no way he would leave without it though; he was far too lazy to walk anywhere, so he must still be in.

I was brought out of thoughts by the snapping of a twig behind me, I spun around, panicked. Nothing. I scanned the area with my eyes, nothing. But there had to be something, twigs don't just snap for no reason, right? Then again, maybe it was just an animal. I dismissed my worries and turned back around to watch the house. I sat there for a while later but I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that I was being watched. I heard a noise to my left, followed by muffled cursing. I shot up from the log and began to head over to where the noise had come from. It sounded like it had come from deeper into the woods, where the trees were thicker and closer together.

I carried on walking in that direction, determined to find out what was going on and who was there. Adrenaline was leaving no room for fear in my mind, and as I got deeper into the woods more cursing came and a tall figure clad I dark jeans and a black hoodie darted from their hiding place behind a large tree and began to run.

I'm not really sure what made me do it, maybe it was the adrenaline, maybe I was just feeling adventurous, but I ran after the figure, determined to find out what they were doing here, spying on me.

The figure was fast, I'll give him that. I assumed it was a he anyway; he seemed too tall to be a girl, too lean. My coordination didn't seem to help my case much either, I tripped regularly, but carried on anyway, we were getting deeper and deeper into the wood and I began to wonder if I would ever find my way back to the house.

The figure was starting to slow, spurring me on, giving me the will to push myself and catch up with him.

Out of nowhere he was nowhere to be seen; one minute he was getting closer and closer and I was going to catch him, the next he was nowhere. I ran faster, determined to find the ass that got me into this situation.

The trees were clearing and floor getting herder, I sped up again, not sure how much more my body could take, trying to ignore the pain that came with every step. Then, just as suddenly as I had lost him, I went flying, slipping and sliding on my backside and colliding, full speed, into something hard.

"Ow!" I groaned. Great, so I'd done all that for nothing. I rolled off the hard thing I had collided with, presumably a rock, and lay with my eyes closed on my back, catching my breath. I scolded myself for being so stupid as I sat up and assessed the situation, I seemed to be in a puddle of mud. Joy. I thought, well I'm going to have fun trying to go unnoticed like this aren't I? I stood up, huffing as I did so, every inch of my body in pain from the wild goose chase.

I looked down at my now mud covered body, praying the mud hadn't gotten into my bag of clean clothes. I thought about how hopelessly lost I was at that moment, about how my whole plan was spoiled and how I would have to sneak home to wash up and try again tomorrow, then I looked myself over again.

I don't know why, but at that moment my whole situation just seemed completely and utterly hilarious to me. I burst into laughter, flopping back into the mud, laughing and laughing so much it hurt, my laughter echoing around me.

"Mind sharing the joke?" a velvety voice said from behind, I scrambled to my feet and spun around to face the direction the voice had come from, my heart nearly stopping from shock. Before me stood a mud covered figure, tall, lean. It was the guy I had been chasing. Looks like I hadn't lost him at all! I'd just joined him in the mud. This brought on another round of laughter and he stood there with an amused look on his mud covered face as he watched he giggle to myself.

"Sorry" I said after I'd calmed down and could form a coherent sentence.

"For what?" he asked, looking me up and down, before smiling politely at me.

I thought about that for a second. He had a point. "I'm not really sure" I admitted. He smiled crookedly at me and despite the fact that he was covered in mud I could tell he was good looking, impossibly good looking. I blushed and looked at the floor. "If I hadn't chased you then you wouldn't have fallen?" it came out as a question.

He laughed, the magical sound echoing around us as my laughter had done before. I felt foolish now, I realised, regretting my silly outburst. He probably thinks I'm a nutter now I thought grimly.

"Am I not to blame for you chasing me?" he asked, I looked up, the confusion obviously clear on my face. He recognised my confusion and smiled "Was I not the one watching you? Is it any wonder you thought as me as a threat? In a wood, on your own and you're being watched by a strange man." He looked at me oddly then, as if trying to work something about me out. "Although, I wonder how clever it was to chase me. Most people would have the logic to run away from danger, not follow it into a pile of mud" He laughed and I blushed, glad that I was covered in mud so that he couldn't see my blush.

"I wasn't really thinking" I admitted, looking him in the eye

"I'm glad" He smiled. I frowned in confusion at that. There was something in the way that he said it that made me believe him, just one thing played on my mind. What on earth was that supposed to mean?

…….

Leave me a thought? Did you like it? Did you not? What was good? What was bad?

You know what I mean. Basically, I want to know if you think my story is worth carrying on with, worth reading and how I can improve.

XD