Prologue

"Passengers please fasten your seatbelts; we will be landing in Dallas, Texas in a few minutes." The pilot said as I stared lazily out at the rain storm. I was thinking about everything that had happened to me in the past six years and how fast it was all about to change.

My name is Serena Renae Shannon. I'm a 20 year old woman who grew up in Miami and had big dreams of being a model…but things don't seem to be going as planned for me. Right now I'm moving away from my hometown of Miami, Florida. My story actually began when I was 14 years old. My older brother and best friend Steven graduated from high school and then decided to go to college in Texas. We only spoke on the phone a few times and he wrote me letters every now and then but not once did he come home.

I didn't blame him. Our parents constantly fought about everything and it was nerve racking to be around them. In order to take our mind off things, Steven and I would go to our friend Mark's house for awhile and play video games. The guys always got mad when I kicked their butts. Oh well. Anyways, I was heartbroken when Steven decided to live in Texas after he graduate college. I had already not seen him for 4 years and to make things worse he didn't show up at my graduation. I guess his new job really kept him busy.

Unfortunately things went downhill for me after I graduated high school. First off, my parents died in a car crash one month after I graduated. I wrote to Steven to tell him the news but he only sent me money in return. I ended up moving in with my boyfriend Eric who began abusing me both verbally and physically on a daily basis. At times I didn't even know why I was being hit or called names like stupid and worthless. To make things worse he got me fired from my job when he decided to lock me in his basement for three days…some life I was living.

After dealing with him for 2 years I finally decided I needed to do something to get myself away from him. One night when he went out with his friends I packed all of my stuff and went over to my friend Rachel's house. She helped me buy my plane tickets, get in contact with my brother, and even drove me to the airport all in a matter of three days. So here I am getting ready to get off the plane and onto my new life.