Snickering at a locker, the prissy girls laughed as the poor girl who was wearing the same clothes as the couple days before sauntered by. Her jeans were ripped at the knee and torn in various places, frayed and rough looking; her shirt was hardly a shirt, being as there were small holes looking like they were punctured with needles, and it was ten times too small. She looked like she had gone through a really hard time.

As if she didn’t have it bad enough as it was. She didn’t know many people, but this made her feel like an outcast and a complete idiot. They all made her feel nauseated because she knew that after her escape of school (which wasn’t quite the escape that she wished for in her dreams), she would return home to a place where she did everything and got beaten regardless of if she helped out or not. Didn’t people see this? Did they, or did they just not care?

She walked a sad long road home when it started to rain, but being as she had left her only jacket at home, she shivered and hurried home as fast as she could. She appeared in front of the rundown house, and walked through the chain fence. She walked on the sidewalk that was flanked by tall weeds that reached up to her stomach. The key fit into the lock and easily twisted because it wasn’t the newest thing in the world. The door opened up to uncover the blaring television that had probably been on all of the time she was gone. Her father was a deadbeat dad in the sense that he made her do everything even though he gave her food, it was the only thing he really gave her, and the sad part of that is it wasn’t usually even enough- just scraps. Where was her mother for all of this? Her mother had committed “suicide”, but Hayley knew better.

Seven years on this very exact day was when Hayley lost her mother. When ten years old, she was basically her own parent due to a father who didn’t care. She was hardly spoken to by anybody and hardly cared about, and maybe this was the reason. Depression and cutting where the only things she knew, but nobody should ever go through that. Instead of spending his effort and money on alcohol, aren’t there priorities in this life that need to be taken care of? Like a daughter, perhaps?

Meanwhile, he’s making an innocent girl a miserable one.

“Hello, Hayley.” He greeted her upon hearing the door open.

“Hi.”

“I have a confession to make. Do you know what seven years today marks?” He asked with a sly smile. He knew what today was, probably had it marked on the calendar. He was actually sober today. Special occasion? No just another year that his wife has been dead. Nothing happy in that. He obviously had been the leading cause of her death. Her mother was killed by her father. Hayley just knew it. He must have done a very good job of framing her for her own death though because he never was considered a suspect.

“No,” she lied. He would see her weakness: missing her mother.

“Your mother died on this day seven years back. We were all so upset," he said mockingly,"but I feel you should know how it really happened.” His smile got bigger, her heart started beating fast. She needed something to alleviate this fear. He couldn’t smell it, right? Only dogs could. He does act like quite an animal so it wouldn’t surprise her if he could.

“What really happened?” Hayley’s voice quivered and cracked. Did she really want him to reveal what happened? She knew that he was the cause of her death, but she didn’t think she could handle knowing all of the gruesome details leading up to her mother’s last few moments.

“I killed her. She was always giving you all the attention. I was sick and tired of you and your whiny self. You needed to grow up; there was only one way to solve that. You know what? I never even loved your mother, nor did I ever love you,” he kept stepping towards Hayley, but she tried to make it less obvious that she was moving back too. She didn’t want to make him angry when she saw what kind of a mood he was in at the moment. Who knew what he’d do to her.

She stayed quiet. It was the smartest thing she could do; it could potentially save her life.

“You were the reason why we had so many problems. I killed her to make you, that sweet innocent little girl that she loved, suffer. Now it’s time to end your suffering.”

He lunged forward so quickly that she didn’t even have time to move. He pushed her back making her fall, hitting her head on the hard brick from their fireplace. It almost knocked her out, but she wasn’t going down without a long fight that she was bound and determined to win. He laughed and turned around, thinking that he had defeated her. She quickly got up and got a wine bottle sitting on the hearth, smashing it over his head. Glass got everywhere, and his head was soon dripping blood from the wounds.

He screamed, he yelled, vulgar things that didn’t have any meaning to her. Right that second, her only focus what getting out of harm’s way, her father’s way.
She didn’t want to kill him, only to get far away from him. She never wanted to see his face again.
She kicked him in the stomach which was sufficient of making him slightly unconscious giving her just enough time for a great getaway. He grabbed her foot.
She fell to the ground again with a thump and he got on top and pinned her down about to choke her. She sensed that he was about to gain all power over her. She knew it would hurt her but it had to be done. She head butted his head, and he grabbed it. This time she kicked him in a place where he would never want to be kicked again. It wasn’t just a soft kick, it was the hardest kick she could muster up. She knew that he would be out for at least a couple minutes.

The keys to his old beaten up truck where hung up where they usually were. She didn’t know quite how to drive, but given troubling circumstances people are able to do things that they weren’t capable of doing before.

Running, not losing any time, she sprinted to the road, through the weeds, through the chain fence. She never thought she would be so happy to have this truck. She started it up easily, which, thank goodness, was a miracle for the old truck that constantly needed help. She saw her furious father walking out of the front door in a raging fury- fast recover. This was her time. She needed to floor it and get out of this place. It was now or never.

Now.