......

Six years earlier...

A loud boom woke me up like an alarm clock.

I saw Mom covered in blood.

"Mom," I cried, "run."

"I love you, Allison." She mumbled to me, cupping my face in her hands.

"Mom! Run!" I yelled.

Once she got up, she collapsed again. Someone killed her. Someone killed her. Someone killed Dad.

I ran as fast as I could.

3 hours later...

The ambulance and the police rushed towards me.

"Allison Mitchell!" The people yelled.

I looked straight at them. They ran towards me.

"Are you okay?" A family friend, Laura Smith, asked.

"Yeah." I mumbled.

"I saw the whole incident." Laura replied, "Your father isn't dead."

"Let me live with him." I said.

"I will." Laura replied.

Dad was brought to me. He carried me home.

"Take off your shirt." He commanded.

I did as told. He whipped me with the belt. Once, twice, three times, four times, twenty times, forty times.

"Your mother chose you over me!" Dad yelled.

"No!" I yelled.

Dad beat me again. And again. And again. My lip was bleeding rapidly.

"Why have you forsaken me?!" I yelled as the fan roared above our heads.

......

Six years later...

He handed me a bottle of the world's hottest hot sauce. I know what I have to do. I have to drink the whole bottle without stopping in front of Father, no water afterwords. I opened up the bottle. I took a deep breath. Gulp, gulp gulp. I gulped down the five bottles of water worth of hot sauce, one gulp at a time. Gulp, gulp, gulp. I can barely breath. I felt my face turn blueish-purple after ten gulps. I'm only half way through. The pain. The burns. The bruises. The dizzy side-effects. All of this is just awful. I can't stand it. I need to breathe. I took the last sip and I finally started breathing again. It all seems so blissful.

......

I ran out into the hallway. Cassidy Stewart walked into the hallway and shoved Joe into his locker. Cassidy beat up Kennedy, and threw Ellie out the window.

"No, you can't do this! You will regret it!" I yelled.

Cassidy replied, "That doesn't matter to me."

"Cassidy, run before I throw you out the window." I warned.

......

"Drink that hot sauce." Father commanded as he gestured to the hottest hot sauce in the world.

I walked over to the kitchen. I pulled out a spoon and forced some hot sauce into my mouth. My mouth is starting to burn. I feel like my world is turning black. I feel like this isn't reality. Reality must be worst. After my one hundredth gulp, I decided to take a breath.

"No breathing!" Father yelled, "Die Allison Martinez!"

He shouted my real last name. I had the option to be Allison Martinez of Allison Mitchell when I was five. I chose Mitchell. Alli Mitchell is how most people know me. Nobody except for Father and Mother know my real last name. Not even Laura. Laura knows ALMOST everything. She knows me as Allison Mitchell and she knows that I turn sixteen in a month. She knows that I have brown hair and brown eyes and have never had a crush on anyone. Laura thinks my life is fine, but I know it's not. She asks me to call her when I need her, but I don't think she will ever respond.

"Drink that hot sauce until you die, Allison Michelle Martinez!" Father yells, his expression firm, eyebrows raised, flaring nose, almost red eyes.

I instantly resumed on drinking that hot sauce. One gulp, two gulps, three gulps, my mouth is burning! The burns dominated my face with just one gulp. I just knew something bad will happen to him as a consequence. Ever since Mom died, Father has been taking it out on me. It's my fault Mom died. Mom died for me.

"She died for me." I say to myself as I take another burning gulp of the hottest hot sauce in the world.

The world will never be the same. I took more gulps. Twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four...

"Faster!" Father yells.

Twenty-five, twenty-six...

"You are finished!" Father yelled.

I stopped gulping the hot sauce. My face was burning hot. I touched my face and it stung even more. Why does nothing matter to Father? I don't know. I run up to my bedroom and into the connected bathroom. I see burns, dominating my face and my arms. I have to stand this. I have to stay strong.

"Why am I not dead?" I ask myself.

I look in the mirror, seeing myself look more tortured every millisecond. I suddenly realize why I'm not dead. God wants me to make Father pay. Nit just God, but me too. And Mom. Mom is probably crying as she watches over me. I think it aches her heart to watch me live with these injuries. I am a rebel.

"I will survive." I mumble to myself, "And I will do anything it takes to make Father pay."

......

"Where to?" I ask.

"Gabriel's house." Kennedy replies, "My former boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?!" Ellie asks, "When?"

"Last year." Kennedy says.

"So back to my house?" Ellie asks.

"Yep." Kennedy replies.

"You go. Me and Alli don't want to go." Ellie says.

"I'll grab Susan, then." Kennedy replies.

We walk out separate ways.

"Let's go to Cassidy's house." Ellie says.

"I'm in!" Kennedy yells.

"Come on, then!" I yell.

We run down the street as the moonlight shines above our heads. We sprint faster, and faster, and faster until we reach Cassidy's house.

"We're here!" Ellie yells.

"This is a house?!" Kennedy yells, "It looks like a palace!"

"Yep." Ellie says.

"I hear something." I say.

"What now?" Ellie asks.

"Who is she making out with?" I ask.

"Probably Gabriel." Kennedy replies.

I take Kennedy's phone and dial Mrs. Stewart's number.

"Hello?" Mrs. Stewart asks.

"Mrs. Stewart, I am here to inform you that your daughter is having sex in your basement." I say with an Italian accent.

I see Gabriel, Ellie's older brother, running out of the Stewart household naked. I take a picture of him on my phone. Gabriel runs away, panicked.

"Oh my God, what's the picture?" Kennedy asks.

I show her. Kennedy and Ellie cry while laughing at the same time. Eventually, so was I.

"That's hilarious, Alli!" Kennedy yells.

"I agree." Kennedy says.

"Time to prank Suzannah Kartaham." I say.

"Who's that?" Ellie asks.

"Jonathan Kartaham's older sister." I say.

Kennedy nods.

"Why is she so bad?" Ellie asks.

"She used to be the queen bee before Cassidy Stewart. Now they're best friends." I say.

"Sound juicy!" Kennedy yells.

We run to Jonathan's house like ninjas in present day time. I climb up the rooftop. I watch Ellie and Kennedy do the same. Ellie and Kennedy keep tripping on the way up.

"Come on, ninjas." I mumble.

They keep climbing up. I open the window. I climb in. I tip toe into Suzannah's room. I put Nair on her eyebrow. She jumps.

"Help!" She yells.

I put the covers on top of Suzannah's head.

"Oh my God! Allison, you little twit!" Cassidy yells.

"Run!" Kennedy whispers.

I run towards the window of Suzannah's bedroom. I jump out the window. I land on the corner of the rooftop. I suddenly feel like life is perfect. I know it's not. I get abused for goodness sake! My life's not perfect, it just feels like it for a couple minutes.

"Go, Alli!" Kennedy and Ellie yell at the same time, raising their arms in the air.

"Be quiet. Run!" I whisper with a carefully soothing tone of voice.

We jump off the roof and run.

......

"Alli, what's going on at home?" He whispers in my ear.

"It's nothing, Joe. Trust me." I reply.

He cups my face with his hands. His lips suddenly press against mine. Our body heat collides at the perfect pace as the fire suddenly builds up inside of me. It's like the perfect collision between two bodies ever made. I can't believe it's finally here. My first kiss. Joe probably kissed a million other girls before me, but I chose to wait... For the perfect one.

"Two for Alli!" I hear the Starbucks lady say.

I pull away from Joe's embrace.

"I love you." Joe mumbles to me.

"I love you too." I reply.

......