(Edited)

I woke up with a smile on my face and even though the sun was shining in my eyes and I wanted to kill it, I couldnt be happier. My smile stretched from ear to ear; my heart overflowed with pure content. I woke up feeling warm and protected; the nicely sculpted arm wrapped around my stomach was the cause of it. Michael slept peacefully, his lips slightly parted, and his breath even. He was fast asleep and after the night he had, I wasnt surprised if he slept through the entire day.

I tried climbing out of bed slowly so that I wouldnt wake him up. My body moved slightly, and Michael's grip on me tightened. My heartbeat quickened, I thought he had woken up. I looked over at him and sighed out with relief. He was fast, asleep it was just a reflex. Instead of another attempt at escaping, I stayed put and just stared at him. Goodness, he was beautiful. I couldnt help myself; he was utter perfection. He had perfectly shaped eyebrows that any girl would kill to have. I removed a stray hair off his forehead and looked at his pink, plump lips. I wanted to lean forward and place a sweet, gentle kiss on his lips, but I knew if I did that, I would ruin everything between us. He wasnt ready, and I would rather have him as a friend than as nothing at all. I settled with a kiss on his jaw, his light stubble scratching my chin. Goodness, he smelled amazing. He must have showered this morning.

'Way to be creepy,' Lilly snickered.

I grabbed a small pillow that laid on the bedside table and tried shuffling out of his grip. I quickly replaced my body with the cushion, and he happily snuggled with it. I quietly walked over to his desk and grabbed a paper and pen, writing him a note. I knew him well enough now to know that if I left without explaining, he would be incredibly angry.

Michael

I want to start off by saying thank you. Thank you for letting me into your life, for trusting me with your pain. Thank you for letting me be there for you yesterday. You have no idea how much it meant to me that you trusted me enough to let me in. I want you to know that Ill always be here for you if you need me.

I stopped writing and contemplated if I wanted to say the following. I looked over at Michael, lying soundlessly on the bed, and realized that I had already let him into my life and my secrets. Little by little with his analyzing, gaze he was unravelling the inner workings of Autumn Young. And for the first time in my entire existence, I was completely okay with it.

I want to thank you for unknowingly taking my mind off things that were bothering me and making me feel better. You made me smile and forget my troubles when even Emily couldnt do that. I guess you have some weird effect on me. I know you wont understand, but I hope you will be patient with me, Im really trying.

Xo

Autumn

I folded the written letter and placed it under his phone where he would easily find it. I looked at him once more and snuck out of his house. I descended towards mine, which was an hour-long walk, but it gave me enough time to reminisce about the previous night. I had so much fun with Michael; it took all of my worries away as well as his own it seemed. When he asked me to dance, I was shocked. It was definitely the first time someone asked me to dance after I had just thrown up. He was so sweet and caring, holding my hair back, offering me water and then he turned the music up and asked me to dance. Ive never felt for anyone what I felt for him last night. I hate to say it, but I was falling for Michael Woods, and I was falling hard.

Life was never kind to me; I learned that the hard way. If I had a good day, it had to be balanced out by something horrible occurring to me. When I got home and walked through the door, the smile I had on my face was quickly ripped off by two rough hands grabbing onto my hair and throwing me against the wall, my body smacking harshly against it. The back of my head hit the corner of the basement entrance and cut into my scalp. My head ached and blood run down the side of my face. My vision was blurry, but I didnt have time to refocus it, because I was forcefully pulled upwards and shoved down the basement stairs. It all happened so fast but not fast enough that I didnt have time to grab my body in all the right places.

I rolled my body into a ball so that I wouldnt break anything important. I also learned that the hard way. No other way to learn things in this place! My body rolled down the stairs, splinters digging into my skin. I landed with a loud thud on the concrete floor, and my breath smacked right out of my lungs. I could see stars floating over me, my head dizzy, and I was coughing for oxygen. What foreign concept it was in these parts of the house. I didnt try standing up yet; my entire body was killing me. My back took the blow of the impact, and the excruciating pain that travelled down my spine was telling me that it had been a bad idea. My arms burned, there was a slight irritation, splinters. I tried taking a deep breath, to stand up but cut my self short when a fire like burning pain consumed me. My ribs were back to square one, beaten and bruised. I took slow and semi steady breaths. At least this was the worst of it, I thought happily. I turned to the side and started to push myself up, my foster dad's boot kicking me in the back brought me onto the floor again.

"Look, Honey, the little one is trying to stand up." I swallowed the lump in my throat and bit the pain back. It was not going to be good for me.

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor resonated against the walls, sending a ball of undeniable fear through me. The last time I heard that sound down here, I was in the worst pain of my life. I couldnt stop my body from trembling, I didnt want them to see my fear, but I could stop it. I looked up a through blurry vision, tears rolling down my cheeks. The glint in his eyes were so dark, so deadly. He yanked me up, my body too weak to put up a fight. He pushed me into the chair, and I hissed in pain, keeping my head down while dizziness consumed me once again.

Mommy dearest chuckled, darkly. "She's not even putting up a fight Darling," she said, tying up her blonde hair. "She must be tired from working so hard." I wanted to spit on her, but my spit didnt need to go through that horror she called a face. Her husband chuckled, tying my legs and arms to the chair, I held back a hiss from the rope burn I was getting and kept staring at the floor.

"Such a good little girl!" he mocked, pulling my face up roughly and patted me on the cheek, I looked back down again. "If only you shared your money with us. Come on even pimps make money form their girls." I could feel his glare on my bleeding scalp.

I still didnt look up at them; I was mentally preparing myself for the torture that was coming. The last time I was in this chair was the worst night of my life. It was the last time I cried out for Rayn and my friends to save me. It was the last night I tried to escape. It was the night I got whipped. I heard cluttering coming from my left, and I found a bucket filled with water next to me. I could see it was boiling hot from the amount of steam coming from it. My heart stopped.

'Darn, the steam is going to ruin my make-up,' Lilly said with a pout.

I wanted to chuckle at how messed up I was. Maybe I am crazy? I'm going to get tormented, and the imaginary girl in my head is making sarcastic remarks. Lovely!

My foster mom stood behind me, pulling my hair up into a messy bun. "Don't want to ruin your pretty hair now do we?" She asked, rhetorically and kissed me on the head.

I pulled myself out of her grip, disgust evident in my act, and focused on my foster dad who was approaching me. He crouched in front of me, something silver catching my eye, a knife. She yanked my head back, straitening my body, and I groaned. He gripped the bottom of my shirt, and I started squirming against the chair, the rope restraining me. He snarled cutting my shirt open in two, my bra the only thing covering me; my newly bruised body on full display making them smile.

Crazy pants jumped up and down, excitedly. "Please, can I go first Darling?"

He stepped aside. "Sure thing, Baby."

She squealed and filled a dipper with boiling water. "Remember to scream for us baby girl." She commanded. I could hear Lilly screaming profanities at her.

There was no way I was giving them their satisfaction. Luckily for me, I build up a high pain tolerance and could fight it for quite some time. I clenched my fist, my nails digging into my palms, and waited in anticipation for the pain to come. The feeling of boiling water against my skin was excruciating. My nails dug deeper into my palms, drawing blood. I bit my cheek to stop the scream that was begging to come out. She poured it out bit by bit. I looked down at my bare stomach that now looked grossly red. I wanted nothing more than to blackout, the pain to stop. To scream and let the world know how badly in pain I was. They both took a turn in pouring water on me, enjoying every moment of it. My intake of breath was short and uneven. My whole body ached, but the worst was my scalding stomach. I wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere that had Michael in the vicinity. If only I had stayed longer in Michaels arms, with that thought in mind and my body on fire I blacked out.

Unsure of how many hours had past, I woke up to find them carving lines into my upper thighs. They cut my leggings open, and each took a thigh. My legs looked like a chessboard; I was surprised they didnt start playing on it. I was numb and tired, and they were taking turns to see who could cut the deepest before I squirmed. My favourite shirt ruined, my stomach bleeding, my leggings torn and full of blood and all for what their sadistic amusement?

It was his turn to cut me again, and he needed one more point to win. He took the knife, which I just realized was a small dagger and jabbed it into my thigh, wiggling it to make a lager cut and I broke. I let go of a piercing scream, relieving my body from all the pent-up pain. I screamed so loud until I had no more oxygen left in me and sagged into the chair, his triumphant chuckled filled the room.

"I knew I could break you, little girl." He said menacingly, grabbing my face with force, pulling it upwards so I would look him in the eyes. I hate you! With my droopy eyes, I tried my best not to look away. I couldnt handle any more of this. I would rather die.

His wife slapped me across the face and snarled. "You let him win on purpose, you good for nothing girl." She grabbed my hair in her fist and snapped it back, bringing her face dangerously close to mine. "Why don't you do us all a favour and kill yourself already. Nobody wants you." She hissed.

They cleaned themselves up and cut my ropes, leaving me almost drowning in my own blood. They went upstairs and after a while, maybe an hour, I heard the front door close and took that as my sign. I wasn't sure how I did it, but I made it towards my bedroom, cleaned myself up, bandaged what needed to be bandaged, applied what needed to be applied and passed out on my bed.

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