Survival Mode

Fight or Flight

|Rhea's POV|

Another night of me crying myself to sleep. Another night of fighting with my mother. I swear she hates me. Well, she hates my dad and me looking just like him doesn't help. Just who is my father? He's WWE Hall of Famer, current superstar, and actor, Adam "Edge" Copeland. She and my dad were married for less than a year when he cheated on her. She found out she was pregnant and by the time the divorce was finalized, I was born. My dad took a DNA test because he claims my mother was no angel.

As I've gotten older, my mother has become more harsh and cold. I've always resembled my dad, but I'm like his carbon copy now. She hates it. It's like everything she wishes she could say to him, she says it out on me. Her anger towards him, she takes it out on me. She used to say I was the best thing that came out of their faltered relationship. I just wish she'd stop blaming me for everything. I'm not the reason they got divorced.

You're just like your father, that son of a bitch.

Your father would do something stupid like that.

You look just like that bastard.

Ever since I turned 12, I've been staying with relatives more so than I am at home. I'm either with my grandmother or my aunt. My mom says she's working. Usually she's out of the state. When my dad tried to see me more, she went to court saying that his career was too busy and he couldn't give me stability. The courts sided with her. Little did they know I didn't have much stability with my mom. My dad is working to get full custody of me, but she's giving him a hard time.

You already ruined our marriage, you're not going to ruin our daughter.

You've taken so much from me already, I'll be damned if you take Rhea.

I feel like I'm just a token to her at this point. Collect the child support check and keep me away from my dad. It hurts me that she hates me so much. I never did anything to her. The custody agreement has it that I spend Summers with my dad, the school year with my mom and they alternate holidays every year.

Since their divorce my dad has remarried. That just set my mom off even more. She claims the relationship he has with Beth should have been our life, had he not cheated. Beth is an amazing woman. My dad is happy and I'm happy he's happy. When I'm with them, I don't feel left out. I don't feel like the ugly duckling as my mom makes me feel. I'm just his oldest daughter and big sister to Ruby and Lyric.

I heard a knock on my door which made me jump, snapping me out of my thoughts. I'm currently at my grandmother's house. I heard a bump against my door before my uncle stumbled in. He was drunk. I hated this part.

"Hey, pretty girl. Uncle Michael needs a bedtime hug."

Then they wonder why I constantly run away. He's never sexually assaulted me, but he's come close. I usually knee him in his nuts and that gets me a slap in return and he backs off. My mom asks what happened and he and my grandma chalk it up to me being a klutz. She never presses the issue any further. How could my grandma let something like this happen in her house? I'm only 14 and he's been doing this since I was 12. I'll never forget what my grandmother said when I told her what my uncle did the first time.

He was just drunk. He didn't mean anything by it. Grow up.

Why was no one on my side? I could tell my dad, but if my mom and grandma think I'm lying, he will too. Well, at least that's what I think. My dad told me I could tell him any and everything no matter what. I couldn't tell him this.

He came and stood at the foot of the bed, but I quickly got up. I had on my pajamas and was looking for my escape. He wouldn't be able to catch me if I ran out of the door. Right? Right. He must've sensed I was trying to leave as he backed me into a corner, tightly grabbing my cheeks between his hands.