How Her Life was Changed

She awoke with a start.

Strands of thoughts rolled through her mind, none quite complete, all leading to the same place.

Why am I awake?

As soon as the question registered, it was answered.

"Don't hit me with that!"

The Voice.

It was female.

Definitely scared.

Scratch that. Terrified.

And... something else underneath, undefined.

"You didn't answer me." Laughter. Mean, mocking laughter. More like a chuckle. That particular Voice had an evil pleasure to what it was saying.

Male.

Demanded obedience.

And evidently an answer.

"Don't hit me with that! Please don't hit me!"

More insistent. And drunk. That was what was she missed the first time, the girl thought with a sad sigh. This was going to be an interesting night. Or possibly morning, since she was unsure of the time.

The girl knew what to do; she slowly stretched her arm out of her comfortable bed, her heart in her throat pounding wildly, and reached over to the dresser next to her bed in search of a certain object. Once she found it, she tightly grasped it in her hand, then slowly lay back down, wary of every movement due to the squeaky mattress springs. All the while, she heard the disembodied voices.

Suddenly, the girl heard a crunching noise, a yell, and a thud, all in quick succession. After listening to the screams, she was able to make out that the owner of the male voice had hit the female, in some way. The girl became frightened for the female voice, and terrified of the male voice.

The girl nearly covered her ears from the woman's cries, but knew she couldn't. She had to remember accurately what had happened - if she lived to tell the tale. Instead, she prayed, she prayed harder than she ever had to a god that may or may not even exist, but still, she prayed. She also gripped the object in her hand close to her heart, hoping she would be able to escape and use it effectively.

Soon, the petrified girl heard the bodies the voices belonged to retreating to the dining room. The male was still being insistant, but the girl could only tell by the tone of his voice, for the couple had lowered their voices enough that the girl was only able to hear the murmurings. Still she held tight to the precious object.

Finally, she heard the dreaded-yet-hoped-for words come from the male's mouth. "Let's go on a walk." The female voice consented. The young girl waited impatiently, adrenaline coursing through her veins, as she waited to hear the slamming of the back door. Being smart, the girl waited a few moments before slowly creeping out of her bed and through the house to the back door. There, she made sure the coast was clear; then she bolted to the house directly across the alley, as silently as possible, almost dropping the treasured item in her haste.

At last, the girl arrived at her destination. She hurriedly unlocked the door, for the object was a key. A key to this door, to this house. Thanking whatever god she had prayed to earlier, she quickly ran through the house, quietly flipping lights on as she went, and within a few moments, had arrived to the bedroom her sister and her sister's husband shared. She shook her older sister awake and swiftly whispered all that had transpired. Evidently, her sister's husband had woken up as well, for they bolted out of bed to put decent clothes on to find where the previous couple had gone. The girl's sister told the girl to stay, she could try to go back to sleep if she wanted to in the bedroom, and they would be back. Upon saying this, the two left. Before nervously crawling into bed, the girl checked the time: 2:43 in the morning. Wonderful.

So many thoughts were running through the girl's head that sleep became a fantasy. As she analyzed these thoughts, a deep fear began to settle into her bones. Little did she know that this fear was only the beginning of a three year war within herself, her family, those close to her and those around her in general. Little did she know that this fear would cause her to grow from the unsheltered, would-be innocent girl into a strong, hardcore woman.

Eventually, the girl's sister and husband came back and announced things were as settled as they were going to get. They comforted the girl, they reassured her, and they told her she did the right thing. Unfortunately, the girl received another life changing event within an hour. As she reluctantly left her safe haven, she saw the owner of the cruel voice waiting for her outside her home. She was told if she ever pulled a "stunt" like that again, the house she was about to enter would no longer be called her home.

After having that shock thrown at her, she went back to bed, to fretfully toss and turn, only to cry herself to sleep.

The next three years were hard, to say the least, for the girl and her family. She came close to losing her sister and her sister's husband because of the cold man, but the girl made it through. She survived those rough years and she grew from them.

The girl knew within her heart of hearts, no matter what happened, she would always stand up to voice her opinion when it mattered and she would always have the god she prayed to by her side, because she knows, even now, that He took care of her that night, continues to take care of her, and will always be her Protector, her Comforter, her Healer, and most important of all, her Friend.