His Shy and Abused Mate [ON HOLD]

Prologue

Hushed voices drifted into my ears from my parents room. The thin walls refused to cooperate with their attempt to keep from waking me up. But they didn't wake me up, I just couldn't sleep. After years of sleeping on the lumpy couch in the living room I had gotten used to it. What kept me up was the pain in my stomach. I was hungry but there was nothing to eat in the house.

Both of my parents worked but it wasn't enough. My mother couldn't get as many shifts as she wanted at the diner she worked at and my father, despite spending almost every waking hour working at the gas station two miles away, didn't make as much as we needed. Our low income qualified us for food stamps but we had to sell half the food we bought with it to help pay the bills. So we were always hungry and still struggling to make ends meet. But I was still a little better off than my parents. Because we were so poor I was able to get free breakfast and lunch at school. So whenever I got home and there was food I tried to take as little as possible because I knew that I ate better than my family. However, on the weekends I was just as hungry as my mom and dad.

The hunger was making me restless so I got up and slowly crept towards my parents door to clearly hear what their muffled voiced were saying.

"It's going to be alright Lily. We have always managed to get by. I'm sure you will find a new job soon.", I heard my dad say comfortingly to my mom. "But we can't support ourselves on just your salary while I look. There's no guarantee I will even be able to find a new job. I'm scared for us Tom.", my mother replied in a shakey voice. "And what about Allison?", she continued, "we can't take care of her. There just isn't enough money. We are horrible parents for not being able to care for her. We've failed. No I've failed for not being able to hold down a job for her."

My heart broke hearing my mother sound so distraught. I knew without a doubt that she and my dad worked extremely hard for us to have a roof over our heads and food on the table. And they saved money year round in any way possible so that when it way my birthday they could get me a cake with candles.

I heared muffled crying from behind the door. Wiping away my own tears with the back of my hand I headed back to my couch. I laid down and pulled my thin blanket over myself. Eventually I drifted off to sleep with the sound of my mother crying in the background.

I woke up shivering and my blanket on the floor. It was autumn and although it didn't do much my blanket at least gave me some wamth in this chilly season.

Like usual the house was quite and empty. My parents got up extremely early to get to work. I wondered if my mom left to make me think she was at work or if she was looking for a job. Probably both I thought.

Doing my first and only situp of the day, I grabbed my fallen blanket on the way up and wrapped it around myself. I looked at my familiar surroundings. The scuffed, wooden floor dipped slightly where the couch was and the once white walls were now slightly yellow and stained with brown and grey spots. To my right was a small drawer with peeling baby blue paint that held most of what I owned.

As I stared at the little flowers on the drawer I thought about my life. In school some of the guys and girls whispered about me when they thought I couldn't hear and occasionally someone would point out how poor I am. It hurt but I had learned to ignore them the best I could.

There were a few people though that were nice to me. The goth kids in the back of the art room were always kind and invited me to sit with them. I always refused so they ended up moving to sit near me. I never talked to them or anyone but sometimes I couldn't help but smile at their jokes or the things they said so they made it a game to get me to smile. Some of them were in my other classes as well and if anyone said anything rude to me at least one of them would cuss them out or fight that person. Usually it was Cassy. She was pretty and lesbian and always talking about how she was going to marry me. I wasn't into girls but it always made me feel special when she said these things even though I knew she was joking.

My rumbling stomach pulled me out of these thoughts and urged me towards the small kitchen. I padded over to the fridge and opened it. I already knew it was empty but I couldn't help myself from checking anyway. As I stood there staring at the empty fridge I couldn't help but think about how much of a burden I was to my parents. They would be better off without me.

Closing my eyes I let that thought sink in. In a sudden flurry of movement I closed the door and raced back to the living room. I pulled out a black bra that was a little too small, leggings, jeans, a grey t-shirt, and underwear. I stripped off my shirt and shorts and put on the clothes I had chosen. When it got cold I would always wear leggings under my jeans for extra warmth because I couldn't generate and maintain body heat like other people. I was too small and skinny for that. I put on my grey jacket that was resting on the arm of the couch and stuffed my feet into my worn out boots.

Before leaving I took out a sheet of paper and pen from my backpack and quickly wrote that I was leaving because I didn't want my parents to have to struggle so much to support me and I knew they would be better off without me. I signed it with love from me and left it on the couch. With a deep breath I walked out the door and tried not to look back.