The Perfect Strangers {1}

- 2 -

*ring ring*

Thank goodness for that. Class had finally finished. As the end of the day approached,I grabbed my bag as I swiftly walked out of the class,trying to avoid eye contact with any of the students around me. As I began my journey home, I felt like a presence was continuously watching me but I took no notice of it and put my headphones in, slowly drowning the feeling out as music took over my surroundings.

After a short while, I arrived home, dreading what awaited next. I entered my house as a very visible drunken father stood in front of me, glaring at me like a bird eyeing up their prey just before they swoop down and devour it.

"Where the fuck were you ?!" He bellowed as I glanced at the stairs ,my only escape from this living nightmare. Fear...that's all that intoxicated my body as I felt a lump form in my throat,words being unable to escape and before I knew it I felt a sting form on my cheek. That's when I realized, he slapped me and that's when all hell broke loose and before I knew it I was on the ground getting half beaten to death ,at the end of the day this is no new experience though.I'm used to it at the age of 16.

Here is some background. My father first started this when I was 10. I lived a happy normal childhood but one night changed my life. See how I said I lived a happy normal childhood in the past tense, well this is why.My mum got diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer due to her smoking all her life. After that, life had never been the same for me nor my father .

She fought her battles for as long as she possibly could but she couldn't fight forever ,she lost her battle on the 27th of March 2014 at 8:36pm. The worst date of my life imprinted black and white into my cursed mind.

Not long after her death,my father fell into depression and began drinking. It went from one beer every night to drinking as soon as he woke up right until midnight ,if he wasn't sleeping he would be drinking . If he wasn't doing anything he would drink.

As time went on, the drinking got worse but not only that, but so did his behavior.It was only the name call like he would call me a "slut " or "whore "....then he body shamed me...made me feel fat so that's when I started starving myself. It didn't do any good in anyway,it made this much easier to accomplish and I managed to lose a stone in a month. Then our brother left us to achieve his goals in college and live his dream of becoming an architect.when I turned 12, I realized nearly everyone had left me alone to try survive living with a 40 year old drunken man also known as the man I call my "father".

This is when the physical abuse began, he would do anything from just a slap to eventually leaving me half dead on the floor, bruises get added every day and scars form on my body from anything he tries hitting me with ...day by day I slowly wished I was up in heaven with my mother,i wished the pain would just go away but luck is never on my side and all it ever does it get worse. One day the possibility may come and if he goes any further maybe I could be gone just like ...that .Not that I'm complaining...

My sudden thoughts got interrupted as four anonymous figures towered above me as one forcefully tore my dad off me, pinning him harshly against a wall as the three others took me out. 'Why would they help me? 'I thought as complete confusion consumed me. I turned my head to reveal my father passed out on the floor. The tallest of the boys came up to me trying to comfort me as tears uncontrollably rolled down my face. I was in an obvious state of panic....trauma...and he could tell.

He came close to me placing his hand on my cheek,  coming closer to my ear whispering softly in it," don't worry your safe with us" I was unsure of what to do and whether to trust him however I just hugged him tightly, not responding as I felt his arms engulf me hugging me back. I just quietly said "what about when he wakes up?" as my state of panic was coming back so many questions wandered my mind . Would he hurt me more?Who are these boys ? Why did they help me ? Am I safe ? But the one that lingered my mind for the longest was, am I safe? The question that is almost impossible to answer .

He simply replied with, "you can stay with us tonight? And don't worry you are safe with us. Trust me."

The questions began to linger in my mind again as I tried studying the faces that stood before me. I have an almost certain feeling that I've seen one of the people with me at school but the other three I couldn't really tell as their hoods were up, making defining features unrecognizable. Me recklessly thinking nodded my head answering their question, not considering all the danger that the answer to that question beheld .

I was curious to know who these boys were. We entered their car and they drove to where they lived, with me in the back and two of the boys sat next to me lost in their phones,  you wouldn't know I was even there . The silence made the tight space an awkward atmosphere as silence was our only companion on this car ride.

Oh wait I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Leah Jones I have frequently turned 16 and I live in Los Angeles ,California however I haven't lived all my life. I have moved to nearly every state as my mum's job meant we were always on the move and I never stayed at one stable school so as you could probably imagine, finding friends was hard. Mainly because as soon as I made some I was on the move again. This has lead to me keeping my self to myself, less pain will be caused to me and the others around me but this time we are here for good, no more moving so I am going to try settle in for once, this may be hard to me, baring in mind i was not able to do it previously in my life...but I am going to try .

as you probably heard i live alone with that thing I have to call a father due to there being no other family around .

I am 5'4 and weigh 105 lb. I have chestnut brown eyes which go along with my hair colour , I have quite a simple style I do not dress like a slut or anything because I like to cover my bruises  and cuts so my average wear is a baggy hoodie  or jumper and leggings or jeans ,this way no one will found about what goes on behind closed doors and shows how fat I really am to people.to top that I wear  some cute glasses that I wear if I am don't want to to put my contacts in . I don't like to cake my face in makeup. My usual routine is just foundation ,concealer ,mascara (maybe eyelashes ) and lip gloss. I feel insecure if I wear too much but also if I don't wear enough .

I spend my time doing gymnastics however I would much rather be on the track running, but due to my asthmatic conditions that is never going to happen so I'm just going to stick with gymnastics ,it's what I've been doing since I was very young so I have learnt many skills.My mother loved it and so do I.

I snuggled my head into the boy who was now looking at me. I slowly fell asleep on the boy to my rights shoulder letting darkness take over, a warm feeling enhancing in my body.

A/N Here we have Chapter 2. Hope y'all are enjoying it :) Please keep commenting and voting our story!