1 I wish I was still dreaming
It was all quiet on a Tuesday night in the Winslow household. Cara sat on the edge of her bed painting her toes a bright coral colour, her freshly curled chocolate brown hair draped around her. She often stayed up late giving herself makeovers, anything to make herself feel beautiful.
School was in just 5 hours and she could feel herself start to get tired, she was dreading another run in with Selene. She was the it girl of the school, her father was the principal and would let her get away with anything. Selene tormented Cara every day of school because she was slightly chubby, her family were not well off and she had a crescent moon shaped birthmark over her left eye. This in particular earned Cara the nickname of dog.
Cara lay down on her bed and closed her eyes for what seemed like a minute, she was awoken by very loud pounding on her bedroom door. "Get up now you stupid cow! Your alarms have been going off for 30 minutes!" Screamed Clive, Cara's stepdad. She hated Clive with a passion, he would mentally and physically abuse Cara and her mother Lisa constantly. Cara didn't know her biological father, her mother always said it was a one night stand and she couldn't find him to let him know she was pregnant. Lisa met Clive when Cara was 3, he was very loving to them both for 2 years and had a good job. The day after Clara's 5th birthday he was fired, that's when the first hits came for Lisa. Clara could hear her mother crying out as she was beaten every night. Clara received her first beating at the age of 6, Clive always used his belt across her back so that teachers at school wouldn't see. Lisa was not allowed to leave the house.
Clara dragged herself from her bed, dressed in her baggiest darkest clothes as to not stand out at school. Her hair hanging around her face, she couldn't wait till the end of the school year. She would then be 18 and planned to leave the town of crystal falls, she hated the thought of leaving her mother but she knew Lisa was too scared to ever go. Clara rushed out the house and down the street as to avoid a run in with Clive, he was obviously not in the best of moods already today. She would probably hear about it again later. At the end of her street was Stacey, her best and quite frankly only friend Clara had from the past 17 years of her living in crystal falls. Stacey was a beautiful curvy red head, she had piercing blue eyes that she framed with huge glasses that somehow enhanced her beauty. She often got attention from guys but would never give them the time of day, Stacey was very career driven and could not wait to graduate and go to medical school.
"Ready for another day in hell?" Asked Stacey with a smile. "I wish I was still dreaming" replied Cara with a giggle, although she wasn't really joking.