1 Chapter 1

Thump.... Thump...The footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Quinn tried to shrink her body down and fit herself in the small space. "Where are you little sister? Come on out, you are now making me angry." Ellie yelled in a loud voice. Quinn's heartbeat got louder as she tried to not get a panic attack. The footsteps were getting louder and louder until they suddenly stopped. Quinn let out a sigh of relief thinking Ellie has finally left. Suddenly a loud punch was made on the locker in which she was hiding.

Now, Quinn was so scared that she was struggling to breathe.

heart thudded in her chest. Her hands shook. Her feet tingled. Her vision disfigured, as she tried to

The blood pounded in her ears. Her

look through the vent of the locker. She had her hands wrapped so tightly around it that her nails

dug into her palms.

All of a sudden Ellie opened the door and Quinn rolled to the floor still unable to catch her breathe.

"Aww...are you that afraid of me, well, you should be." Bringing her foot to Quinn's stomach she

stopped as hard as she could. Quinn screamed loudly in pain. "Why did you talk back to me at

lunch?". Ellie brought her foot to her chest and shouted, "How dare you disrespect me in front of

the whole school, do you have a death wish little sister?" Ellie stomped her feet one last time on her

ribs. " Its your good luck that I am not wearing heels, dear sister."

Saying that she turned around and walked away. Not spearing a single glance at the girl who was

now unconscious.

"Are you okay?" Quinn opened her eyes slowly to see Robert hovering over her. Quinn sat down

with her legs between her legs and raised a finger telling him to give her a minute to compose

herself. She softly lifted her head and said, "I'm fine." "How long have I been out.". To that he shook

his head. "I really don't know for how long you have been out. I was going to my locker to get my

bike keys; my practise had just got over. Then I saw you lying unconscious on the floor, so I rushed

here and tried to wake you up." Quinn nodded softly and said a hushed Thank you. Robert looked at

her with pity, but he knew who had done this so he did not pry further and asked her "Do you need

a ride home?".

Quinn shook her head thinking about what her stepsister will do to her if she came home on a bike

with Robert. Robert asked her again if she was sure. She ignored him this time and quickly got up

ignoring the pain in her chest and started walking towards the school's exit.

She looked at her watch and realised that the last bus had left, and she had to walk two miles to get

to home. She slowly stared walking and then realised that she will be beaten raw again by her sister

if she got home at the time of her dinner. She imagined Ellie saying, "Why did you have to come

now, you ruined my appetite." Sighing loudly, she decided to drag herself to the nearest park and

wait for an hour before going home.

Halfway to the park, her legs suddenly gave out. She looked towards the dark sky and suddenly she

felt that all of her hopes leaving. She remembered how her mother had died trying to save her from

the fire and how when she arrived at her father's house after two years of looking for him, he looked

at her with disgusted eyes. How her stepmother stood up for her in front of him and welcomed her.

Even she died in a car accident that happened due to her. Her father no longer acknowledged her

existence and her stepsister beat her up whenever she felt like it. She couldn't even stand up for

herself because she felt guilty of her mother's death.

All the memories came down on her all at once. All of them pointing at the fact that she shouldn't

exist in this world and that she was a mistake. Quinn held her head in her hands and screamed. She

couldn't take this anymore.

She took out her pocketknife from her jeans that she always kept for her self-defence but was never

able to use it. She took the knife and slashed her wrist vigorously trying to get rid of her mental pain

by inflicting a physical one.

Her legs gave out and she feel down on the path.

When she closed her eyes she saw herself as a five year old playing with her mother in the backyard.

Her mother looked like an angle with blue eyes and white blonde hair tied in plates with a rose

tucked in her hair. She looked so happy, then suddenly my five year self-had fallen down. Mother

rushed towards me to see whether I had sustained any fatal injury. My five-year self was crying at

this point. Mother squatted down but did not help me up, she said in a soft voice, "Quinn, nobody

can help you if you don't try to help yourself first. I will not always be with you. So, what will you do

if nobody is there to help you and you have fallen down pretty hard?" The five year old shook her

head and said, "I don't know". Her mother smiled and replied "You will try to get up even if it hurts a

lot. Even though you feel you can't just try to get up and if you try I am sure god will help you."

Suddenly, Quinn felt a wave of energy washing over her. She tried her hardest to open her eyes.

After several tries she finally opened her eyes and to her luck she saw a shadow hovering her. She

opened her mouth and said, "Hel.... help me ...please."

Then the shadow stared moving down and Quinn sighed thinking she would be saved but instead the

stranger took a knife out of his pocket and brought it down to her stomach. A surprised screech left

her mouth as darkness slowly started surrounding her. Engulfing all her memories. She vaguely

remember saying, "Sorry Mom" before darkness completely entrapped her.