So Bittersweet By Our Design

After another brutal fight with my step-dad, I had finally lost it. I packed up a bag full of my favorite clothes and items, and waited for my "parents" to settle down for bed. Once I was sure they were asleep, I crept down the hallway that led to the door. I bundled up in my coat and grabbed a blanket draping over the back of the sofa before I headed out.

I walked out with no intentions of ever coming back.

I hated it there.

My parents divorced when I was fourteen years old. My mother fell in love with someone new and left the greatest man ever for some deadbeat loser who has no respect for her, or her daughter. How could you downgrade from a successful man to a deadbeat? It never made any sense to me. Now my real dad lives across the country and isn't allowed any contact with me.

Now my mom works two jobs and is barely around. My step-dad is the one I spend more time with, though it's not enjoyable. For the past two year, he's been abusive towards me. I've suffered from many bruises and a couple broken bones. I've also had to lie, which is the hardest thing for me to do. I refuse to tell the truth of what's really happening only for my mother's happiness.

But tonight, Mike crossed the line. I was shoved into a wall, hit across the face with a book, kicked in the ribs, and I was almost certain my collarbone was broken. While I waited for them to fall asleep, I applied fresh cuts to my wrist. What's a little more pain?

That's why I needed out.

Before I did something dumb, anyways. Life was too beautiful to lose.

The weather was cold and rainy for this October night. It didn't bother me though. No one could see me moving through the gloomy night. My old Converses hit the wet pavement, creating waves through the puddles. The rain felt good on my aching body.

The busiest highway in town looked like a ghost town at one AM. I was going to cross it and call it a night under the bridge at a nearby park. I really had no idea where I was going after dawn came, but I had the next few hours to figure it out.

I looked both ways before I crossed the dead highway. Nothing happened to be coming so I progressed on until I was in the middle of the street.

I was blinded by headlights and the sound of a loud, speeding engine approached. Before I could react, I was being startled by a loud horn and squealing tires.

In that moment, I felt bounded. I couldn't move and I was struck.

For a split second, I was hovering in the air as if I was a feather. The next, I was laying face down on wet concrete as the driver sped away, leaving me to be tomorrow's road kill.

Pain flooded through my body and I laid there for death.

I didn't want to die this way.