Welcome to Anna's World

Anna's PoV:
I woke up in the middle of the night. It was dark and I was lying on the bed still in my clothes. I jumped when I saw a man next to me, but soon relaxed when I realized that it was just Dad. I was too tired to get up and change my clothes, considering it already was 5 in the morning and I had to get up in two hours anyway. I cuddled in my Dad's arms, hoping he wouldn't mind.

Ryan's PoV:
I woke up early to the ringing of an alarm clock. I turned it off and felt my daughter stir in my arms. She crawled into them earlier this morning. I was glad she did so, and I could tell she needed someone by her side last night. We found her asleep her face tearstained.
The alarm clock went off for a second time. I took it in my hands turning it off completely this time. "Time to wake up, sweetie", I mumbled softly. She moved around shutting her eyes closed. I laughed at her not wanting to get up and simply removed the warmth of me by standing up myself.

After we brought her to school John and I went up to her room to find out what made her cry so hard last night. “Look!” John exclaimed pointing to the ripped open box that was addressed to her. I took it and threw its contents on her bed. Both of us sat around them. I took a CD in my hand and stared at the little handwritten text on it. ”My Lili Rose - I collected them for you”. I looked up at John who was holding a piece of a newspaper’s page in his hands. “What is it about?” I asked watching him reading the article. “Oh”, he sighed putting the paper down. He had such a sad expression written on his face, it made me worry.

“Uhh... It’s about that adopted boy whose parents faked his death and locked him up in their basement”, he explained after a while. I took the article out of his hands to read it myself and to give my husband some time to get his thoughts clear. The boy’s name popped in my eye. Frank Richards? Where have I heard this name before? Suddenly it dawned on me. “Hey isn’t this Anna’s best friend?” I turned to John. He nodded. It wasn’t like we read his name in our daughter’s file. We actually asked Mrs Jane if Anna had a friend or something at the orphanage, so we could adopt him or her as a sibling. That was when she mentioned him: Frank Richards.

“It probably made her upset to read the things in this article” John tried to speak, but his voice came out a bit hoarse. I lifted him up from where he was sitting and sat him on my lap. I held him there and rubbed lazy circles on his back. I know it takes him down to read stuff like that, because of his own experiences in childhood.

We sat like that for a while until John wanted to know what I had in my hands earlier. I showed him the CD, wrapped in a booklet. He read the sentence on it frowned and stood up. “Let’s listen to this”, he mumbled while walking out of the room. I quickly ran after him questioning: “Is this really a good idea? I mean, it made her cry, so it’s probably kind of very personal.” – “Personal or not, I want to know what made my baby girl cry” he stated firmly. He put the CD out of the booklet and we listened to the whole thing through.

There was a whole variety of different songs on it. Some were probably self recorded hence to the not so good quality. On one hand there were original songs on it, like "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row or "Shout At the Devil" by Motley Crue. Also there were some self recorded, covered songs on it like a cover of "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Some songs caught my attention though. I didn't recognize them and they had the same quality and singing voice like the covered songs. They probably weren't only self played and recorded but self written. There was one that had some well chosen words in it that fit Anna perfectly. I looked at the booklet and searched for the name of this song. It was called "Lili". John who probably noticed the same thing, leaned into me and rested his head on my shoulder. We stayed like that even a long time after the CD ended. The ringing of the phone downstairs let us both flinch.

Anna's PoV:
I walked through the hallways of school. Nicky didn't come to school today so I hoped I could find all the rooms on my own. PE was next. I sighed when I got to the changing room, I was grateful nobody but this one girl was in there. She had glasses on, and had a very nerdy style of clothes. Nonetheless she had a nice face and smiled up at me when I entered. I went into one corner of the room to change as far away from her as I could. I wanted to change as fast as I could before the room got crowded. I didn't want anyone to see my scars and bruises that cover almost all of my body. I didn't have any luck though. Just when I opened my bag with my PE stuff, the door opened and the three blonde girls came in (by the way I still had no clue what they're names were).

"Ohhh, look!", one of them exclaimed, "The nerd and the emo!!" Emo? Seriously? They couldn't come up with something better than that? That wasn't even offensive. I just stayed silent and had my back against the girls. I knew she was standing right behind me so I wasn't surprised when she put her hand on my shoulder. I still flinched though. "You know, the world doesn't need pathetic people like you", she said in a sympathetic tone, but of course I knew she was faking it. I just rolled my eyes and snapped her hand off of my shoulder. She obviously got a bit angry by my actions so she violently turned me around and pushed my back against the wall.

I breathed through my mouth to keep in control. "Don't you fucking roll your eyes and turn the fuck around when I talk to you!" she spat in my face. I stared down at the floor. She got really close to me then, I could hear her breath. My mind was going crazy and I clenched my fists. Suddenly she started to hilariously laughing in my face. "You know you're not even more worth than that "Rocker - Emo" Nicky you hang out with all day." she said. I was glad when she backed off a bit, but what she said didn't affect me as much as she hoped. She wasn't the first person who called me worthless. What she did say about Nicky got a bit on my nerves surprisingly and I didn't really understand where that was coming from.

I didn't have time though to think about that. She interrupted my thoughts by continuing: "You know, somebody should go and tell your mother what a worthless failure she made walking on this earth. " I froze at that sentence. And she wasn't finished. "Why don't you run home to your mother and tell her she failed?" - "What?" I croaked out making out if she really said a thing like that. "I said: Go to your whore of a mother and tell her that she made the biggest mistake with you." At that point my fists were ready and I replied: "My mother's dead." And I punched her as hard as I could. I didn't stop when she fell to the ground and even when I felt people scream and arms around me I still kicked at the wriggling body on the floor in front of me.

Ryan's PoV:
We were currently sitting in the principal's office. The parents of the other girl, Jenny I think her name was, were sitting on our right. The principal told us Anna had beaten the other girl up after she had said some mean words to Anna. She pretty much provoked her. Well, at least there was a reason as stupid of a reason that is. We talked for a long time, explaining the situation with Anna to Jenny's parents. The principal was helping us out since he was informed when Anna got to this school.

Also we were apologizing endlessly. After all this I expected her parents who by the way looked very rich and business (not music business) like, to be furious. But instead they apologized themselves. The wife said that Jenny always provokes and manipulates people in order to get what she wants. "It's our fault of course. We spoilt her." she said. I looked over at John who stared at her wide eyed in shock. I nudged him softly and his face slowly turned normal. "Finally someone reacted to the way she treats her surrounding people." The husband added in agreement. The principal cleared his throat and started to speak: "Well it's nice that we're not angry with each other. Nevertheless both girls have to learn that their actions weren't right. I suggest we find something for them to do, like a punishment but more in the sense of them being nicely together and helping each other. I was thinking, they could help with each other's homework as for starters." We all nodded and agreed and the principal continued: "How about right after school? Anna could go home with Jenny, if that would be alright with you?" He looked at John and me questioningly. We looked at each other and John decided to speak: "Actually it would be better for us if Jenny could come over to our house, since Anna still is a bit of a runaway." The principal let out an "Oh" but nodded along with Jenny's parents. "Well, if that's alright with you all, you can take your daughters home now. "

Anna's PoV:
(On the drive home)

They didn't say anything the whole ride. They didn't even really look at me. I knew it by then. They probably decided to bring me back to the orphanage. And to make a clean cut they didn't waste time to bother to talk to me. I didn't say anything either. At the house I went straight to my room, but didn't close the door entirely so I could listen to what they said. They were pacing around in the first floor. I couldn't hear any talking so I carefully stepped out of my room and sat on the stairs. Still I only heard their shoes shuffling on the floor. No talking. They still didn't say anything. I stood up and went to my room to get my blade. Back on the stairs I was fiddling around with it in my hands. As I pushed the blade into my arm I heard the front door open.

"What the hell happened?" One of my uncle's voice echoed through the house. Ryan and John told them the whole story. After that there was this silence again. Until finally I heard uncle Johnny from Ryan's band speak up: "Well, that means one good thing at least." There was a pause which I assumed was filled with shocked faces. He continued: "It means that she can stand up for herself. That's a good thing."

I woke up in my bed. Confused I looked around the dark room. I tried to move my arm but a stinging pain stopped me. "You're awake". A voice from the corner said. With my clean arm I grabbed my glasses and put them on. In the corner on the chair sat Papa. For a while both of us didn't speak. Then I croaked out more in a whisper than anything else: "A-Are you bringing me back to the orphanage?" He looked at me wide eyed. "What? No. Just because you acted a bit out of place, it doesn't mean you don't belong to us anymore. " he stated. That made me feel better but I was still confused how I have gotten into bed. "You got unconscious from the blood loss and well, the stress." Papa stated sadly. Still tired I threw myself back in bed. Papa stood up from the chair and tucked me into bed. "Get some sleep" he said and kissed my forehead. I already had my eyes closed when he went out. Before he closed the door though he said something that got my eyes open up again, shocked. He loved me, he mumbled. Quietly, but I could hear it clearly.