Where has life Gone

I ran up to my room with tears streaming down my face. This is the fifth time this week they beat me. I just walked through the door and WHAM! my father punched me in the gut. They stood over me yelling what a waste I was, and that I was a worthless brat. They were kicking me in my gut and face when my big brother Luke came home. He pushed them away from me and carried me up to his room. His face was covered with his hair and sweat. He told me to run into my room and lock the door.
So here we are now in my room. I was crying into my pillow, screaming out in agony. My parents did this to me every day and I was always up here hungry and acing. I was just about done crying when they kicked down the door. Dad had my brother by the arm and my mom had a rope in her hand. My mom jumped at me tying the rope around my arms, so I wouldn’t struggle.
“You worthless piece of crap I could kill you!” yelled my mother as she slapped me.
I wiggled out of her grasp and ran to the window, thinking about ending my life here and now. Before I could jump she grabbed me by the neck and started to chock me.
Tears were in my brothers eyes. “Stop it please!” yelled Luke. “Hurt me not May, she’s only ten. Please!”
My mother released me and dragged me towards him. She threw me at him and said, “Get out of my house then. Take her with you if she’s ‘so precious’ to you.”
She dragged both of us down the stairs and threw us out the front door and slammed it behind us. Luke picked me up and untied my arms, and while he did that he whispered in my ear that it would be okay. Really, would it truly be okay for us?
It was three days later when I woke up to the sound of Luke walking. I quickly got up and ran after him.
“Where are we going Luke?” I asked him.
“You’re staying here I’m going to go to work.”
He gave me a sad look like there was something wrong.
“What job? You don’t have one remember.”
“I got one and you can’t come. They’ve allowed me to stay with them in a one person apartment.”
“Yay, we get to live there.”
“No May, not us. Just me. Now don’t give me those sad eyes, I’ll come visit you in the park. I promise. Please don’t get into any trouble; this’ll help us find a real place to live. In a couple of weeks I’ll have enough money to buy a better apartment for us. I love you.” He said with tears rolling down his face.
“I love you too,” I said as he walked away. “But I don’t want to be alone on the streets,” I whispered.
It is three days since Luke left me and he still hasn’t come to the park yet. It is not fun out on the streets without anyone to protect me. I am still getting beat up but not by my parents, my used to be fellow school mates.
Well right now I’m being chased by three boys with knives. They chased me all around town. I finally lost them but I ran into a tall man.
“Sorry sir, I-”
I had to cut off what I was saying because they found me again. I took off running into an alley that had a dead end. I thought it was a small street but what do I know, nothing. I was trapped at the end when they came into the alley.
“The cost clear.” asked the short one.
“Yep, I don’t think no one will miss her.” replied the fat one.
I let a scream escape from my lips. I backed up into the corner of the wall as they stalked towards me. As I said my last pray a shadow past behind them. A bullet went through one of them as a man stepped out of the shadows.
“Step away from the girl and no one gets hurt.” said the mystery man.
“And what if we don’t.” the fat one sneered.
As he said that the short one grabbed me by the throat and dragged me towards the other. The mystery man shot two more bullets at them both. They both collapsed and I fell into the man’s arms. He picked me up and I started to squirm, trying to get away from him.
“God, stop squirming. I ain’t gonna kill you.” he said angrily.
“How do I know your telling the truth? I mean I don’t even know you.”
“I’m just a guy saving your butt.”
“I mean your name.”
“That? You’ll find out in good time. Now let’s get out of here before someone finds us.”
I still was squirming in his arms but I didn’t make a scene. I stopped thinking about how I was so scared of him and thought of my brother Luke. He should have come, he promised. My mind had become a swirl of mixed emotions, but they were all negative. I pushed it all aside and studied my rescuer. His face was like all other faces, had all that he needed. He had green eyes that reminded me a beautiful summer day, a full head of hair that was a dark brown color. He looked almost like me, green eyes, and dark brown hair. It almost seemed like we could be related, but I knew that couldn’t be true. His hold on me was a protective hold as if I was going to fall out of his hands. It took us ten minutes to get to where he lived, which was a beautiful house.
We got inside and he laid me down on the couch. The couch had the softest touch on my bare arms. I’ve never felt such a soft couch in my life. He left to find who knows what. I got up from the couch, and walked over to the fire place. I sat down in front of it and warmed my frozen hands. The colors dancing in the fire gave me heavy eye lids. As I curled up on the fur rug he came back in the room with a bowl and a cloth. The last thing I remember before I drifted off into my deep sleep was him carrying me again.

I opened my eyes to the moonlight flittering on my face, and warm sheets covering me. I sat up and looked around the room to see I was not dreaming this. I got out of bed and looked at my body, which had a soft cream night gown on. He must have done this. A small smile came to my lips; for he had done something to a person he doesn’t even know. A piano interrupted my thought, it was a beautiful tune. I went to go investigate it when I became afraid of this man I never met. I crept out of the room and limped to the stairs.
I got to the bottom of the stairs when a voice stopped the music.
“Quiet, you might wake her up.”
“Don’t be so bossy Ash, she’s asleep.”
“Sam, don’t be so rude, remember he invited us here dear.”
“Yes dear. So why did you want us at three in the morning Ash.”
“She’s the one. They chased her to me. She has to be her, it was your prediction that May would come back to me Ivy.”
I gasped and backed away from the door. I ran into the next room, hiding from them all. Tears started to come down my cheek, realizing I couldn’t take any more of this pain that ending it would just be an escape. Looking for a knife to kill me, I found it. I was about to plunge it into my heart for a fast death, when a different man walked into the room. He looked at me, then the knife, and realized what I was going to do and jumped at me. I ran away from where he fell and ran into a lady who held on to me. She threw the knife on the table and held me as I cried for death to come to me. I sank down on the ground dragging her with me. The man looked at us with a sad expression on his face. He moved over to where we were and picked me up. The weight of my pain was cutting deep into my heart.

We went into the living room where I first was. He was there, sitting on the couch reading a book.
“Hey, was there any water in the-“
He turned around and saw me crying in his friends arms. He got up and ran towards me, snatched me out if his arms and started hugging me telling me everything was okay, but I knew it wasn’t going to be.

“What happened to her? What did you do?” he asked.
“Nothing, I walked into the kitchen and saw her trying to kill herself. So I jumped at her to disarm her but she jumped out of the way.”
“I was luckily in her way to get her. I threw the knife on the table and she started to cry. She doesn’t want to live Ash, she’s in too much pain.” whispered the lady.
He looked down at my tear stained face and saw that it was true. Shaking his head he put me on the couch and left without a word. I lay on the couch shaking as I cried harder. I couldn’t stand to be in pain another minute, the torture of what has happened to me. I closed my eyes, hoping that death would come for me.

When Ash came back I had stopped crying. The lady who was called Ivy held me in her arms rocking me back and forth. The other man named Sam was making breakfast for us. Ash walked over to me and looked into my eyes.
“May, would you like to see the rest of my house with me?” he asked me.
I nodded my head weakly, and stood up. We made our way up the stairs. He showed me the bathroom, the bedrooms, the closets, and he was now showing me his room. He closed the door and sat down on the edge of the bed.
  “May? Can you please tell me why you are so sad dear?”
“My parents. My schoolmates. My brother.”
“What about them?”
“My parents beat me every day of my life, and so do my schoolmates. I haven’t seen my brother at the park for four days, and I have asked myself every day I could talk, ‘Where has my life gone’. But no one answers me. I just don’t know what to do any more. I’m only ten and I want to kill myself.”
He paused for a moment as if he didn’t know what to say. A smile crept on his face as he studied me.
“You are so grown up May. You did know you were adopted right?”
“Yeah, I know I’m adopted. What’s it to you?”
“Well, have you ever wondered who your real parents are?”
“Well… yeah, but I don’t know who they are yet.”
I looked away from his gaze. I knew he might be my father, I heard him say it but how can I believe him. I would have to research some more. The smell of bacon drew me out of my day dreaming.
“I guess it’s to eat.” he said.
I looked at him giving a slight nod. He took my hand, gave it a comforting squeeze, and led me down stairs. When we entered the kitchen and the table was sent with sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes, French toast, and fruit. It was a feast in my eyes, well I haven’t even seen this much food in my life.
“Okay everyone dig in. Let the ladies go first.” instructed Sam.
I had four servings of everything and I ate it all. I have never felt full in my life until today. We were laughing like we were old friends catching up. For once in my life I felt like this was my family, like I belonged.
“Ash?” I said.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Do you know who my real father is?”
“Where would you get the idea I know who he is?”
“Because I heard you talking to Sam and Ivy about how I’m your- your daughter.” I blurted out.
He stared at me, surprised that I said that. He looked at his friends then back at me with his eyes full of love.
“Yeah, I guess that you now know yes I’m your father. But I didn’t give you away your mother did.”
“But why didn’t you look for me or take me away?”
“I did every day, hoping I would find you, but I never did.”
I got up and walked around to him. They just watched me as I hugged my real father for the first time in my life. I finally knew where I belonged, and it’s with Ash, my father.
“You didn’t have to do that.” He told me with a smile upon his face.
“Well I wanted to. Wait! Can I still call you Ash for now until I get used to this?”
“Whatever helps you, I’ll go along with it.”


That night I was in my room with Ivy, she was reading my palm, when a loud knock came from downstairs. She got up to see if it was the pizza we ordered. I peeked out of the room when I saw my other parents trashing the house demanding for the brat, a.k.a. me. I shut the door and ran to the bed. I looked around for my options but there were none. I decided if they wanted me, I would face them. Let’s hope I don’t get killed in the process.
I walked down the stairs when I saw them slapping Ivy.
“STOP IT NOW!” I screamed on the top of my lungs.
They spun around and saw me. They shoved Ivy to the ground and pounced at me. Thanks to the self defense lesson Ash taught me, before lunch when him and Sam went out, I leaped over them. They spun around and my father sat down as my mother took this round. She kicked me in the stomach making me fall to the ground. She just started kicking me in the side; it felt just like I was home again. I became afraid of them all over again. My father came over and tied my arms to my body. He threw me over his shoulder and started to walk out.
“Ivy! Get help! Call Ash! HELP!”
I kicked and screamed all the way out. In the corner of my eye I thought I saw Luke but it must have been a bird. We were almost out of the gate when Luke jumped out of the bush and kick his father in the neck. I fell to the ground stunned. I looked over at my other dad and saw that he was dead. But when I looked at Luke my mother had him on the ground and stabbed him in the shoulder leaving the blade in. She turned back around to me and grabbed my hair. She dragged me to the car and threw me in the trunk.
As we drove I remembered that I had Ash’s number in the cell phone I “borrowed”. I got one of my hands free and dialed his number.
“Hello, Ash spe-”
“Ash!” I whispered so she didn’t hear me.
“May, what’s wrong?”
“My mother got me. I think she’s going to kill me. Help me please. She stabbed Luke.” As I was saying this I cracked thinking about how it feels to die.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find you. Keep your phone with you, me and Sam will track it.”
When I said nothing he said, “I promise you, everything will be okay.”
“Okay, just please hurry.”
I hung up putting my phone in my pocket and my arm back into the rope. In a couple of minutes we stopped. The trunk opened and I saw my mother’s blood streaked face. She dragged me out and carried me up the stairs into the house. She dropped me in the kitchen. She grabbed a knife and pressed it up against my neck.
“I should have killed you when you first started to talk you piece of s-“
“Please don’t swear in front of a ten year old.”
She took the knife away from my throat and slashed at my face. I felt something warm slide down my face. I looked at the knife and saw blood on it, my blood. I froze afraid she might do it again.
“Do not push my buttons little girl, or you’ll die quicker than I intended to do.”
“Yeah and don’t kill her because she’s mine.” said Ash.
I turned my head to see Ash in a cop suit with Sam right behind. I never knew he was a cop.
“Get out or she dies.” She said as she pulled me closer pointing the knife at me.
“I don’t want to kill you but I will if you don’t step away from her.”
She looked at me then at them.
“Ah I might as well make my last moment wonderful.”

As she said that she plunged the knife into my stomach. Ash shot and killed her as she pulled out the knife. Sam ran over to her to make sure she was dead, and gave Ash the thumbs up. Ash ran towards me and cradled me. I could feel my life slipping away every second I took a breath. Sam was pulling out a bag from the corner they were in and ran to me. When he went to pull my shirt up a little to see the wound Ash tightened his grip on me as if he would hurt me.
“Ash, its okay I won’t hurt her, but you have to let me do what I do best to save her.” said Sam.
Ash looked at my pale face and the blood that pooled around me. He nodded and let me go. He lifted my shirt enough to see the wound. He started to grab things that I had no idea of what they were. Ash still cradled my head brushing my hair, kissing it every three seconds.
“Ash?” I croaked.
“Yes May, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to say take care of Luke if I don’t make it.”
“Do not leave me May. I don’t want to be alone any more. I just got my daughter back and I don’t want to lose you.”
“I love you daddy.”
“I love you too May. Please don’t go.”
I tried to stay awake but the darkness that kept crawling over my eyes wouldn’t go away. With my last words I closed my eyes for what I believed the last time.

Two weeks later
“Dad, what’s going on.” I asked as we got home from the hospital.
It’s been two weeks since my incident and Ash was on me like flea. I made it through the surgery because if Sam. He was my surgeon because Ash trusted no one; I think he has trust issues. I spent most of my time in a coma. The doctors told me that I had five blood transfusions but I wasn’t scared anymore. I faced death and lived through something that would kill an ordinary ten year old.
“It’s a surprise now come on.”
I walked into the house and saw all my new friends. When my eyes met Ivy’s, she ran at me and gave me a hug that seemed to last forever. Ivy told me that she and Sam were getting married this summer and Ash offered them a deal to stay here. I was so happy to hear I almost screamed out in joy but the doctors would have put me in a loony bin if I did.
I sat on the couch while Ash talked to them about staying here. The weight on the couch shifted and I fell into someone’s shoulder. I turned my head and saw my brother smiling at me. I squealed and hugged him as tight as I could soaking up his soft touch as he hugged back.
“Hey squirt; I heard what happened to you. I’m glad you are still here.” He said.
“I heard you get to live with us.”
“Yep Ash offered me when he found me. I had to accept because I didn’t want to leave you alone anymore. Sorry I never came to see you. I was house hunting, they gave me money and said they heard what happened and wanted to help. But I-“
“Shh. I don’t care anymore I just care that if you’re okay.”
He smiled at me and gave me a hug. This hug was different, it had love in it. I like it; it made me think everything is alright now. Everything is okay.