Finding Hope

Chapter 1

   Lea  woke up. It was 7:00 am. She hopped out of bed and went to the bathroom. She looked at herself. She hated it. No matter how many times she promised/told herself she wasn't going to look into the mirror, she didn't listen to herself. What she saw in the mirror, she didn't like. She saw a skinny body, which most teenage girls would die for, many, many bruises, and long, ugly hair. Lea thought she was ugly. I mean, compared to the teenage girls at her school, she was a piece of poop! She never thought of herself as that hot, nice, clean girl. She would always wear the same hoodie she wore every day. It was an oversized gray Areopostle hoodie. It was the only good piece of clothing she had. Along with her Hollister jeans. The only reason she has all this stuff is becuase her aunt, who she wished she llived with, bought them for her birthday. She also has about 5 pear of jeans and a couple shirts. But no tanktops and no fancy shoes.

   The way she has to wash her clothes is to handwash them becuase her parents won't let her wash her clothes in the washing machine. Mean, huh? Anyway, Lea got out of the bathroom and went back to her room which was a plain white color with one bed and a desk. Pretty fancy for Lea. She shut her door and prepared what was coming. A knock surprised her. She doesn't know why it always surprises her becuase it happens every single day. Lea quietly said "Come in,". The door opened but Lea didn't look up to see who it was. "Get down," her mom said aggressivly. Lea followed her orders and got down on her knees. "Shall I begin with a hit? Or a kick?" her mother polietly asked. "I'll be nice to you and let you decide,". This was unusuall for Nancy becuase usually, she would just do whatever she felt like. Lea didn't answer for a while. She paused to think about it. "A hit," Lea managed. She braced herself for what was coming.

   Lea's mom took her hand and placed it on Lea's back. She then raised it up as high as she could and "BAM!" She smacked her back as hard as she possibly could. Lea whimpered and kept her position. She knew there was more, and she was right. Another hit, and then another, and then another. 6 hits in a row. Her back ached after. After her mom was done with the moring beating, she left. When Lea made sure she was gone. She stood up and arched her back. It hurt like hell. She knew she would have to deal with this the whole day. But she was used to it. But just becuase you're used to something, doesn't mean you're automatically numb to it. Lea hated being abused, but it was a part of her daily life. And she had to deal with it. After Lea got up and arched her back to stretch it out. She grabbed her school backpack and was out the door. "Not so fast, chump nugget," a voice called from the kitchen window. "What now?" Lea whispered to herself. It was Kolen. "Get your sorry butt back in here," he cried. Lea followed his orders. Lea knew there was a slap coming. 

   Lea looked at her troubled brother and asked him this. "Kolen, if your going to hit me, do it fast, I'm going to be late for the bus and miss it!" she said. "I'm not going to hit you, I want you to do something. Go to the gas station after school and get me some chew," he said. Lea thought. "What? No! I'm going to get into serioust trouble from the police, but if I don't, I get beat," she thought. " Okay," she said. She couldn't risk being hit again, her mom's hits were hard. She would probably be hurting the whole day now. Lea flew out the door and ran to the bus. She was just in time. She hopped on the bus and greeted the bus driver. "Goodmorning," she said with a fake smile. He greeted her back emotionless. She sat by herself, like no other day, at seat 13. Like always. They didn't have asssigned seats on the bus, but Lea acted like it was her seat. It was a long bus ride to school becuase of so much traffic.

  When they finally got to school. Lea went to her locker and went up to class. As she was walking up to health, two girls about Lea's height walked up to her. Their names were Sara, and Abby. "Look who's wearing the same hoodie as yesterday," Sara teased. "Yea, didn't have 10 cents to go to the Laundrymat?" Abby added. They bumped her shoulder and ran off laughing. Lea felt tears coming. But again, she didn't know why! She had to deal with this stuff everyday for the past 4 years, and everytime something happened, she would feel for it like it's the first time it actually happened. Lea walked the rest of the way to health by herself thinking about the chew her brother had asked for. She finally got to health and took her seat. She waited for the teacher to begin speaking. They were on their "Child Abuse and Bullying" unit. Which was the hardest for Lea. She knew everything about child abuse, yet she didn't answer any questions becuase it made her emotional. 

  Lea grabbed her notebook from her folder and began writing the question on the board. "What is one thing that child abuse and bullying can do to a child your age?". Lea didn't know how to answer this question. Becuase there were so many answers. She would know. The teacher began talking. "Here we go" Lea thought. "Don't cry" she told herself