Me in a gang? No, I'm in a family

Chapter 23: Ash's childhood

Tw: abuse, child neglect, alcoholism
Ashley pov;
my life is an absolute mess, I have a crush on someone who will never feel the same way, I don't even know if she's gay or straight or anything? she has everybody drooling over her and yet I don't even think she realises it, but what I do know that she will never be mine and that's something I just have to live with which is absolute torture.
But I will tell you something I bet you don't know, I was the kid that ran away from my family when I was 16, it was difficult at first, mainly because I didn't have a lot of money and I was on my own, but I couldn't go back, and I haven't been back since I ran, its too dangerous for me to be in that household anymore, that's why I had to run.
I met Aj when I was 18, and those 4 years I didn't know him were hell, I had to steal and sell some drugs to earn the least amount of money that they were up for, lets just say I'm not proud of what I did but I had to survive, and that's what I did.
when I was still living with my parents, my mother was extremely protective of me and tried to help me with every struggle I faced, however my father was not, he didn't care about me at all, we all knew that, it was so obvious even a blind person can see it.
let me take you to a trip down memory lane
Flashback - 18th May 2006.
it had just gone over a month before my birthday, and I thought it was originally a good day, that was before everything came crashing down, my father wasn't in a good mood, I should have seen it coming but I didn't and that was my fault.
I had just gotten home from school and it was about 2:50pm on a Wednesday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and the sky was so blue and no clouds were present and I remember it being so pretty but it exploded like a bomb once I did get home, not the worst thing that could go on, but I didn't like being home, nor did I like being at school.
The kids at school weren't nice to me at all, I was left out all day everyday, not like I cared much as ive grown up with neglectful parents, but It hurt the first few days when I was still getting used to the lack of friends. My life is literally a living hell.
I had gotten home and I was greeted by my mom. This wasn't unusual, she did this every day.
She whispered in my ear, telling me how my dad was today, and this one, wasn't a good day. "Be careful sweetheart, your father had some upsetting news, so he isn't feeling great" I nod at her and whisper back, "Okay, thanks mom, I'll be upstairs doing homework" she gives me a slight push but as soon as I put one foot on the stairs I hear my dad call out, "Ashley! get me a beer, your moms been doing it all day, its your turn now" I roll my eyes and head to the kitchen, where I grab the beer and hand it to him, where he snatches it off of me and smacks my ass, making me want to puke right on him.
However, my dad doesn't drink the beer and instead gives it a funny look, "what the fuck is this?" I glance back with a confused expression, "Didn't you hear what I said? What is this?" I take the bottle out of his hands and look at it, "It's got 11% alcohol, its the strongest I could find" but my dad grabs it back and laughs grimly, "This is weak, go get me something better" and that basically means I have less than 30 minutes to get something better, it would be easier if the closest shop wasn't 20 minutes away running.
But my dad doesn't give me any chance because before I leave the room to go out, he shouts my name, and then throws the bottle at me, the glass bursts and hits me in my face and on my head, I try and cover my face before it gets to me but its too fast and I'm too slow and the glass goes everywhere. My father screams at me and scoffs when he sees the blood coming out of my head.
My mother grabbed the dustpan and went to clean the dropped bottle but she doesn't get very far either before my dad yells at her to go get another bottle. While my parents are distracted I head up stairs and pack a backpack full of clothes and whatever else will fit, I don't have time to clean up the glass in my hair or stopping the bleeding, but then I run, down my stairs and out of the door, ignoring the cries of my mother and the angry shouting coming from my dad. then I realise the weather has drastically changed, the once pretty sky is now filled with grey and black clouds, the wind has increasingly picked up.
After around thirty minutes, I notice a small park and head towards it, when i reach the small swing set, i sit down, everything in my body finally coming to a halt, my breathing is laboured and its extremely cold out, making me shake, shiver and tremble. That's when I'm able to see the group of youths that are staring at me, then they start walking over to me, then once they notice the blood gushing from my head they start to run.
"Are you alright?" the taller one asks me, his long dark hair glooms over one part of his face, I nod at him but the younger one walks over and holds part of his ripped jacket up to the wound on my head, "Keep that there, kid" he mumbles, realising the glass in my hair he then takes most of it out, cautiously, making sure he doesn't hurt me.
"I'm Co-Ajax by the way, this is Alec" the taller one says, glancing over to the younger one. i look at him, "Ashley" my reply gives him a short smile, "It's getting colder, you should come with us and get cleaned up" I give him a quick smile and nod, probably not the smartest idea to go home with strangers but people do the same when they have one night stands.
I stayed the night at their house, the rest of what had happened is kind of a blur to me, but i do remember coming home, and once I walked through the door my dad grabbed my jacket and threw me across the hallway, punching me repeatedly, shouting at me about how stupid and worthless I was. he ended up kicking me outside into the snow.
Lets just say after that i decided to walk out again, this time for good, as that was the last time i saw both of my parents.
Ajax understood that it was going to be difficult for me to open up, but surely I did, and when i did he helped me through it all.
Ajax was obviously the leader of the gang.
Alec was the second member of the gang.
I was the third.
Soon we found Nathan, walking the streets with his younger brother.
Nathan was soon added to the gang, unfortunately his brother was too young.  Nathan was the same age as Alec and Jace was only fifteen at the time.
Then we found Eli, he was 19 too, and was my only real friend that I had made while I was 16, Ajax and him didn't really get on well at first but that changed quickly once Jasper came along. He had made friends with Ajax before anyone else. Jasper is the oldest, he's 24 and was 21 when Ajax was 19.
Chase was next at the age of 18 (He's only 19 now)
Now we have Dahlia.