broken// h.s

one.

I stared out of my window, the full moon seeping in through the blinds. I just lay there staring out at the stars, wishing that I was anywhere but here. I hated my life now, and I knew that it wouldn't get any better until I turned 18.

I turn to my younger sister who was sound asleep on her small bed. She looked so peaceful and calm. Unlike this morning. My dad hit her so bad, she got bruises all over her arm.

My bedroom door swung open and I immediately pretended to be asleep, thinking that it was my dad coming back from the bar. But he never comes back this early.

"Shiloh, we need to go now." My mom said. Well, she wasn't actually my real mom but she might as well have been.

"What's going on?" I asked in complete confusion. She had turned on the dim light which I hated because my eyes still hadn't adjusted.

"We're leaving. Packing our bags and leaving this place." She had already started to wake up Ella, my younger sister. My heart was beating so fast at the thought of this. We would finally be getting out of this place? What if we were going to live in a nice, small apartment. My mom had a good job so she could get us somewhere good to live. I jumped out of bed and immediately started packing my things.

"No time for that. I have you and Ella's emergency bags waiting in the car." I thought so. A lot of my things have been going missing lately.

Ella groggily got up and I just wanted to pull her by the hair and rush her into the car because my dad could be home any minute. But of course, I didn't.

It took less than ten minutes to get out of the house and into the car.

My mom drove in silence for a little bit and so many questions were running through my mind. Where are we off to? How will my dad react? What do I tell my friends. But I knew I had more important things to worry about like where we're going to live or what if my dad finds us?

"Mom?" I asked. Ella was already back to her slumber in the seat next to mine.

"Yeah?" She said tiredly.

"Where are we going?"

"California." She said monotone. Focused on keeping her eyes on the road. I was extremely excited by now. California? California is like, one of my top five places of where I want to live. It's so nice and beachy. It's like summer everyday.

"Mom, why did you suddenly decide to leave?" I asked skeptically.

She sighed as if me asking her so many questions was just too strenuous.

"After today, I realized I've had enough of the abuse. I didn't marry your father to live this lifestyle. It took me a while, but yeah. It's not safe for any of us to be living there so we're moving far, far away. He'll never find us. We're going to get new phones and everything..." My mom trailed on.

I had just remembered. Julie, my best friend was probably asleep but hopefully, before I get a new phone. I can send her one last text.

Leaving unexpectedhy and I'm not coming back. Ill tell you where I am with a new number but no matter what, dont tell my dad pls. Tell Devin. I luv you guys, don't worry abt me. I'll give you more deets l8tr. again, ily <3

I'm not even 100% sure that message made sense but I don't care. I was tired and was most likely going to sleep in tomorrow. If I don't have to unpack and such. I slowly dozed off, dreaming about my what will happen in the future and what my new life awaits.

After all the sleepless nights, the constant yelling, the many years of abuse, I was finally free.

a/n
clearly, I've been changing the first chapter a lot but every time i write i get a new idea and i promise this is the last change unless i want to edit a typo or something. i will be posting the second chapter soon! sorry if there are any typos, though. btw this is a short chapter and i just wanted to introduce the characters. and for anyone who was wondering, Ella is 11 & Shiloh is 17. thanks for reading! love you guys :)