Hope

Chapter 1

I'm Julia Brown, an average 15-year-old girl, or at least on the outside. I look like I have a perfect life. Like nothing is wrong. Everyone thinks that including my best friend Amy. But I have an enormous secret. My parents physically and verbally abuse me. No one knows about that and I'm extremely scared to talk to anyone. I think I'm going to get judged and everyone will hate me. The earliest memory I have is of my mom and dad hitting me for the very first time. I was 5 years old.

Every day I would come to school covered in bruises. I had bruises head to toe. Everyone thought I was a clumsy child, so no one asked any questions. I wish someone did though. I've been hiding this secret for over 10 years and I don't plan on telling anyone. Not even Amy.

I currently go to Point Grey Secondary. I'm starting the first day of 10th grade tomorrow and I'm really nervous. Everything is going back to how it was in June. I haven't had an anxiety attack all summer. Tomorrow I have to wake up at 7:20 am again. My body is so used to waking up at 10:00 am and going to bed at 2:00 am. I'm not prepared to be sleep deprived.

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I keep tossing and turning in bed, not being able to fall asleep. I hate when this happens. I pick up my phone and it says 5:00 am. "Great, I still have 2 hours before I have to get up," I think to myself. After 30 minutes or so I'm still not able to fall asleep, so I decided to get up, plug in my phone, and grab my laptop and start watching the show Riverdale on Netflix. I have to keep a close watch on the time because I don't want my parents barging into my room and seeing me watching Riverdale. I get through 3 episodes and then I realize the time. It's 6:50 am. I quickly take off my headphones and listen for anything that will give me a hint that my parents are up. Nothing. I decide to turn off my laptop and scroll through Instagram for the next few minutes. I'm extremely tired, but I can't fall asleep now. It's too late for that. It's 7:00 am and I decide to get up and get dressed. I put on some shorts since it's quite hot outside. I also put on a white shirt. This isn't what I'm used to wearing but it's fine since I can't handle the heat very well.

After I get dressed, I decide to go downstairs and have breakfast. I walk out of my room carefully, so I don't accidentally slip. My eyes quickly adjust to the dark and I open the blinds so some daylight can get in the house. After I'm done that, I walk downstairs. I stop halfway down the stairs and hear my parents yelling about something. I'm not sure exactly what they're fighting about. There is no reason why they should be fighting this early in the morning. I'm not ready for them to yell at me. I quickly run up the stairs and straight into my room. I grab my hairbrush and start brushing my curly, red hair. My hair is a mess this morning. I decide to go to the bathroom and see if I look like a mess or somewhat good looking. My hair is now up in a ponytail and I look in the mirror. Not too bad today to be honest. I look better than I have ever looked on the first day of school.

My stomach suddenly lets out a loud growl. It makes me jump. I open the door to get back into the hall. I can still hear my parents yelling for some reason. I can't believe they still haven't resolved the problem yet. I'm scared to go downstairs but I'm also starving, so I don't really have a choice. I quietly make my way down the stairs, trying hard not to get noticed by my parents.

"Julia, please come here," says my dad.

"Coming!" I say trying my best not to sound anxious.

I take a right turn towards the kitchen.

"We just wanted to let you know that we're going to be out late today. We know it's the first day of school for you. We don't want to make it seem like we don't care about you. We really do care about you. Don't ever forget that. Have a great first day of school honey."

I don't say anything back because I honestly have no idea how to respond to that. I push through my parents to get to the cabinets. I grab a cup and put a green tea bag into it and start pouring water into the kettle. I put the kettle back and turn it on. While I'm waiting for the water to boil, I grab 2 slices of bread and put them in the toaster. Now I have to wait for everything to be ready. A minute goes by and I realize I forgot to pack my lunch. I run to the fridge and open it. My eyes scan for anything that I could use for my sandwich. I keep looking and then my eyes stumble to the meat drawer. I open the meat drawer and look for ham or salami. I find some ham. It's not the kind of ham I would usually eat but whatever. I don't have a lot of time left. I grab 2 pieces of bread again and put the ham on one of the pieces. Then I grab the other piece and put it on the top. I grab a plastic bag and put my sandwich into it. I leave it on the counter because I still need to make breakfast. The kettle is already boiled and my toast is ready. I pour the boiled water into my cup, grab a plate and put my toast onto it. I run back to the fridge and take a container of cream cheese. After I grab the cream cheese, I also grab a butter knife. I spread the cream cheese onto my toast and proceed to sit down at the kitchen table and finally eat. I take my phone out of my pocket and check the time. It's 7:50 am. I still have time before I have to be out of this house and walking to school. I decide to watch some interviews with the Riverdale cast while eating breakfast. When I'm done breakfast, I wash my dishes as fast as I can. I run to the upstairs bathroom and I brush my teeth. I grab my backpack from my messy room and look through it just to make sure I have everything I need for school. I realize I don't have my portable charger and look in my room to try and find it. I look everywhere in my room for it but it's nowhere to be seen. I suddenly realize how dumb I am and run downstairs, where I find it sitting on the kitchen table. I grab it and stuff it in my backpack. After I grab my portable charger, I realize that I left my sandwich sitting on the kitchen counter. I grab my sandwich and then I'm out the door.