Never Grow Up

Chapter One

No one’s POV

It’s strange how fast a life can change. How just in the blink of an eye everything as you know it can cease to exist. Five years ago Selena Russo would never have thought that she’d be in the situation she was currently in, and she’d never have thought that she would make the decisions that had placed her in said situation, but even so she wouldn’t be inclined to change it for the world. Although sudden changes are strange, perhaps they have a deeper purpose. Perhaps if Selena hadn’t have winded up where she was, she would have winded up in the morgue.  

Selena Russo is a very complicated and troubled girl yet she holds so much strength – way more than you can even begin to imagine. The young girl’s troubles began when she turned eleven and she was diagnosed with depression. Being that age and beginning puberty is hard enough as it is, without the added stress of mental illness, and the pressure tore her apart. She looked to self-harm, drugs, and alcohol for reassurance and spiralled herself down so deep that she wasn’t sure she could ever recover.

One night, in December, it was particularly difficult. Things had escalated and she’d begun sleeping around with whoever and whatever she could find – she was crashing hard. It was a Sunday when her father, Bryan, had come home from work and found her having sex with a girl in her room. Selena will never forget that night, the way the rain pounding against the window had mirrored the way her father’s fist pounded her face. The way that the booming thunder matched her father’s booming voice repeating ‘I hope you die’ over and over. The way that the lightening flashing throughout the room copied the way she was flashing in and out of consciousness.

Selena ended up in the hospital that night. Her mother, Mandy, hadn’t left her side – she was praying for her only child, for her baby. Selena had taken an overdose once Bryan had left the house and it had been Mandy that came home from work and found her lying there on the floor, so still. The poor soul was only thirteen years old.

That night was the worst and most low time of her life and yet also, the most hopeful, positive time too. The doctors had done scans to check the damage inflicted upon her body, and whilst doing so they discovered that she was pregnant. Selena, at thirteen years old, was carrying a baby. At first the staff at the hospital were adamant that an abortion was best for Selena but Mandy knew that killing her child was something the younger girl would never recover from – it wasn’t an option.

As soon as social services got wind of the affair they swooped right in and threatened to take the baby away once it was born. At this point, Selena was aware of the pregnancy and she was determined to sort herself out. This was a big deal, for anyone that knew Selena, because she had never once spoken in a positive manner concerning her mental health. With combined efforts from both Mandy, and psychologists, they managed to strike an agreement so that the baby could stay within the family. Selena would move into a sober facility, aimed for young troubled teens, for the entirety of her pregnancy.

Getting clean and sober was by far the hardest thing that Selena ever had to face. She had been on every single drug on the face of the earth and was hurting herself constantly, but even so she got through the eight months and she ensured that her baby girl was born safe and healthy. Considering the dedication Selena had portrayed, even at such a young age, she was allowed to keep the baby as long as Mandy was a guardian as well and Selena had to attend regular check-ups at a clinic for drug tests, alcohol consumption tests and body checks for any sign of self-harm. Selena didn’t mind, she’d do anything for little Lea Russo.