A New Me (Discontinued For Now)

Facade(2)

TW: Abuse, cursing/swearing

From the start I could tell my foster parents were pure evil with their fake smiles and beautiful appearances. It was obvious that they didn't care for the kids they take in. They just want money.

When I walked into the house for the first time without the police officers I was immediately greeted by a slap to the face.

"Now you little cunt, you will behave and do as we say perfectly or you will be punished. Do you understand me boy?" Mrs. Alite spoke harshly, way different than the sweet, soft-spoken lady from yesterday.

I nodded with a, "Y-yes Ma'am."

"Good, now go to your room and clean up. You look like a fucking homeless hobo. JP! Come down here and show Ally to his room!"

Ally? Did she just call me... Ally?

"Uh, Ma'am? My name is Axis not Ally..." I said quietly. Which was a huge mistake.

She turned around with her hand already outstretched. The back of her hand made contact with my jaw causing me to cry out as my body twisted while it fell. I landed on the ground holding the area she slapped me at. My eyes started stinging but I didn't let any tears fall.

"Do not-and I repeat, do not correct me. If I call you Ally then your Goddamn name is Ally! Do you understand me!?"

I nodded, in too much pain to move my jaw. Again, a mistake for she kicked me, causing me to roll across the floor and hit the closed front door. I hissed in pain but still managed to keep the tears at bay.

"Do. You. Understand. Me?"

"Yes Ma'am," I replied shakily and in fear that she'll hit me again. This is exactly why I wanted to remain homeless. I had a feeling that something like this would come out of being caught and sadly, I was right.

Just then, I noticed a boy, around the same age of me standing near the stairs with a look of sympathy in his eyes. He had a black eye and a busted lip. Most likely because of Mrs. or Mr. Alite.

"Get up and follow the boy upstairs. He'll show you to your room," the evil woman spoke with venom dripping from her voice. With those words she flipped her hair and walked away, her heels clicking loudly on the floorboards with each step she took.

With a huff of breath, I managed to get to my feet. My whole right side was throbbing, including the bottom portion of my face. That woman surely can hit hard.

I walked towards the stairs on wobbly legs only for them to give out halfway there. I didn't fall though. I didn't fall because the boy, JP, caught me and walked with me the rest of the way to my room. The stairs proved to be a difficult challenge though, but we still made it there.

"Thank you," I thanked him genuinely.

He smiled slightly but then winced because his lip looked to have almost opened back up. "It was no problem. Axis, was it?"

"Yeah," I answered with a nod.

"I'm sure you would've done the same for me. You look like a nice person and I'm sure you are one too."

I quickly shot that thought down."I wouldn't have done the same." His face fell at my words, replaced by a glare. "Nope, I would have intercepted and taken the beating for myself. No one deserves that abuse from such a cruel woman. Except for me, maybe."

JP's glare only got more intense at that last part. "I will not allow you to say that about yourself again. No matter what you did in the past or what you planned on doing, you said it yourself; no one deserves that abuse. That means no one. Not even you, okay?"

I flinched at his harsh tone but nodded. Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn't deserve it but I'm still going to stick up for everyone here.

"Thank you."

He nodded then walked over to a sleeping bag in the corner of the room. I looked around to find four other sets of eyes on me, full of curiosity. I gave them each a small smile before asking them where I can go to get cleaned up.

"Uh, there is a bathroom right there with spare clothes and running water but the water is cold. Only the Alite couple can use the hot water," a boy around ten or eleven told me.

I sent him another smile. "Thanks."

"Mmhmm!" he hummed cheerfully.

I walked towards the door in the room that he had pointed to. Sure enough it was a bathroom. A surprisingly clean bathroom. There was a few pair of clothes neatly folded, laying on top of the counter beside the sink. After shifting through them I was honestly surprised to find a shirt and pair of pants in my tiny size.

Slowly, I peeled off the ragged clothes that I've worn for about six months and threw them away. With them I threw away part of my lifestyle before I got here.

The next step was turning on the water and getting in. Doing just that I thought back to seven years ago when I was nine. Before my parents threw me out, I took my last shower. I can't believe I haven't had a shower or even a bath for over seven years. That's an awfully long time. Who knows what diseases I could have picked up from out on the streets.

Feeling the cold water rushing down my back brought tears to my eyes. For years I've been living on my own, somehow managing to survive this long. I had created a lifestyle for myself, a schedule, a place to stay, and I lost it all due to some desert maker and my trust for her. She proved to me that it'll take much more than an offering of food to earn my trust. I considered her as a mother figure towards me but mother's don't stab their sons in the back.

By now, the tears were flowing freely down my face. I worked so hard to survive out there and it's all gone.

Coming back to my senses I noticed that I was screaming and attacking the tiles of the shower. Someone was just outside the curtains, speaking soothing words but I couldn't seem to process the words being spoken.

"Axis, please calm down. Speak to me, what's wrong? What happened?" I finally heard.

"JP?" I whispered hopefully.

"Yeah. It's me. What's wrong?"

I took a deep shaky breath, hit the tiles a couple more times before just sliding down to my knees.

"They took everything I worked seven years for. I-I was saving up to get everything I needed to move to the country when I turned eighteen but that plan went down the drain as soon as the police found me.

"The one person I trusted when I was out there was the owner of a bakery but she... She lied to my face about her always being there for me. She was the one that gave up my whole life so that I could come here!

"I'm sorry for being a bother. I'm so so sorry," I sobbed into my hands.

I heard him whisper, "Oh, fuck it." The shower curtains were then pulled back and I was wrapped in a pair of strong arms. I melted into the touch, not caring that I was completely naked in front of this stranger that I met literally less than twenty minutes ago.

"Everything is okay, Axis. I'm here and I will be for as long as I can."

I nodded and wrapped my own boney arms around his much larger frame.

I mumbled a small thank you before passing out from exhaustion.