❤️Chapter 1❤️
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When she was just
a girl, she expected
the world. But it
flew away from
her reach. So she
ran away in her
sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ashleigh's POV
There was a soft knock on the door and I bolted to get it. Me and my stepfather were watching a movie and he was making me sit on his lap, where I was highly uncomfortable. But what nine-year-old is comfortable on her 'father's' lap, while he made her wriggle around to turn him on.
"MOMMY ARE YOU HOME?!" I screeched loudly as I reached the door. Peeking through the peep-hole I saw three men in blue uniforms. "Daddy I think the police are here!"
"What? Open the door Ashleigh. I'm sure that there's nothing wrong. We didn't do anything." My stepfather Mark shouted towards the door.
Smiling, I opened the door and curtsied. Princesses curtsy and since I was dressed as a princess for my eighth birthday. "Welcome to my castle!" I squealed with a silly grin on my face.
The officers looked at each other with grim smiles and eyes shining with sadness amd grief.
Noticing their silence I, like all other immature children squealed, "AWKWARD SILENCE! Hey, mister..." Trailing off awkwardly, I looked away shyly.
"I'm Officer Bradley, the man to my left is Officer Red, and the one to my right is Officer Trevor." Pudgy and short, the man in the middle was the ugliest I've seen in my life.
"Officers Bradley, Red, and Trevor?" I said with a huge silly grin.
"Yes?" They all said one after the other.
"Do you like my princess outfit? My mummy got it for my birthday! Today's my birthday by the way. Oohhh, do you want cake? It's chocolate cake! With chocolate frosting too! And I have boas for you guys too! My friends were here earlier and we had a tea party. Mum was supposed to come home earlier but I guess she's in traffic. She was gonna bring sparklers! Don't you think sparklers are cool!" I rambled, trying to get the men to smile.
When I said 'birthday' they all stiffened comsiderably. A single tear dropped down Officer Red's face and for the time I was completely confuse on why.
"Yes."
"Sure."
"Yeah!" Officer Trevor was the youngest at about 18 so I wasn't surprised about his answer.
Then Officer Bradley got serious and asked, "Is your father here?"
"Yeah he's in the living room!" I nearly shouted, pointing in that direction. "But come on let's get cake! I can cut it myself! Stepdaddy said so!" I grabbed his wrists and pulled as hard as my little eight-year-old could. The officers pulled away from my small, loose grip and jeaded towards the kitchen and I grinned, happily taking my role as leader and directed them to the kitchen.
"Mr. Collins could you please come to the kitchen? We need to talk to you and your daughter and your daughter simply will not let us leave without trying her birthday cake." Said Officer Red, wiping away the moist track the tear had left down his face.
"Annabelle lets let these nice men tell us what they need to tell us okay?" Mark said, slipping his arm around my waist and pulling me along until he got to a chair and sat me on his lap. Wriggling, I tried to get off his lap.
"Daddy, let me off! I wanna cut the cake! You let me cut it at my party!" Squealing, I finally got off and ran to the refridgerator. I opened it and pulled out the large chocolate cake with the enscription:
Happy Birthday Ashleigh!
We love you!
Grinning, I started slicing the cake with a huge knife.
"Woah! Girly, don't you think you need to use a smaller knife?" Officer Red said, alarmed. He reached out with a strong arm and grabbed my hand.
I squealed and said, "Hey! Of course I don't need a smaller knife! I did it with this knife this morning! Daddy didn't even have to help me!"
Officer Trey turned on Mark frowning hugely. "You let her use that knife? She's only eight! Jesus fucking Christ Mr. Davis!"
I immediatly covered my ears. "You said a badddd word Mr. Trey-Trey!" I shouted loudly. Noticing his frown deepen, I grinned and took my hands off of my ears and whisper yelled, "But that's okay! Daddy says those words a LOT." I cup my hands around my mouth as if I'm letting them in on some huge secret.
Mark immediately reached out and slapped me, causing me to drop the knife and me to fall over next to it, the ringing in my ears drowning out the loud clatter of the knife dropping to the floor. Placing my hands on the floor, about to push myself up, I felt a sticky substance. I brought one of my hands and screamed at the top of my lungs when a tiny drop of blood fell, trickling it's way down my face. Closing my eyes, I started humming loudly in a deserate attempt to forget about the blood that I knew was starting to seep all over the floor.
When I finally opened one of my eyes just to peek, Officer Red and Officer Bradley's faces were slowly coming into focus in front of mine. "Are you okay? Are you okay?" Rapidly, they both spoke at once. Their noise caused black spots to dance at the edge of my vision and I winced. They both noticed and j felt my head start falling to the ground again. One of them must have been holding my head in their lap. A second before my head hit the hard tile floor, a pair of soft, sturdy hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up. Soon, Officer Trey's face joined the others, floating, drifting in the sea of black that was threatening to take over my vision.
"Oh my god baby! I'm so sorry!" I heard Mark gush over the commotion. But from my poor vision, he didn't look sorry. He was actually smirking! I always knew he hated me, because I was the only thing that my mother had loved more than him.
I growled softly, then instantly would have covered my mouth - if my hands weren't dripping with blood. My blood.
The officers gave me a weird look, then started pulling hair away from my scalp so that they could get a closer look at the cut, I'm sure. Gasping, I flinched visibly. The blood had dried in my hair, and pulling the strands away caused a sharp, quick pain. Like ripping off a band-aide.
"Shh, shh, little Luna." Officer Bradley whispered. "You'll be alright. We'll take care of you."
I moaned in pain as at last, they uncovered the gash in my head.
"Mr. Davis? Do you have a medical kit in the house?" Officer Red's deep voice echoed throughout the kitchen.
"Yes of course! It's under the sink. Who wouldn't have a medical kit? It's a safety precaution that my wife always makes us follow. As if Ashleigh is the most precious, delicate thing. Like a flower." Mark said sarcastically, shoving a piece of cake in his mouth.
"Do we have your permission to stitch her up? It's a pretty deep cut, sir." Officer Bradley asked politely. Even though I noticed he didn't mean it as a question. He fully intended to whether my stepfather agreed to it or not.
"Y-yes of course!"
Officer Trey stretched out his arm in order to reach the cabinet under the sink. Grabbing the kit, he sighed with relief as he sat back and opened it. "It's fully stocked men. We've got exactly what we need. Brace yourself little Luna, this might hurt."
I whimpered at the sight of the needle being pulled out. Bracing myself, I felt the sting of alchohol as they tried to numb my wound before I felt the poke of a needle. "Ow!" I screamed.
"I'm so sorry little Luna. But we have to in order to keep you alive." The needle poked again and I gasped. "You've alreay lost so much blood. We can't have our future Luna die."
"Wha- What's a Luna?"
"You'll know when your sixteen. Or when your dad tells you."
"Why not mum?"
The officers started crying silently, and Officer Trey finished quickly. "She -"
Mark broke him off with a growl. "Where the fuck is my FUCKING. WIFE?!"
"Sir, we found her -" Officer Bradley moaned.
"WHERE?!"
"Sh- She died in a four way car accident." Officer Red said.
I shot up and became lightheaded quickly. "What? Mummy.. Mummy can't be dead! She CAN'T BE! Mum wouldn't die on my birthday! Mummy can't leave me!" I shouted, shoving Officer Trey as hard as a little eight year old could.
"This is a joke right? My wife isn't dead. She's not."
Officer Trey was racked with silent sobs. "She's gone Mr. Davis. Chelsea's gone."
I cried out, pouring all the pain I felt into my scream. When I broke off, I started singing softly.
"There is a castle on a cloud.
I like to go there in my sleep.
There are no floors for me to sweep.
Not in my castle on a cloud.
There is a place where no one's scar-" Shaking violently, my sobs grew louder and I whispered the last word. "Scared."
The officers all looked at me, their tears slowing to a trickle. "You have a beautiful voice. Your mum must be watching from up with the Moon Goddess and loving it."
Shaking my head no, I looked out the window, out to the stars. "Mum. I'm scared. Are you scared? Up there in your castle in the clouds? Why did you leave me alone? I love you Mum! Come back, please!" Whimpering, I turned to my stepfather, stood, and threw myself into his arms.
"We have to go.." The officers rushed out. Cowards.
As soon as they shut the door, Mark shoved me away. "Get away from me you little bitch!" He walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer bottle. Suddenly, it came flying towards me. Shouting, I covered my head and ducked. The bottle hit the wall behind me and the shattered glass rained down. I got hundreds of little cuts and I moaned loudly, the pain was numbing the pain I felt on the inside.
Mark grabbed me and shoved me against the wall. Hitting it sideways, I screamed in agony as my arm made a loud 'snap' as it hit the wall at an odd angle.
He forced his lips onto mine and whispered, "You look like her. You have her eyes, her hair." Brushing a strand of blood stained hair behind my ear and looking deep into my eyes he suddenly bellowed, "AND IT'S YOUR FAULT SHE'S DEAD!" And kissed me again.
I tried to push him off with my good arm, but it was no use. He started pulling off my clothes-
I woke up panting and sweating bullets. I looked at my electronic clock and read the date. 12-24-13. 2:12 a.m. My birthday. My Mum's death day. Two days before eight years ago my brother ran away. Eight years ago now Mark started abusing me. Five years I've been cutting. Five years I've been bullied.
"Fat!"
"Ugly!"
"Bitch!"
"Just go die!"
"Nobody likes you!"
"Gonna go cry to your mummy? Wait. You don't HAVE ONE."
A tear dropped down my cheek and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
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hey :)
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~ xx Mamie