I watched him, as I held my breath, waiting.

I did not know what exactly I was waiting for, but one thing I knew for sure was this, he had to be alive. I was eighteen now, and the possibility of my life being ruined was in the sky.

“e…evan?” I called, looking at the now lifeless body.

..

“your parents? Where are they?” a voice called behind me, but I could not answer, I could not bring myself to answer. “you are lucky he passed out from the impact” the person continued to speak. “anymore and you would have been in a bigger trouble than now.

Again I said nothing, there was nothing to be said, but the principal did not think so. “You are being difficult right now Letricia, all I need are your parents number, or any guardian” the irritation was evident in her voice, but then I still said nothing.

My dad had died two years back, my mum would rather be with her new man rather than take care of me and my other relatives, they lived at least two states away.

“if you are not going to give me anything, then I am sorry, I would have to hand you over to the police” she said, letting out a deep breath.

**

Five hours, fifteen minutes and ninety seconds after staying in custody the police finally let me go, and somehow, my feet brought me back to the one place I thought I was never going to come back to, my home. Somewhere along the way, the rain had began to fall

I stood in front of the door, contemplating if it was going to be dramatic if I decided to pack my things and run, but then I sighed ‘she is still my mum’ I thought, walking closer to the front door, after being drenched in the rain.

I opened the front door, laugh and the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted through the air, making my stomach rumble.

“you are back home” my mum said, her head peaking through the kitchen to see who was at the door.

I looked at the wall clock, it was half past seven, more than enough time to be worried about your child who was meant to be home way before dark.

“yes, I am home” I said with a straight face, matching up into my room and ignoring every single thing she had said.

“I don’t think…” I ignored her, wanting nothing more than to change out of these damp clothes and climb into my bed after a long hot shower and get some rest.

The dream seemed to be shattered when I opened the door, everything seeming normal at first, then I saw it.

There she sat, nothing older than thirteen.

“who are you?” I spat, if there was one thing I knew, it was that I was never a fan of people in my personal space, and mum knew this.

“I am Cynthia, Cynth for short, it is nice to meet you” she said, giving me this smile that told me that it was not in fact nice to meet me.

I looked at her for a full minute, my brain trying to process whatever the fuck she ment before I walked back down the stairs, my feet heavy against the wooden floors.

“what the fuck mum!!” I yelled, entering into the kitchen with such an attitude and force, that the hinges of the door nearly fell off.

“what?” she said, having that stupid clueless look on her face. “oh” she said, a look of realization on her face as I stood, not even bothering to say anything while I stood fuming. “I see you met cynth, she would be staying the night and..”

“no” I said, shaking my head aggressively, not waiting for her to finish.

“well I am afraid you have no say, Allen cannot come over because of work but I promised to watch over his daughter” she said, placing her hands on her hips

I felt my throat burn as I stood.

“did you even care about how I would feel if you did that? Did I even cross your mind?” she said nothing, going back to the cookies as she rolled her eyes.

I matched back up stairs, walking back into the room taking the pillows and the blanket. There was no fucking way I was going to be sleeping in bed with a stranger. She opened her mouth to say something, but honestly, I could care less for what she wanted to say, so I walked out of the room, shutting the door loudly so even my mum could hear it.

..

The night went as normal, my head banging from the event of the whole day, as I sat in silence, well as silent as I could since it was still raining, with no plans of stopping.

“when does it all end?” I muttered to myself, the sleep creeping in as my eyes felt heavy.

I could hear the front door creak, signifying that someone was either coming in or going out, but I paid no mind to it, I was way too tired to be checking who it was, which in this situation was definitely my mum.

I closed my eyes, adjusting the blanket and trying to find another position on the couch because heaven knows this was not the most comfortable when it hit me,

The smell of rust and oil.

My eyes snapped open as I felt hands touch my arm. “shhh” his raspy voice sounded beside my ear. “how are you princess?” he called, coming impossibly closer.

“get out of..” I did not get to complete my words when he covered my mouth, almost suffocating me in the process

“your mum has had a long day and you would not want to wake her up, would you?” he whispered, his hands finding its way under my night dress.

“plea...” I tried to plead for him to leave me alone but my voice came out muffled, with his palms pressed against my lips.

“it’s okay, I heard that you are legal today” he said, his words churning my stomach in a way that made me want to throw up the dinner that I did not have. “you want to see something?” he said, pressing his lower region to making me shake my head.

‘not again, please not again’ I begged in my head while my voice came out muffled and tears ran down my cheeks