This is my first fanfic. I promise we will get to Christian in a few chapters, but we first have to understand why his Birth mother was the way she was. There will be a lot of drama but there will be some uplifting and funny Christian baby moments. Please comment and be nice :) Mandi

Chapter 1

The sound of the wheels hitting the pavement lull me to sleep as they take me further and further away from my past. The rain hits the window of the bus that holds the promise of a better life. At 16 years old, who could have predicted I would be a runaway. Running as far away from an abusive stepfather and complacent mother as the $500 I saved could take me. 'Saved' is a bad word; Stole! I stole a little money here and there from my parents for months. That money bought the ticket for the bus that now takes me away from home.

I was 11 when my mother married George Fletcher. She said that i would finally have a daddy that would love and care for me. Through the years i saw my friends with their fathers and craved to have a man to love me like that. Call it denial, I choose to believe that my mother didn't know the real George and what he would do to me.

The mental abuse started shortly after the wedding. I'll never forget that first comment. After getting home from school one day, George said, "Isnt there something else you can do with your hair? It's so stick straight that it does nothing to hide your fat face." I ran to my room and cried myself to sleep.

Comments like that became the norm. I remember another time during dinner George asked my mother, "Does Ella get those ugly cold stone grey eyes from her father? They are the ugliest color i've ever seen on a girl. I hope puberty hits soon and she fills out or we'll never get a man to marry and take her away."

Mother smiled at me and replied, "Well she is half me, so there is a chance I passed something along." I like to think she said that to reassure me that I would as pretty as she was, but in reality she was stroking her ego.

Mother was a former beauty queen that never had a job in her life. She would go from man to man, always looking for the next big spender. When she found herself pregnant with me at 21 my real father broke up with her wanting nothing to do with me. It than became her mission to find a man to marry and take care of her bastard child. Most of the men she dated only lasted about a year or until they got sick of supporting her and the 'brat'. Then came George. They married after 2 months of dating. She would do anything to keep him around, including turning a blind eye to his abuse.

The daily comments about my hair, face, eyes, body and how dumb I was, all started to make me so insecure that i stopped hang around with people. The fear of someone else realizing George was right, that I was worthless, ate me up inside. Mother called me a loner or wallflower and that i would grow out of it. Then the physical abuse started.

George drank a lot from the beginning, but as the days rolled on it started getting worse and worse. One night he came home falling over drunk. My mom helped him to his chair and asked if he needed anything. When I came to offer my help, I never saw his fist come from behind to hit me so hard I ended up on the other side of the room. When mother went to see if I was ok, George said, "Leave her. She needs to learn to mind her own business."

These 'lessons' continued a few nights a week for the next 5 years.

Than a few months ago, he came into my room while i was asleep. I woke up to him touching my breasts. When I told my mom, she said, "Ella, don't make up lies about your father. He would never want a child when he has me." I don't know if she said anything to him, but I started to lock my door at night. I also I started taking money from them while they were asleep or passed out drunk, and made a plan.

So here I am now, on my own at 16 with no family, no home and headed to places unknown.