When a cold night storm hits, everyone else just scurry's away indoors, sitting by a warm fire place and drinking hot cocoa. The families stay together, love eachother and share eachother's company. They all eat dinner together, put their children in school and help them with anything they would need in life. I wish my family was like that, so geniune toward their span and their siblings....My name is Hayley. I now live on my own thanks to a certain old man Ive met a couple of years ago, just someone who decided they wanted to care. I also have a boyfriend, who comes to visit me in my apartment everyday and who takes good care of me, making sure that nothing hurts me ever again. Boy what a life I have now...but it wasnt always this great. Let me tell you how my previous life was....

3 Years Ago.....

I was walking home from school, walking with my best friend Trisha. We've been best friends since the 2nd grade, when we defended eachother in a cafeteria food fight. My brunette hair was tied up in a bun, some bangs hanging by my eyes, I had my white sunglasses on to protect my green eyes from the heated sun. Since my heritage is spanish, my skin is all year round tanned and since Im in sports, Ive been in pretty good shape for most of my life. Right now, Im in my prime...age 14. Trisha was a girl who had long blond hair, blue eyes and she was in great shape as well....we were both on the soccer team. We go to a small school in Austin Texas, both of us freshman in High School. School for us is like going to a beauty pageant....you are always judged by how you look and we were always on the bottom because we were different from the other girls. Trisha's heritage was German and Irish, so she was always the fighter compared to me....Im the one who just defends and walks away....never been in a fight in my life. Trisha has gotten in trouble many times for fighting school but she has rich parents, as do I....but my parents are pretty strict compared to hers.

Now about my family. I have an older brother named Aiden, a popular football player at our school. He is a senior, is always bringing home different girls every weekend. He was saying that if I didnt respect his every wish during my time as a freshman, he would put me to shame in front of the whole football team so he's on the mean side. Always beating up on his girlfriends and to my dismay, me. My dad isnt any different, he beats my mother...well he used to..hasnt laid a hand on her since she fell ill with Breast Cancer. She had gotten her spanish heritage from her mother, her father was irish...her brother recieved more of the irish blood line and I got the spanish. We dont look anything a like except for the eyes, both of us have light green eyes. We've all lived in Austin TX for 2 years, for treatment of my mother's illness, which adds up to the amount of stress Ive been going through. With Trisha, she moved down here as well....just because this school offers soccer scholarships. I could never qualify for any kind of scholarships, I could never be good enough for that kind of treatment.

Today was just any other day, walking home together and chewing over what kind of crap our teachers gave us for homework. Trisha had guys coming after her all the time, she had two boyfriends last year while I had none.....never dated in my life so far. Which is what she was nagging at me about today on this gloreous walk home. " So Hayley, how come you've never dated? " she asked me, not looking at me. I looked at her and rolled my eyes " You've known for a long time Trisha, you know know why shouldnt you? " I asked her right back, earning a sigh from her. " You know...you should quit playing hard to get and just let a boy fansy you. Surely you've had crushes before " she said to me, earning another sigh from me. When we sighed, it was just apart of the conversation, meaning annoyance like everyone else. I really hated it when she asked me about boys, Ive never cared to date...no matter how many boys wanted me. Most boys only want me for one thing, that thing is not what Im going to let myself be used for. Trisha on the other hand, would do it in an instant if the guy was hot enough....she didnt believe in anything like love or compassion. We were nearing the house, her house so I would have to walk the rest of the home by myself. " well I'll see you later Hayley " is what she said to me before she walked into her house, leaving me to walk home alone.

On my journey home, a car pulled up beside me. A Black Mustang convertable, my brother's car. He slowed down to match my speed, looking at me " Hey Hayley, dad wants you home now " he said to her, his voice stern and demanding. I looked at him and stopped, the street was completely empty so he wouldnt have to go because of other cars. " Why so suddenly? " I asked him, earning an annoyed sigh from him. " Just get in the car, we're going home together " he said to me. I didnt want to upset him so I walked to the car and got in, belting up since he was a bit of a stupid driver. He took off like a bullet down the empty streets, reaching our house in a matter of seconds which wouldve only taken me minutes by walking. Squeeling tires into our driveway, he put his manual mustang into park and turned it off, getting out and running into the house. I was wandering what the hell was wrong with him and why he rushed into the house like that, so I followed him and went inside, to see our father sitting in the recliner. Where he usually sat when he waited for Aiden to get home from a late party to bust him. " Dad? Whats going on? " I asked him, looking at him with concern. He looked up at me and then stood up, looking at Aiden " We need to go to the hospital, your mother is in critical condition. The doctors believe she may go tonight, so lets go and see her....one last time " he said to both of us, shocking us and making tears come to my eyes. I didnt want to hear anymore, so I ran up to my room and got ready to go to the hospital. My brother did the same thing, he wasnt so upset like I was. I was classified as mommy's little girl, he was daddy's big boy. As soon as I ran into my room, I put my bag down and immediately changed clothes, taking my hair down and then going into the bathroom to wash my face so Aiden and Dad wouldnt see the tears. Aiden was standing in the bathroom doorway, looking at me as I washed my face. " You know she's going to go tonight right? She's been through too much treatment for more of it, if that treatment wont work against it then nothing will. So you might as well stop crying and accept it " He said to me, making me angry. I only glared up at him and crossed my arms " How can you be so unemotional about this? She's your mother too. " I said to him as I walked past him, heading downstairs to put my shoes on. I could hear him following after me as if to tell me not to talk to him like that or just to freak me out. Shockingly enough, I didnt hear him say anything, he just walked right past me and went outside to his car. He never rode with me and dad, he just took his own car because he had other obligations to attend to later on.