Past Praying For chapter 1
Another story! Yay! LOL. Some people were saying they wanted me to write another story, so here it is! :) A lot of people are still shipping Eclare, so here is another Eclare story. This story wot be having fast updates until I finish 'Situations' and 'You're My Everything' which should be soon. When those are done this story will be my main priority :)
This story was recommended by Guyluver14. :) I had no ideas on what my new story was going to be, and when she suggested this, I just HAD to write it. I thought it was an amazing idea. :)
Thanks to my Beta: Guyluver14, for the idea of this story and helping me with it :)
Things you need to know.:
In this Clare will be 19 along with Adam.
Eli is 20.
This story is also taken place in the beginning of the summer. So, around the first week of July. And yes, sometimes it rains in the summer… haha.
WARNING: rated M for a reason. But for later chapters.
Summary: She thought she was beyond praying for; her life was hell on earth. With the need to escape for a night or two, she runs away from home, taking shelter in the home of her friend and the cocky Elijah. But if she thought life was hard, she'll think love is impossible.
Clare's POV
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The rain kept hitting my window harder each time. I gazed out the glass, watching as the streets flooded with water. I waited for her to come home, hoping she was in a good mood and sober. I waited, hoping that her being out this late was just a coincidence.
I suddenly felt the little hope I had smash into a billion piece as I watched a cab pull up, letting out a stumbling woman. I watched as she stumbled her way to the door, almost tripping multiple times. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hearing the door open and close downstairs. I held my breath as I heard her uneven steps coming up the stairs, preparing for what's to come.
My eyes snapped open as I heard the jiggled of my bedroom doors handle. I turned my head so I could watch as she stumbled into my room. I quickly stood up and looked at the floor.
"Hi mom." I mumbled.
She completely ignored my greeting as she walked around my room. "What have you been up too?" she asked, slurring her words. Her beady eyes glared at me accusingly.
"I cleaned the kitchen like you asked, and the bathroom." I said softly.
"What about the living room?" she asked.
I raised my head to look at her. "I cleaned the living room yesterday."
She shook her head, obviously disappointed in me. "Clare, I asked you to do a simple task, and you can't even do that. I asked you to clean the house, and what do you do?" she hiccupped. "You sit on your lazy ass all day, writing in that stupid journal of yours." He words were barely understandable, but I got the message. I always did.
"I'm sorry, I'll do it tomorrow." I explained.
She sighed disapprovingly as she shook her head. "You were supposed to do it today, you worthless piece of shit! You can't do anything right!" she yelled.
She turned around, walking out of my room and I flinched as she slammed the door behind her. I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding in. I turned and lay down on my bed. My trembling hands latched onto a pillow and I pulled it into my chest, snuggling against it. I felt tears escaping my eyes and dripping down my cheeks and onto my pillow, wishing things were the way they were before dad left.
Tonight was just another night that I would be crying myself to sleep.
My mother wasn't always like this; it started after my dad had left us. We were what you call the 'ideal' happy family. We went to church together, had dinner together, had family nights and played games together; we did everything together. But when I turned fourteen, things took a turn for the worse. My older sister Darcy noticed it too.
Our parents started fighting, just bickering at first, but soon turned into full on yelling at each other. I would sit with Darcy in her room, both of us listening to them yell at each other. At times it would be over stupid things, but other times they were screaming nasty insults to each other. Darcy and I would hold onto each other most of the time. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night when they began to fight and I would sneak across the hall to climb in bed with Darcy. She would try to comfort me, rubbing my back and telling me things will get better.
But they didn't.
We soon found out that dad was cheating on my mom with some tramp that was half his age. I honestly never thought my dad would ever stoop so low. After we discovered my father's secret my dad left and divorced my mom. Darcy then decided that that was the perfect time to go away to Kenya. She left me alone with my heartbroken mother.
My mom's best friend then became alcohol. She became an alcoholic, barely even remembering I existed. At the age of fifteen I learned how to take care of myself and my mother. She would come home drunk most of the time, sometimes even bringing random strangers home. They never lasted long, so I would always listen to my I-Pod until they left.
About a year later, my mom began to blame me for everything. She started to verbally abuse me, bringing me down every chance she got. She began to tell me to clean every inch of the house, making sure it was spotless, otherwise she would slap me. She never really punched me, made me bleed or gave me serious injuries, but she has left bruises from when she hit me. Sometimes they would be on my face, but mostly they were on my arms or legs. She soon began to grab me and throw me around when I didn't do a good enough job at my chores.
I knew as I grew older I could leave the house if I wanted, but I just couldn't leave her. Even though she abused me, I didn't have the heart to leave her completely alone. She was broken and she needed me. I was all she had left from our family. That's why I'm still living with her today. I would occasionally slip away for a night or two and face the consequences when I returned, but I still couldn't leave her. She is my mother after all and she needs me.
She could never hold a stable job, so that was my duty. I have been working at a record store called Toxic, and I still currently am. I am close friends with one of the workers who got me the job in the first place. She is one of the two friends who know about my life; my reallife.
I sighed and sat up, wiping my tears away. I needed to get away tonight, before she thought of something else to bitch at me about. I wasn't in the mood to get another bruise tonight, so I got up and grabbed my overnight bag. I packed everything that I would need for that night and zipped up my bag.
I sighed and went over to my bedroom door, opening it and walking down the hall quietly. I went to my mother's room to see her passed out, a bottle of vodka in her hand. I frowned and walked over to her, taking the bottle and placing it on her dresser. I covered her up with the covers and kissed her forehead gently. I grabbed the bottle and went downstairs, putting it in the cabinet. I grabbed the bottle of Advil and a glass of water before retreating back upstairs. I placed the glass and the Advil on her nightstand, knowing she would need it tomorrow morning.
I walked out of her room and quietly closed the door behind me. I went back into my room and grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. I walked over and reached under my pillow, grabbing my journal and putting it in my bag. I sighed and made my way out of my room, turning off the light and quietly stepping down the stairs.
I made it to the front door, grabbing my leather jacket and slipping on my flats. I sighed and looked back at my damaged home. To any untrained eye, my house would look perfect since everything was spotless. But for someone who has known our family for years knows that we are far from a perfect family now.
I turned and walked out of the house, closing the door behind me and stepped into the dark night. I made my way to the one person I could count on to always be there for me.
Eli's POV
"Die, die, die!" Adam yelled at the TV as we played video games at his duplex.
Yes I know, two adults playing video games, lame right? But that's what makes guy's night, guy's night. We haven't changed much since high school, except maybe we have matured a little and moved out of our parent house. We still have our childish times, playing video games and reading comics, but that's just who we are and always have been, and I doubt it will change anytime soon.
"And as always, I win!" I said smugly as I won the game.
Adam sighed and threw the controller on the table.
"You so cheated." He mumbled.
I chuckled, "Stop being such a sore loser."
"Whatever," he muttered, "The pizza should be here soon, I'm gonna get the plates and stuff."
I nodded and slouched back in his couch, taking a sip of my beer.
It wasn't long before I heard the doorbell ring, followed by rapid knocking.
"Pizza's here." I yelled out, only to have Adam yell back at me, telling me to answer the door.
I sighed and got up, making my way over to the door, pulling out my wallet from my back pocket. I opened the door and instead of being intoxicated with the sweet smell of fresh cooked pizza, I was face to face with a girl, standing on the front steps with a bag in hand, soaking wet from the rain.
"Hey Adam," I yelled out, "Did you order a cute, soaking wet girl, carrying a bag? Cause I certainly didn't see that on the menu."
"What the hell are you talking abo-" Adam stopped mid sentence as he noticed the girl on the front step. "Clare?"
"Hi. Yeah, I'd love to chit chat, but I am freezing my ass off out here." The girl said, wrapping her arms over herself as she shivered slightly.
Adam moved aside and let the wet girl inside. He grabbed her bag and then threw it at me as he pushed me aside. I grunted as I caught it, closing the door with my foot.
"What the hell do you have in here, bricks?" I asked, noticing how heavy the bag was.
Adam shot me a death glare as he led the girl to the couch. I gave him a defensive look and brought her bag over to the stairs. I walked back into the living room to see Adam wrapping a blanket around her shoulders, trying to warm her up.
What the hell was she doing here at this hour anyways? Especially when it was pouring outside.
I walked over and sat down on the recliner, watching them intensely. I have never seen this girl before, and it's pissing me off that I don't know why she's here. How did Adam know her, anyways? They seem really close. Are they dating? No, they couldn't be, Adam would have told me.
"Sorry to interrupt, I-I didn't know where else to go." The girl muttered. What was her name? I remembered Adam mention her name when he saw her outside. What was it? Uhh… Clare? Clare.
"No, it's fine." Adam said softly, taking Clare's hand. "What happened this time?"
This time? Was this a regular thing?
The Clare girl glanced at me, probably not wanting to share her personal things with a complete stranger. Adam looked over at me and gave me a look, signaling I should leave. I sighed and stood up.
"Well, that's my cue." I got up and grabbed my coat, heading out the door.
"Eli," Adam said my name and I turned around to see him standing right in front of me. "I'm sorry, I know we had guy's night planned, but she really needs someone to be there for her. Her family life isn't all that great and I can't just send her away."
I pressed my lips to a line as I glanced back at the girl on the couch. She had her head hung low as she glared at her hands. Her eyes were red and I could see her biting her lower lip to keep from crying. She looked like she really needed a friend, so I nodded towards Adam.
"It's alright; we can have guy's night another time, right?"
Adam nodded and said thank you to me before I walked out the door. I made my way to Morty and got in, putting the key in the ignition before driving away from Adam's duplex. The only thought running through my mind as I drove down the road was who was that girl and what's so bad about her life?
Clare's POV
"So, she didn't hit you this time?" Adam asked after I explained why I didn't want to stay home tonight.
Before we began to talk, Adam had let me go change out of my wet clothes and into my PJ's. I was still cold from the rain so as we sat on his bed, I had the blanket wrapped around me. The pizza Adam had ordered earlier had come late, but just in time for me. Adam said Eli and he will just get another pizza when he comes over, letting me know I could eat it.
After we finished eating Adam asked me why I was at his place in the first place, so I had to explain.
I shook my head, "No, she just yelled at me. Then she passed out, but I still couldn't take the chance." I explained and he sighed in relief and nodded.
He reached over and grabbed my hand in his, holding it tightly.
"You know you're always welcome here." His eyes pierced into mine.
I nodded, but then remembered the guy that was here before I came. It looked like they were in the middle of something and I felt guilty for being the reason the man had to leave.
"I'm sorry if I interrupted your night. I should have called first." I said.
"What? No, you don't need to call before you come over here." Adam said softly. "Yes Eli and I had plans, but we can always make new ones. You need a friend and he understood that."
"I just feel bad about being the reason he had to leave."
Adam sighed, "Look, he's most likely going to come by tomorrow, so don't feel bad. He's always here, I mean seriously the guy never leaves so what's one night?"
I nodded even though I still felt bad. I bet that Eli guy thought I was some stuck up ** just looking for attention. That's what people always think when I have a break down. They always jump to the conclusion that I just want attention, but trust me, if I could be invisible, I would. I like keeping to myself, that's the whole point of my journal. I keep all of my secrets in there, I write my life story in that journal. Adam knows how much my journal means to me, so when he sees me writing, he leaves me to myself, knowing I need to get my feelings out.
"Clare," Adam said, breaking me from my thoughts. "I want you to stay here for a couple of nights. I know you're going to say no but you need to get away for a few days. That woman is driving you right to the edge and you're letting her."
I sighed, looking down at my hands. "Adam, you know I can't just leave her. I'm all she has left."
"Clare, I'm telling you to just up and leave, I just want you to stay here for a couple of days, just so you can heal better without getting more bruises after each one heals."
I gulped, "She hasn't hit me in a while, so I should be fine."
Adam raised his eyebrows, giving me a look telling me he didn't believe me. He snatched the blanket from me and lifted up my PJ pant leg, revealing a large bruise on my leg from a few days ago. I quickly pulled my pant leg down and covered myself back up.
"Clare, please, just stay for a few nights. I'm begging you. You're my best friend and I don't like to see you in pain." He pleaded.
I took a deep breath, contemplating on if I should stay or not. My mom was normally sober during the day, so she should be fine. But it's the night that worries me. Whenever night falls it's like something in her head snaps and makes her drink. It's like a need for when night comes. She doesn't care about what will happen the next day. I really do need a break. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a month. I needed to get away. I guess I could always check up on her.
I sighed and looked up at Adam. "Okay, I'll stay. But only for a few nights." I said quickly.
Adam grinned and tackled me with a hug. I smiled and wrapped my arms around him.
We decided it was time to go to bed, so we got ready and climbed in bed. Adam fell asleep in no time, his snores filling the room. I sighed and turned on my side, facing the wall. There was no doubt in my mind that I was worried about my mom, but right now, I really needed to get some sleep. So that's what I did.
So? Was this a complete fail?
By the way, I know it doesn't seem like it, but Eli will be involved in this a lot. This story isn't mainly based on Clare's mother's problems, but it was just a look in on Clare's past. Trust me, plenty of Eli to come ;)
Review and tell me what you think! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask! :)