I do not, in any way, own any characters or the trilogy itself. My name is not Kelley Armstrong, sadly enough.

Originally, this was a story I wrote for an assignment in English class. The names were different, but because I'm such a huge fan of the Darkest Powers trilogy, I thought it would be cute to modify it a little bit and publish it on here.

I'm considering expanding it into a longer story because I had so much fun writing this.

The reason this is not in chapter form is because the assignment was for a short story, and the criteria for it stated that there were to be no chapters, but if I do decide to expand on this, it definitely will be in chapter form.

I apologize if this is a really brief story, which it is. Again, it was a short story.

Also, I'm from Australia so some things may be spelt differently to what you're used to, apologies for that.

I was lying awake in bed, everybody was asleep. I could hear the soft snores coming from Rae's side of the room. It was cold, they never gave us many blankets, only thin sheets – and that was if we were good. If we misbehaved, we'd go without. They deprived us of our necessities. If we misbehaved or made one tiny mistake, we would go days without food or a shower.

I hated it here, Aunt Lauren told me that I'd be safe – happy even – but I wasn't. I was miserable, cold and lonely. I wanted somebody to talk to, anybody really. I wanted a best friend, but I had lost mine 9 years ago, and that's the reason why I'm here. My mum was my best friend, but she died when I was six.

I was too young to understand at the time, my dad shipped me off to Aunt Lauren's house and I haven't heard from him since. My aunt looked after me for about a year and gave up on me; she told me I was too much of a burden because she had to pick up extra work at the hospital just to feed me. She never contacted me after she shipped me off to the orphanage.

After staring at the ceiling for almost six hours, I started to drift into sleep. I dreamt of my mum, my dad and getting out of this place. I so badly wanted to leave, to run away and never come back. To find a place where I would be treated like a person for once and live my life like a normal 15 year old girl.

A loud bang on the door shook me from my dreams.

"Rae, Chloe, get your asses out of bed!" called Mrs Talbot. "You have five minutes to be dressed and down stairs for breakfast!" Her butch voice boomed through the door.

Rae and I reluctantly got out of bed to get dressed. I pulled on a pale orange hoodie and a pair of dark blue jeans. I gathered my strawberry blonde hair into a messy ponytail after many attempts at keeping it tidy.

We made our way down stairs to the table. Oats for breakfast today – more like sludge. The food we ate was disgusting.

"Chloe, there's a nice, young couple coming today to speak with you. You might just be moving out of here very soon," Mrs Talbot said. A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. "Finally," I heard her mutter under her breath.

Yes, finally indeed.

I sat in Ms Talbot's office, drumming my fingers on the arm of the chair I sat in. The door creaked open and a couple walked in. They introduced themselves as Andrew and Gwen Carson. Andrew was tall and muscular, but not enough to be intimidating, while Gwen was short and petite.

"Hello, Chloe," Gwen said cheerily. "I guess you can tell why we're here?" I nodded my head and smiled.

"So what do you like to do?" Andrew asked.

"I like to watch movies and read books. I like drawing too." That seemed to put a smile on Andrew's face.

We talked about books and movies for a while. They were really nice and seemed like a happy couple.

After an hour, our time was up.

Running back to my room, I fell on to my bed and sighed. After around fifteen minutes, a light knock sounded on the door, which was strange because all of the carers usually banged as loudly as they could on it – they liked to scare us. Gwen peeked her head through the door and smiled. When I smiled back, she stepped fully into the room.

"Chloe, we'll be back for you tomorrow, is that okay?" she asked in her soft voice.

I could feel my eyes widen, I got up and launched myself at her, trapping her in a hug. "Thank you!" I mumbled into her shoulder. She laughed and hugged me tighter, then let go. With that, she closed the door, leaving me with my excitement.

I was finally going to get out of this place! I grabbed my bag and packed what I had – which wasn't very much at all.

The rest of the day went very quick. I spent a lot of time with Rae and Brady. Before we even knew it, it was time for bed. I fell asleep fairly quickly for once. I was finally happy.

Like every day, a loud bang on the door startled me awake. The only thing different about this time was that I was actually looking forward to getting out of bed.

Mrs Talbot's voice boomed through the door. "Time to get up! Chloe, Andrew and Gwen are coming for you at 10 o'clock, you have two hours to get dressed and your stuff packed." Well, all my belongings were already packed, so I had two hours to kill before I finally got out of here.

The next few hours went quick, because I was in Gwen's car before I knew it. There was a 15 minute car ride of awkward conversation, but I didn't mind. I was just glad to be out of that place. Gwen pulled in to a long driveway, the front yard was pretty dirty and messy – not even the orphanage was this gross. I couldn't complain though, they were nice enough to bring me home so the least I could do would be to appreciate it.

We got out of the car and I was given a tour of the house. It wasn't small but it wasn't big either, and again, it was messy and again, I couldn't complain.

I settled in quickly and was really happy with how my life was going. Andrew enrolled me into a nearby school and I met some good friends there. Luckily, my closest and best friend, Derek, lived a two minute walk away if you cut straight through the thick layer of forest separating our houses. Every night he'd come and see me, we'd walk out and sit in the clearing under the trees between our houses and talk about things – anything, really. He knew everything about me and I knew everything about him. He made my life just that little bit easier, knowing that I had somebody to talk to.

I thought everything was going well, that I was safe and happy; I thought that Gwen and Andrew actually cared about me. Everything was fine until I accidentally dropped a dinner plate and it shattered all over the kitchen floor. That was when it began.

The beating didn't last as long as they did in the orphanage, but it hurt a lot more. I didn't cry, I couldn't show any weakness. I just sat there and took it because from what I learnt in the orphanage, the less you fight back, the sooner it will be over.

After it was over, I went to bed but I couldn't sleep. My ribs and back were too sore; I could even see the bruises starting to form.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I completely forgot about Derek, it was almost 11 o'clock and that was when I was supposed to meet him outside. I pulled my hoodie over my bruised back and pulled on a pair of jeans when a tap on the window startled me. Running over to the window and pulling the curtains aside, I saw Derek and his big goofy grin.

Quietly and carefully climbing out the window, I just prayed to God I didn't make enough noise to wake Gwen or Andrew. Once my feet were safely on the ground, Derek scooped me up in to a big hug, almost crushing me in the process. My ribs throbbed when he put me down but I barely noticed; a hug from Derek always made me feel better.

For the next four hours, Derek and I talked just like we always did. We laughed and joked around and he told me everything that happened to him that day, and I told him the same – leaving out the beating, of course. I didn't need to worry him.

"You should get to bed, I'll see you at school tomorrow, okay?" I nodded. I didn't want to go to bed; I wanted to stay with Derek and talk instead, but I decided I wouldn't keep him from his sleep.

Derek walked me back to the house and stood outside while I climbed in back through the window. He did this every night, I never understood why but I definitely wasn't complaining. We said our goodnights except tonight was different, he leaned through the window and kissed my cheek. He pulled away and looked down at his feet, trying to hide the blush that his long, dark hair couldn't cover, even in the dark. Without hesitating, I pulled him back in to return his kiss. It was only on the cheek, but I could have sworn that he blushed even harder – if that was even possible.

We exchanged a small smile and I shut the curtains, leaving me with just my thoughts.

After an hour of thinking, I decided to try and sleep despite my injuries. I managed to doze off after a while but it didn't last long.

My alarm clock rang, telling me to get out of bed and get ready for school. Getting out of bed, my joints groaned and cracked in protest, my back ached for more rest and my ribs were still throbbing. I pushed through the pain and jumped in the shower. The hot water soothed the pain a bit, which made me feel a little better.

The rest of my day was like every other day, as were the next couple of months. The only thing that changed was the beatings – they had become more frequent and a lot more painful.

Eventually, I broke down one night. Not in front of Gwen or Andrew, but in my room where I was alone. I didn't understand what I'd done to deserve what was happening, I didn't understand why they were doing this. They seemed so nice when they came to visit me when I was in the orphanage. Why did they have to turn into such nasty people? So many questions were running through my head. I cried until I could barely breathe.

I glanced at the clock; it read 11:49PM. Derek would be outside my window any minute. I washed my face in the bathroom sink, hoping the puffiness around my eyes would go down, but it didn't. They remained red and puffy.

Just as I pulled a shirt over my head, there was a knock on the window – Derek. I mentally prepared myself for the 20 questions I would receive when he would see my eyes before pulling the curtains back. I silently climbed out of the window and planted my feet in front of Derek and looked up at him.

He took one look at my face and trapped me in a hug; I couldn't remember how long we stood like that for, but I didn't mind. Far too soon, he pulled back and studied my face. I pulled him towards the clearing that we sat in every night so we wouldn't wake Andrew or Gwen. Once we were in the clearing, he spoke up.

"What happened, Chloe?" he asked. A tear slid from the corner from my eye but I quickly wiped it away before he saw it.

Turning around, I pulled the back of my shirt up to reveal the bruises and scratches. Even in the dark, he could see the black and dark purple patches against my pale skin.

"Andrew… and Gwen?" he accused.

"Yeah," I choked out a cry. I lowered the hem of my shirt and turned around. He trapped me in another hug, not as tight this time but it still made me feel better.

We sat down in the clearing and he let me cry and tell him everything. He promised me that he'd help get me out of the house and away from Andrew and Gwen.

"I-I don't want t-to go back to the orphanage." I stuttered. He knew how much I hated that place, he had listened to me talk about it before and he knew what went on there.

"You won't have to go back there, you can come and stay with me, or we can find you a new home!" he replied.

We discussed what we'd do, and decided that I'd stay with Derek and his family. I didn't object, Derek's dad was always nice to me and wouldn't think twice about taking me in.

Derek said that we would report the incident to the authorities the day after, but that night, we went back to my house and packed the few belongings that I would need. It wasn't much at all – just some clothes and my sketchbook.

I wrote a short note to Andrew and Gwen. Despite them treating me like crap, I felt the need to let them know I left at my own will, and wasn't kidnapped. It was short and to the point. It explained why I was leaving (though that should be pretty obvious to them) and I stuck the note to the door of the fridge.

Derek and I left with a bag full of my things and walked to his house. He explained everything to his dad who looked at me with concerned eyes. As I predicted, he didn't hesitate about letting me stay with them. Derek and I thanked him and made our way up stairs.

There wasn't a spare bed so Derek gave me his for the night and he slept on the floor. I felt a little guilty but you couldn't argue with a stubborn Derek.

Neither of us could sleep. We sat up for about an hour, barely saying a word.

"Are you going to be okay?" he finally asked.

I nodded my head. "I'll be fine, I'm just glad to be out of there."

We talked for another hour before finally going to sleep. Derek turned the lights out and made his way back to his space on the floor next to the bed.

As I tried to sleep, I thought about all the things that Derek has done for me in the span of just four months. I was so grateful to have him in my life and to know that he'd never turn his back on me.

I leaned down off the bed and grabbed for his hand. He complied and gave it a small squeeze, but didn't let go.

Thanks to Derek, after nine long years, I finally felt safe.

Feedback on this would be absolutely lovely :)