Just a little one-shot based on Carla's childhood, kind of...

~Call my name and save me from the dark~
Bring me to life-Evanescene

Running from the dark

She hadn't chosen to live like this, she didn't want to, she had obviously done something wrong, somehow, somewhere.

Everyone at school had normal families, a normal house, kind parents that bought them presents and made them dinner, that washed their clothes and took them to school.

Not her though, not her and Rob, they had been left to fend for themselves at a young age, when their alchoholic dad and drug dealing mum would leave without an explanation and wouldn't return for days, sometimes weeks.

Now, at 13 years old, Carla still didn't understand exactly why her life was so messed up, why she had to run from the dark every day of her life, why she had to work so hard just to keep herself from drowning into it's inky depths.

All she knew was that it was her parents fault, deep down she knew that, but she couldn't help but feel responsible. She had heard the two of them talking about her a lot, and it was always the same, 'This is all her fault, if we hadn't had her we wouldn't of even thought about having Rob' and 'Her teacher's are butting their noses in again, make sure she doesn't say a word'.

As she thought about this Carla had to stop a tear rolling down her cheek, she couldn't cry, crying was a sign of weakness and whatever she was, that was one thing she wasn't, weak. She was strong, she could cope with anything life threw at her, she hadn't cried for years, and she wasn't going to start now.

"Carla, get down here now!" Carla jumped up off her bed when she heard her dad yell, what was wrong, what had she done wrong. She rushed downstairs to see her mum and dad looking very angry.

"What the fuck are these?" Her dad yelled, waving some peices of paper in her face.

"I-I don't know." Carla stammered.

"I'll tell you what they are, letters from your school about your grades and about you bunking, what are you doing, drawing attention to us, do you wanna get the social on to us, do you really wanna be takin into some crappy care home!" Her dad yelled into her face.

"What do you care?" Carla yelled.

"What did you say?" Her dad spat.

"What do you care about me?" Carla yelled again, "You've never cared about me, or Rob, you just care about yourself, both of you, you do whatever you can to fund your little habits and do nothing for me and Rob, absolutely nothing, when was the last time you bought us some new clothes, or cooked us dinner, tell me that!"

"Carla!" Her mum said, "How dare you say that, we have done nothing but our best for you and your brother."

"But you haven't!" Carla exclaimed, "Your more like strangers to us than parents!"

As soon as Carla had said that she immediately regretted it, not because she didn't mean it, but because she had seen the expression on her dads face.

Carla let out a little scream as her dad rammed her into the wall, holding her collar up so she was struggling to breathe.

"You are nothing but an ungrateful little bitch, it's no wonder we don't want to be parents to you, your just a little cow." Her dad spat in her face. Carla stayed absolutely still, looking straight into her fathers eyes in which she saw nothing but hatred.

Carla thought her dad was about to let go when he pulled back his hand and hit her in the face. Then he let go and stormed out the door, Carla's mum following him straight afterwards.

Carla let herself slide down the wall, her dad had just hit her! He had threatened to before but she never thought he actually would. She lifted her hand up to her smarting cheek, there was going to be a bruise there tomorrow.

She felt tears threatening to fall from her eyes but managed to stop them, she was Carla Donavon, and Carla Donavon never cried. She looked at the front door, she should just leave, no one would care, but she couldn't leave, she couldn't leave Rob and she couldn't take him with her either, he was only 11.

She heard a noise and looked up to see Rob hovering at the top of the stairs, obviously having seen everything.

"Come here." Carla said, holding out her arm for Rob to come and sit in.

"I promise you, as soon as I can, I'm taking you away from here, from this hellhole, and we are never ever coming back, you understand, never ever." Carla said.

Rob nodded, and rested his head on Carla's shoulder.

Carla sighed, maybe once she got away from here, just maybe, she would be able to stop running from the dark.

So, please review thanks :) :P