Hey, this is my first fanfic so please don't be too mean :( Rated T for now for bad language and violence and stuff but it may change later! I will hopefully update a couple times a week, maybe more Please review! :)

-Chloe

(Disclaimer- I don't own any of Darren Shan's characters!)

"Grace! GRACE! Get the fuck up!"

The shrill voice of my mother made my eyes open wide, I'd only had 3 hours sleep, I felt absolutely dead.

"I'm up!" I called back out of my small bedroom door and heard my mum grunt in reply. The clock read 7.48, I had just a half hour to get ready and be out the house and walking to school. I sighed as I brushed through my auburn hair; it was getting far too long, the curls hung down by my waist. I quickly put a light layer of foundation and some mascara on and started getting dressed.

I hated my school uniform to no end. White shirt, green and black tie and hideous black blazer with the biggest shoulder pads I've ever seen. My school sucked. I was in sixth form and still had to wear the uniform. I longed for the day when I could choose what to wear instead of looking like a sack of potatoes every day. I took a quick look in the mirror and sucked in a large breath before I went downstairs to face my mum.

I didn't exactly like my mum, she was mean and cold, she'd been like that since my dad had died. There's two ways a person can direct their grief. Inwards and outwards. Unfortunately for me, she aimed it outwards, mostly in my direction.

"Morning Mum." I whispered, pulling my skirt down to make it longer at the same time. Mum hated to see me looking like what she thought was a 'sex object.' This included showing any part of my leg above my knees, showing the tops of my arms and above all, showing any part of my chest.

Mum just grunted her response and I set off for school. 'She must be hungover.' I thought. As I walked the mile and a half to school I thought about my life.

Name – Grace Alice Justice.

Age – 17

Location – London

I'd lived in London since I was 14, when my father died. He was hit by a car crossing the road, me and my mum witnessed the crash ourselves. The driver was drunk; he'd spun out of control and knocked my father down but had carried on trying to drive and my dad died painfully as the car crushed him. Up to this day my mum still blames me for the accident. The sad thing is, I blame me too. I deserve anything I get from her... the abuse...the beatings...

I shook the thought from my mind. School was in sight. I wasn't a very big fan of the school I went to, the sixth form was over crowded and the younger years all thought they were 'hard.'

I wasn't very well liked in school. Since my dad's death I kept mostly to myself, only making 3 friends in the whole 3 years I'd been there. But in my opinion, they were great friends. There was Cony Porter; she was the girl I was closest to. She had shoulder length black hair, brown eyes and beautiful mocha colour skin. This was the complete opposite to my red hair, green eyes and ivory skin. But you know what they say, opposites attract. The other two girls I'd managed to make friends with were Ruby and Evie. Ruby the tallest at 5'10, she had the size 0 figure that all the models would die for, yet she was healthy. She had wavy blonde hair that reached the small of her back, flawless skin, big blue eyes and pouty lips. She was definitely the one who attracted the most male attention out of the three of us. Evie on the other hand was introverted and shy, a bit like me. She had dyed brown hair that was cut short, and spiked up in a cute pixie look. She had brown eyes that were always framed by a mass of thick lashes and a gorgeous smile that could light up a room. Not that she knew, obviously.

Today was a Friday, thank God. This week had dragged and though I hoped that it would fly by, the day drained on as usual. Lunch finally came along and I sat at a table with Cony, Ruby and Evie.

"I'm so excited!" Ruby whispered to Cony.

"Me too! Shall we tell Grace?" Cony replied and Ruby nodded frantically. I lifted an eyebrow at them both and they smiled widely back at me.

"Guess what we found?" Cony asked excitedly to me, I shrugged in return and looked over at Evie, even she looked slightly smug. Ruby quickly dug her hand into her bag, pulled out a green flyer and thrust it into my hand. It read:

CIRQUE DU FREAK

FOR ONE DAY ONLY! SATURDAY 14TH APRIL.

SEE:

SIVE AND SEERSA – The twisted twins! THE SNAKE BOY! THE WOLF MAN! GERTHA TEETH! LARTEN CREPSLEY AND THE AMAZING SPIDER, MADAM OCTA! ALEXANDER RIBS! THE BEARDED LADY AND MUCH MORE!

NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED.

I slowly looked up at the three giggling girls in front of me.

"You 3 actually want to go to this?" I asked, shocked. "Don't they like torture the people in it? Freak shows haven't been around in ages!"

"No! It's fine Grace, really! My cousin Tommy said his friends went to it once and said it was the best thing ever!" Ruby whisper-yelled at me eagerly.

"And you're sure they don't treat the people badly?"

"Positive! Grace, chill out a little, have fun! It's tomorrow, I'll text you all the address, I ripped it off before we came into school in case a teacher tried to confiscate the flyer" Though the blonde stereotype would disagree, Ruby was actually incredibly smart, surprisingly so sometimes. I smiled and nodded my 'okay' and with that, lunch was over.

By the end of the day I was so ready to go home, go to my room and just sleep. I kept thinking about the cirque though, where it would be and what the performers were like. It made me slightly happy thinking that I was going to be doing something with my friends tomorrow, usually we were wrapped up in coursework and such.

"GRACE? Is that you?" Mum shouted as I walked through my front door. Sigh. Good mood gone.

"Yes mum, it's me!" I called back. Who else would have a key to the house? I slowly walked through to the living room, trying to head for the stairs without disturbing my mum, who was lying on the sofa watching our crappy, second hand TV.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Just to my room mum, I have a lot of homework to do." I whispered. That was a lie, I had no homework, I just wanted to be out of her firing range. This was how most of our arguments started, her questioning everything I did.

"Don't take that tone with me you... you brat!" she screamed from where she lay. I kept calm; Answering back wasn't going to help the situation in the slightest. I stood there, in front of her, expression blank, just remembering who she used to be...

Her once fiery hair was now speckled with grey and dead, her face, now full of wrinkles from frowning so much. I missed the old her, she was so loving and care free. It's strange how grief can ruin somebody. Inside and out.

"Say something then!" she screamed. I stayed silent. "Little bitch. I knew from birth you'd ruin my life I knew you'd destroy everything!" Her fists clenched and unclenched after every other word. Usually, a speech like this ended in a slap across the face or a swift push into the wall. I prepared myself for the blow.

Mum slowly rose up from the sofa, smoothed down her blue pyjamas; she hadn't bothered getting dressed, as per usual, and looked me dead in the eye.

"I wish you'd never been born. No, in fact... I wish you'd died in that car crash instead of your father. You're a waste of space. I wish you were dead." She stared at me with more hate and disgust than I had ever seen before. I felt my eyes well up with tears. I knew she hated me but... wanted me to die? She was my mum... she was supposed to love me.

"Mum..." I choked out "You... wish I was dead?" I felt tiny, I was 5'3 and my mum was only 5'4 but it felt like she towered over me. She looked me up and down swiftly and scoffed.

"Trust me grace," she snarled as she said my name. "If I could kill you and get away with it, you'd be six feet under by now." I stumbled back in shock and the tears I'd tried to hold in spilled down my cheeks. I immediately regretted letting the emotional wall I'd kept up for the past 3 years down. My mum scoffed again.

"Fucking pathetic." She muttered and before I could ever blink her right fist had connected with my jaw and I was on the floor. Did she just punch me? I looked at her in disbelief, she just laughed, a quick, humourless cackle.

CRACK. She'd kicked me in the side. Was that crack a rib? It was strange though, I couldn't feel the pain yet... UGH. Another kick to my torso brought the pain to the forefront of my mind. It was excruciating and I cried out.

"Stop it! Mum please! Mummy!" I hoped to trigger her mothering instincts with the word 'Mummy.' I had called her this through most of my life, as we had been so close I had called her it until my early teenage years. She stopped kicking me abruptly and I peeked up at her, unfolding my arms from around my body. Her eyes were wide and frantic but they showed a slight sparkle of softness, of the mum I used to know.

"Mummy?" I repeated, this seemed to be working. She stared at me, eyes huge with surprise.

"Mum?" she blinked, stuttered, and her shocked state was gone.

"You fucking bitch." She whispered and lifted her foot high above my head, and then everything went black.

What did you think? Please review :)