DS: Hello everybody! It's my first fan fiction so please be harsh, etc. etc. I want to know what I did wrong, so I can write better ones in the future.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: I don't own HM, the characters of anything else of that nature.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's the Thought that Counts Karen's Choice

I looked towards the cloudless sky. The wind was blowing fiercely. Why to me? Why only me? Why am I the only one who has to suffer? my thoughts clouded by memories, all terrible, all hurtful. I stood above the rocky cliff face.

"Now I can finally be at peace…" my voice trailed. This decision was final. I wouldn't back down. My pain would finally come to an end…

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Third person I guess…)

"Karen!" A voice growled. "Where are you?" The hulking figure of a man lumbered through the household. Thumping his way past Karen's hiding place. "Sarah! Where's Karen!" He shouted. He was getting fiercer by the moment.

Karen's mother came into view. She was a small, delicate woman, with brown hair, and darker eyes. The expression on her face was pure terror.

"I don't know Gotz." Her voice trembled. She was shaking all over.

His temper increased to all new levels. His face reddened, and his fist clenched.

"You don't know?" he shouted in her face. His breath smelled heavily of liquor. "You don't know?" he asked her again. "Then you shall suffer."

He slapped her hard in the face. She fell to the floor with a thud. He picked her up by the wrists. She thrashed and kicked. One of her kicks hit him in the stomach, and he yelped with pain. She moved for the door, but he was already on her, and he threw her to the floor. She couldn't get up.

Karen was trembling in her hiding place. She wanted to go help her mother, to scream, to do anything, but her body was unwilling.

"I'm so sick of this." He growled. He went over to a desk, and opened the drawer. What he pulled out would haunt Karen forever. The dark muzzle aimed for her mother. Her mother pleaded and screamed, but no one was near, no one would ever know what truly happened…

BANG!

Karen's POV

I woke with a start. My eyes flicked open, and I was up on my feet in a matter of moments.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

"Karen!" A voice shouted through the door. "If you aren't out here in 10 minutes, you wont see the light of day!"

"Alright sir!" I shouted back at him, my voice was filled with disgust, but the person on the other side of the door had long lost all his ability to notice these types of things.

I quickly pulled on some jeans, a white halter, and a black over-shirt, wrapped a belt around my waist, and went over to her mirror. I studied the reflection in the mirror. Two gorgeous blue-green eyes stared back at me. My face was attractive; I guess you could say, with soft features. I have all brown hair, except for two blonde bangs that I have no idea where they came from, but I liked them, the only thing I liked about myself.

I finished up in her room, and ran down the stairs, to see my father lying on the couch watching some porn flick. It was disgusting.

"I'm going out." I said simply.

He grunted, and continued watching his movie. He didn't care what happened to her really, he just wanted to make sure she didn't get as much of something as he did, including sleep.

I walked out the door into the rainy morning. The air was humid, and hot. Normal weather in this tropical climate. It enveloped me completely, but I didn't care, I would go through anything to get out of my house.

I started down the path towards the beach. I was thinking about my recent dream, the one I have at least once a week, haunting me in my sleep. The screaming was permanently in my head, that blood-curdling scream that would send anyone into tears.

I was so caught in thought that I didn't notice the man, and we ran into each other, tumbling together down the muddy hill down to the wet sand. He ended up on top of me, and I was just realizing what happened.

I screamed, and pushed him off of myself. He rolled over, and got up, apologizing immediately. He held out a hand to help me up, but I turned it down.

"I'm very sorry, I wasn't paying attention." He apologized taking his hand back.

"It's ok." I said, while standing up. I turned to look at him. His face was covered in mud, but other than that he wasn't half bad looking. He had brown spiked hair, and shiny brown eyes. He wore jeans, and a white t-shirt.

I, looking over myself, was probably worse off than he was. "Great, now how am I going to get clean? I can't go home he would blow a fuse…" I thought.

Jack's POV

While she was pondering this, I looked at her. She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, even with the mud covering her cheek. But, I put that in the back of my mind for now.

"Are you ok?" I asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered.

"That's a relief." I stated. I was glad I hadn't hurt her. I looked at her face, which at that moment was in a distraught expression.

"Is something the matter?" I asked her.

"Umm… can I use your shower?" she asked.

"Yeah, no problem, come with me." I said as I walked with her. "By the way, my name's Jack."

Karen's POV

"Karen." I replied. I walked along with him to what I thought was the old man's farm.

"So, did you just move here?" I asked, more because I was curious, not because I wanted to talk to him. His eyes lightened just a little bit, at the thought of a conversation.

"Yeah, I came from the city, to take over my grandpa's farm, actually." He replied.

I had gotten a better answer then I expected. I wanted to move to the city, and I wanted to know as much as I could about it. My eyes lightened up as well, and he must of notice this because he started talking about the city. I was fully intrigued. It was really interesting.

Then we reached his house on his farm. He pulled out a key from his jeans pocket, and unlocked the old wooden door. He beckoned me inside, so I stepped in.

It was small, to put it bluntly. Smaller then my house, but then again, mine had to house more people. It was all smoothed wood. There were old pieces of furniture. A bed, a television, a toolbox, and a dresser was all, but there were also stairs leading up to the roof, a door to what I was later told was the laundry room, and another door, apparently leading to the kitchen, and what I was looking for, the bathroom.

He led me through the doors to the bathroom. It was nice, and it looked new, and well kept. He showed me how the shower worked, and left me in there.

I pulled off my shirt, and my halter, and I examined my back. There was a huge scar from my upper back down to my lower, and a few new bruises. It hurt like hell, but I never let anyone notice. I finished getting undressed, and took a long shower. It felt good. I came out, and grabbed the towel Jack had left for me. I turned to see the mirror was fogged up, typical. I rubbed a circle of the fog away with my towel. There was a new scratch on my face.

I didn't care though, it could have been worse. Then I noticed my clothes were gone. Jack left a note saying he was washing them. Dam, now I was stuck naked, in someone else's house, that I just met. How wonderful.

I wasn't just going to stick around in the bathroom. I opened the door, and looked to make sure Jack wasn't around. He wasn't, good. I headed for his room where his dresser would be. He wasn't there either.

I scanned through his drawers, and found jeans, and a shirt. Good enough. I pulled them on. I then waited for him, I wandered around looking at the things he kept on shelves, and then eventually sat on his bed.

He came in a few minutes later with my clothes.

"Guess you found my clothes." He said. A look of contempt on his face.

"Yeah sorry, I just didn't want to be stuck in the bathroom." I replied. I looked at him, his expression changed, and he gave me a warm smile. I couldn't help but give a little smile back.

"Here are your clothes." He said cheerfully. He sat down on the bed next to me, and handed my clothes to me. They were as good as new.

"Thanks"

"You're welcome." Was his reply. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower myself. If you need anything, just holler."

I nodded, and he walked out. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail, all except my bangs, which I liked to keep down. Then I took off his shirt, and put on my bra.

"Christ, we don't even know each other, and he's seen my underwear, that's a real conversation piece." I grumbled.

Jack walked in a second later. He caught sight of my bruises, before I screamed "Shit!" and covered myself with my over-shirt. I could feel my cheeks burn, figuring they were turning red.

"I'm so sorry." He stammered. "I just forgot my clothes." His cheeks turned red.

I gave him a death glare, and he hurriedly grabbed some clothes, and walked out.

"Dammit! Doesn't he have any common sense!?" I yelled frustrated. I put on the rest of my clothes, and ran out the door. This for sure wasn't going to happen again. Jack came out after me.

"Wait! I'm really sorry, I didn't know, I mean it was only a few seconds after I left." He grabbed me on my shoulder, but I pulled his hand off. My own rage, and embarrassment increasing.

"Don't touch me, and stop making excuses. You're a total perv. So don't even talk to me." I walked away, and he getting the message didn't follow. Though he kept trying to talk to me afterwards, but I just kept ignoring him.

But even through that, I couldn't get him out of my mind. I was always wondering why he came here, and moved away from the city. Why would anyone move away from the city……