This is my new story. I hope you will like it. :)

It was raining on the day she was born, coming down so hard that the car appeared to be sitting under a waterfall. Rain was the last word to escape her mother's lips on the side of that dirt back road and her eyes were on the newly born baby girl in her arms, so it was understandable that her grandmother assumed that the woman was naming her child.

Rain stood against a tree in the backyard of her grandmother's home. The funeral was over and her family gathered in small groups chatting and reminiscing, not noticing the first born grandchild or perhaps they were ignoring her. She rarely spoke, except to her grandmother who insisted that she spend the summers at her home.

Rain loved the summer months, the only time when she was relaxed and free, but this summer would be different as would the years to come. Her grandmother was the only person in the world who showed her any kindness and now she was gone.

Loud, angry voices carried out of the back door and into the yard and increased in volume as her father exited. Her father and stepmother, with their arms weighed down with bags of her grandmother's belongings, headed for the front drive way, her aunt screaming at him the entire time. Rain didn't have to be called; she knew the routine and hurried to catch up with them. No one cared for her father in the family, herself included, but she was stuck with him.

It took them an hour to get home. All she could do was stare out the window and choke back the sobs that wanted to fall, but she could not cry in front of her stepmother. The woman hated it and would punish her if she saw one single tear fall. Next to her she touched the porcelain carousel. It used to sit on her grandmother's coffee table and Rain could remember all the times her grandmother had wound it for her, letting her sit with her head propped up on the coffee table and watch it until it stopped. Oh, how she wished she could keep it with its perfectly painted white, black and brown horses, but it would be shattered to pieces if she dared to express her feelings. It was supposed to be hers after all according to her grandmother's words all her life. She closed her eyes and hoped that maybe her father had taken it to give to her just as his mother had wanted. However, she knew its value was the true reason he had taken it.

Luckily, by the time they got home, her parental figures were involved in another of their many arguments and she was able to slip out of the house and walk the neighborhood where she would be free to cry for the most important person in her life. She had never felt alone in the world until that moment. There would be nothing to look forward to any more, no relief from the hell she endured every day of her life and without school to go to every day in the summer days, she knew they would blame every single problem that occurred on her and her step mother, Grace, would surely make up a few for reasons Rain didn't understand. She always assumed that Grace just enjoyed watching her father whip her with his belt, but she didn't want to believe that a person could be that cold.

"Rain!" From behind, Ted, her next door neighbor, ran to catch up with her. He and his brother, Cody was the closest thing to a friend that she had, yet they didn't speak to her at school and neither did anyone else for that matter and she didn't blame them. She was a cast out and she didn't wish the teasing and bullying she endured on anyone. She wasn't pretty like the other girls and she dressed in clothes that were one to two sizes too big for her and most of them were stained or ripped. Her shoes were held together with duct tape most of the time. The only nice thing she owned was the dress and shoes she wore at that moment, bought for her just to make a good impression her family.

"Crap." She whispered to herself when she thought about what she had on. Her parents would surely be upset that she had not taken it off. She sighed and smoothed out the bottom of the blue jean dress. She loved it more than any other outfit she had ever owned and she doubted she would ever be able to wear it or the matching boots again.

"Wait up, Rain." Ted smiled and slowed his pace when he finally reached her side. "Wow, you're walking fast. Are you running away?" She wished she had the nerve to run away, but where would she run to?

"I heard about your grandma. I'm sorry." Ted put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. She didn't know if he was truly offering his sympathy or just using it as an excuse to touch her. Ever since she had moved to his street two years earlier, he had expressed an interest in her, but he annoyed her. She dipped and took a step away, making his arm slip off her shoulders. She hated to be touched by anyone of the opposite sex.

"You look beautiful in that dress. I wish you would wear one more often." She looked at her feet. At fourteen all Ted thought about was seeing a girl naked and he didn't care who. He constantly bragged about the porn videos and magazines he had hidden and he often whispered provocative invitations in her ear. "I was getting ready to take a walk through the woods behind my house. Do you want to go with me?"

She shook her head and turned at the stop sign and began to head back. She walked faster hoping Ted would get the message and go away, but by the time she reached her drive way, he was still beside her and she wished he lived on the right side of her instead of the left because then he would be in his home and not have to pass hers to get to his backyard. She could tell by the way Grace stared at her on the front porch that Ted walking beside her would be turned into much more by her parent's estimations just as it had many times before, not just with Ted, but with any boy that she happened to be next to her.

She walked inside, hoping the sad day's events would excuse her from being their target.

"Did you have fun?" Grace snarled as she passed. "Did you twitch your ass enough for the neighbor boys?"

Rain closed her eyes. She had never once tried to walk in a manner that would attract anyone, but neither Grace nor her father would believe her words if she argued. They had their own assumptions about what she did and that was the only truth in their eyes.

Inside her father stared at her from the couch with those wide, wild blue eyes that terrified her. He had heard Grace's statement and she knew what would follow.

"Look at her. She just couldn't wait to take off and show off her legs. She and that boy next door were probably off in the woods doing who knows what."

In an instant her father flew across the room, striking her face and knocking her to the ground. For a big man he moved quickly when it came to wielding punishment. He cursed at her while he whipped her with his thick belt, the buckle coming in contact with her skin repeatedly. Her bare legs stung and she wished for the thick jeans that usually absorbed part of the blows.

"What have I told you about taking off with boys!" He growled and all Rain could do was lay there, biting her lip and praying for it to stop. She felt she was going to pass out by the time he finally did. "Go change and then go clean up the kitchen." He ordered. Grace stood with a smirk on her lips and things were good between her and her husband again because they had Rain to put down.

She'd cleaned up the dishes from that morning by the time Grace decided to cook supper for them and she learned that she would not be eating supper that night, another punishment for not cleaning up after breakfast, even though she had been rushed out the door right after the last bite had been eaten that morning.

That night as her stomach growled, she stared at the ceiling, praying she wouldn't wake up, wanting desperately to be wherever her grandmother was and finally be at peace.

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