Mii-Chan: *clears throat* welcome to a very twisted story!
Ikuto: *rolls eyes* the only thing twisted here is your mind.
ShugoPrincess: Thank you.
Amu: Mii-Chan does not own Shugo Chara.
'During darkness and despair comes a shimmer of hope for any one who dares to hope for a savior.'
~ Prologue ~
A girl in her early teens slumped over an iron wrought rail that surrounded an outdoor skating rink. Her frail shoulders bowed in and her hair hung limp over her face.
"We should see other people….Amu…"
The girl looked up; her golden orbs glowering at him. No she wasn't going to cry over him, he wasn't worth it, not in the least. But some how the hot salty tears found a way to escape and expose her true feelings. In the silence between the two teenagers a cold wind whipped through the city of New York.
"Amu…it's not you….it's me…I'm sorry."
Amu looked at the boy incredulously, had he really just said it's not you, it's me? Honestly? A ring tone broke the awkward pause left in the air. The boy breathed a sigh of relief when he checked his phone.
"I have to go Amu….I hope we can still be friends."
He pitied the girl before him. He turned and trudged through the layer of snow that coated the New York streets. In Amu's purse her cell phone rang; once….twice…..three times before she answered. Her voice was meek and apathetic as she spoke into the phone.
"Hello?"
A horrible and wretched sound came from the other end of the line. It sounded something like a mix of a whore giving labor and a dying cow.
"Where the hell are you?"
The man's voice was demanding and heavy breaths and panting could be heard faintly by Amu.
"Central Park."
The sounds of muffled moans and grunts came from the phone. Amu held it away from her as if she would contract the bubonic plague from being to close to it.
"I told you to be home by 10….and you're in Central Park selling yourself to a boy who doesn't care one bit about you. Need I remind you that it is Friday night and because of your incompetence I had to resort to other measures for tonight's activities."
His voice was heavy and foreboding as he spoke.
"I expect you to be here in 10 minutes."
The line went dead. Amu stared at the starry sky and prayed that she would some how find a way out of the desperate life that she lived.
A bell chimed and a cold draft whipped through the open door of the Hinamori residence.
"You finally came back you dirt little whore…took you long enough."
His words were slurred as he emerged from the shadowy depths of the hallway. In one hand was a half empty bottle of imported Jamaican rum and in the other hand was a thick leather belt. Amu swallowed as the scraggly man approached her. He clearly didn't care about personal hygiene; a five o'clock shadow was showing, a large stain adorned his shirt and his hands were clearly in places that weren't exactly user friendly. Not to mention the pungent odor that wafted from him.
"It took you half an hour to get here from Central Park?"
He barked at Amu. She backed away from him instinctively.
"I didn't mean to be late."
Amu mumbled.
"Sure you didn't mean to be late, just like your mother didn't mean to have an affair with my business partner and the leave me hanging high and dry with her slut of a daughter."
Amu cringed as he shadowed and cornered her against the wall.
"Be a good girl now and take off those pretty little clothes."
His filthy hand crawled up her milky leg, not hesitating to creep under her skirt and closer to her sex.
"No."
He stopped and glared at the rebellious girl.
"I said take your clothes of you damned wench!"
A balled hand collided with her cheek. Scarlet blood dribbled down Amu's chin and stained the baby-t she was wearing.
"I said NO!"
Amu shoved him away and he stumbled backward in his drunken stupor.
"Ungrateful BITCH!"
He lashed out at her with the leather belt. It made a sickening slap against her skin. Almost immediately a purplish bruise bloomed against her pale skin. A cruel laugh erupted from the man. He lunged at the defenseless girl and landed blow after merciless blow on her. The sounds of screaming and cracking rebounded off the walls of the cavernous room.
"Good for nothing, lying, cheating, thieving cunt."
He spit on the hardwood floor where his daughter lay, broken, bleeding and sobbing. He swaggered away into the shadows leaving Amu alone.
It seemed like hours to Amu before she was able to muster up enough strength to just drag herself into a sitting position. The house was silent and eerie, never a good thing. Spasms of pain shot through her body as she stood on her feet. She tripped, staggered and practically ended up crawling out the front door. She wasn't headed any where particular, for the moment she was just trying to escape that dank prison in which she had been held hostage for many years so it seemed. Flakes of snow still drifted to the ground restlessly as Amu walked. The feelings of pain receded and were now replaced with cold. A sardonic laugh escaped Amu's lips as she recognized her surroundings; Central Park. It was good for now. The lights were dimming around her, who knew the city put the lights out after 9:30? A lean silhouette approached her. Not caring who it was Amu closed her eyes.