Chapter 1: The Runaway
Mindy Harris, a 12-year-old girl who had been disowned by her parents, dragged her suitcase along the the sidewalk in the cold night air. Tears streamed down her face like a river. All of the abuse - physical or emotional- had finally gotten to be too much for Mindy. She still remembered what had happened that night between her and her parents that made her leave.
Mindy had been sitting at the kitchen table playing "Angry Birds," when she heard her parents' angry footsteps stomp through the doorway.
"Hey Mom, Dad," said Mindy. "What's up?"
"What's up? WHAT'S UP!?" her mom screamed. "Why haven't you done what we asked you to do!?"
Mindy's dad grabbed her arm and pulled on it hard.
"OW! Dad, please!" Mindy begged. "You're hurting me!"
"Please, Mindy," her dad replied impatiently. "It's not like I haven't done it before."
"You were supposed to scrub up this wreck of a house by nine o'clock tonight, and it's about as clean as a FRICKIN PIGSTY!" her mom screamed.
"I DID clean the house, Mom!" Mindy said helplessly. "I scrubbed every nook and cranny!"
"Oh yeah? Then what's THAT!?" Mindy's mom pointed to a pile of mud and dirt and leaves and twigs. Mindy was aghast, her eyes wide in shock. Mindy tried to force some words out of her mouth, but before she could, she felt her mother's hand come in contact with her cheek.
Mindy now felt the tears come. And she felt the sobs creep up through her throat and out through her mouth.
Her mom punched her hard in the stomach, while her dad held her back. Now Mindy was struggling to breathe also. Her dad threw her at the wall on the other side of the room, and Mindy struggled to sit up.
Her infuriated parents approached her once more. "You always were our little pain!" her mother shouted. "Why did you have to come into our life in the first place!? I never even wanted a child! I always thought they would be a nuisance! And I was right!" her mom said with disgust.
Her dad grabbed Mindy by the collar and yelled in her face, "WE HATE YOU! YOU KNOW THAT!? I WISH WE WOULD HAVE HAD A MISCARRIAGE!"
Just then, something inside Mindy had snapped. All those years of putting up with their abuse, their torture... Their hate. It hadn't really bothered her before except when she was a little kid and just getting used to it. And yet, for whatever reason, this was her breaking point. She wouldn't take it anymore.
Suddenly, Mindy felt her burning anger mix with pain, as she began to have a headache. This kind of thing had happened frequently throughout her life, whenever she felt really strong emotions. But now, the headache was worse than Mindy could ever remember it being before. It was almost like someone was taking parts of her brain and mushing them together into one big organism.
Mindy's father had shouted something else at her, but Mindy never heard what it was, because what sounded like feedback was sounding in her head and it was getting louder and louder, while at the same time, Mindy grew angrier and angrier. It finally got so loud that Mindy couldn't even hear herself think as she said her goodbye prayers in her head.
And then... It happened.
Mindy let out a scream of pain and anger, as she felt a burst of energy emit from the kycenter of her forehead, and saw a blue ray of light heading toward her dad's face from that same spot. She then heard her dad scream, and drop her onto the floor with a loud thud.
Everything was black for about a split-second, then Mindy sat up, and her vision began to clear up.
The headache and feedback were gone, but Mindy was greeted with a sight that filled her with shock and horror. Half of her dad's face was now bloody and deformed. Mindy was speechless. Her mom glared at her while helping her dad to his feet.
Mindy dashed upstairs, pulled a rolling suitcase out of her closet and crammed as many of her belongings into it as possible. She couldn't stay there anymore. Not after that.
When Mindy came back downstairs, she saw her mom at the bottom of the stairs, holding her dad up, whose face was now bandaged.
"Where do you think YOU'RE going!?" her mom shouted.
"Anywhere that isn't here!" Mindy shouted back angrily.
"Oh no you DON'T!" her mom yelled angrily.
She tried to make a grab at Mindy, but Mindy was too quick. She swung her suitcase at her mother's face. Her Mom jumped back and almost dropped her dad, and Mindy had made her escape. A single tear fell down her face and into a puddle on the sidewalk as the flashback ended.
Mindy's suitcase got caught in a crack in the sidewalk and would not budge. Mindy tried to pull it free, but she lost her balance and fell to the ground.
Mindy's sobs became more evident, as she sat up and cried.
"Well," she said between sobs. "My family disowned me, and nobody wants me. What could probably get worse about my life!?"
And then it started to rain.
Mindy buried her head in her hands and cried harder than ever.
