April's POV

It's so… big, is all I can think, staring at the apartment complex. I can't believe I'm gonna live in that thing. I can't help but stare even more when I see the apartment.

I stand there, staring around the apartment. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing. I thought Debbie would make me clean like I'm always supposed to be doing. This place is gonna take forever to clean… I think sadly. It's HUGE! To my surprise, Debbie doesn't make me clean the house, she just takes me to the bathroom so I can take a bath. Once I'm finally cleaned, which takes a really long, and it kinda hurt with all the bruises. Some of them I couldn't even tell which was a bruise and which was dirt.

When I'm finally clean, Debbie starts working on trying to get my hair brushed out, which might have hurt even more than the cleaning. My hair hasn't been brushed since I can remember, so it's it this really messy tangle, and I didn't know till I got it cleaned out more that it was actually a lighter color of blond then it was earlier, which was a lot darker. It's also long. REALLY long.

When everything's finally done, there's only two things Debbie can't do anything about right now. My clothes, which all oversized, ripped up and dirty, and my bruises. Those won't go away for a while because I don't even know how old some of them are. Mostly I would just try to hide them under my dirty clothes and try to keep my head down so nobody would see. If anyone saw them I always said I tripped or I hit something. I've never been too graceful anyways, so I think they believed me.

At home I never really got to clean off. We had a bathroom of course, but it was so gross and dirty that I never could possibly use it. I've tried to clean it, I have, but no matter how much I scrub, it just won't work. I wasn't allowed to do anything at home though, so mostly I just stayed in my closet. The rest of the time, I would just clean. I couldn't make noise when I was asleep, or they'd hurt me again. I couldn't really make noise any time, because they hated it.

I didn't really have anywhere to stay… yeah, I had this closet but it wasn't exactly comfortable. I actually spent most of my time just sitting that closet, hoping not to be heard. Mostly, I was just glad when I got to school that I'd be away from them, but I had some other problems over there.

The other kids hate me. I don't know why, but they just do. They always make fun of me because I look terrible with the messy hair and bad clothes. I can't really read, either. I've tried to learn by myself, but it's hopeless. I couldn't go to school most days, so I always fell really far behind. I can't understand stuff because I can't read, all I can do is write my name, but that's it. They always said I was just some kinda white trash kid from the bad part of town that can't even read. That always just made me shyer than I already am so I started to just hang away from everybody.

I always knew I wasn't wanted in my house, it wasn't hard to see. There wasn't really anything I could do there, and the cleaning turned into a habit. Whenever I couldn't sleep, they just made me scrub and clean until I passed out. I learned that whenever I can't sleep just to get out and clean before they make me.

One thing I should NEVER, ever, EVER ask for anything. It doesn't matter if I need it or not, I can't ask for it. They would just hurt me again if I did. Mostly, for things like food, I would just fish whatever I could eat out of the trash, and if there wasn't something there I would go to a grocery store and sneak something out.

I'm just staring at myself when Debbie comes back with something. I don't really know what is…

She probably noticed that I looked kinda scared of it. "April, I'm just going to dry your hair with this…" Debbie explains, plugging it in. She turns it on and this loud noise comes out of it and it blows air but it's hot!

"Get it away!" I yell, curling into a ball and I started crying. What is it? Why is it hot? Is it going to hurt me?

"Sweetie, I'm sorry," Debbie says, rubbing my back after she turned it off. I just tense up more. "I wasn't going to hurt you…"

I'm still curled up in a ball, and my crying had gone down to whimpers.

"Sweetheart, I'm just going to dry your hair with a towel then we can just let it dry out more by itself," Debbie says.

"Mmk…" I whimper, still in a ball. Just as long as she doesn't turn on that thing again…

Debbie takes a towel and starts working through my hair as I slowly get out of being in a ball, but I'm still tense. When she's finished she just leads me into the living room and gives me the pink bunny she gave me and turns on this big box thing. I've seen something like it before, but the ones I usually see are really crackly and don't really work that good. This one is really clear and I can actually get what it's saying…

After a while I just curl up on the couch. I'm so tired, I haven't slept in such a long time. I've been cleaning mostly and the rest of the time I've been too scared to sleep. At first, I'm still too tense, and I'm still kind of confused. Just yesterday I was supposed to stay in my closet and clean all the time. Debbie doesn't make me clean at all, but I don't think she gets how scared I am here… I don't know how I'm supposed to react to anything…

This couch is really comfortable though and it's a lot better than my closet… I really wanna sleep… I think, closing my eyes, and pretty soon I'm asleep.

A/N: please review and let us know what you think! we work really hard on these chapters and want your opinion. Happy reading.