Charlie sat at home. She was alone now and it was the middle of the night. But she was glad she was by herself because now the pain could be done.
Her mother was off god knew where and her father was passed out drunk. Tonight's beating wasn't that horrible. Her lip was cut and swollen and she had a huge cut mark that went down across her eye. Her mom was worse off and now Charlie had to run away before her dad woke up again, if that ever even happened. She could swear that sometimes he drank so much whiskey he probably thought he was Jack Daniels himself.
She snuck out her open window and ran across their expansive backyard. The house itself was a dump but the piece of land was nice. Sometimes people questioned if the place was even lived in at all. Charlie always welcomed a moment to get out. She was almost never home during the day because she couldn't take it. The house, the pain, even when her father wasn't home.
She sat on the sidewalk of some random street and at times like this, her thoughts tended to take over. Then she remembered that boy she had met earlier. Yeah, he was nice. She could tell he got it, which is when it hit her. Why sit alone when she could have company from the one person who understood it.
She ran off in the direction of the only other house in town that looked like hers. Considering what he said, she figured it would be his. And there he was, sitting out front.
Chris looked up and it was as if his whole world suddenly lit up. She sat down next to him.
"Are you okay?" Chris asked but then realized she was just like him. "So your old man is a drinker too I'm guessing?"
"Yeah. He's passed out now at least. I figured I should take the opportunity to get out."
They talked long into the night. Chris fell more in love with her with every second. She was still stunningly beautiful to him, even with the scars and the cuts. She was hurt so bad and he couldn't understand how anyone could do that to her, when all he wanted was to give her the world. He could see the hurt behind her deep blue eyes, even though sometimes they lit up in happiness. All he wanted was to stop the pain because he loved the happiness.
Charlie didn't quite know what she thought about Chris. She felt bad for him, and couldn't believe that people were so mean to their children. She could tell Chris was falling in love with her, but couldn't understand why he, or anyone, ever would. There was nothing to love with her. Anyone who had ever tried got scared off by what happened to her or by her family. And that was why she hated them most of all.
