CHAPTER THREE

Samantha's eyes fluttered open as the sunlight streamed through her bedroom window. She groaned and closed her eyes tightly again, pulling the covers over her head.

She was just drifting back to sleep when she heard, "Wake up, Sammy."

"Tired...need sleep." Samantha mummbled from under the sheets.

She heard a little laugh and then a small body jumping on top of her. "Come on, Sammy, you have to go to work." Chrissy said, shaking her older sister. "Wake up!"

Samantha sighed deeply and threw the covers down. She glared at her little sister before smiling and rolling her eyes playfully.

"Fine, I'm up." Samantha said, sitting upright in her bed as Chrissy climbed off of her and sat on the edge of the bed. "Happy now?"

"Yup." the little girl laughed.

Samantha chuckled. "You had breakfast?"

"Nope." Chrissy said, shaking her head. "Dad's still in bed."

Samantha rolled her eyes. She should have known better than to expect her father to have been awake at 7am.

"C'mon." Samantha said, climbing out of her bed and holding her hand out to Chrissy. "Lets go downstairs and I'll make you something to eat."

Chrissy grinned and grabbed ahold of Samantha's hand.

After Samantha had feed and dressed her sister, she went up to her bedroom to get dressed herself. She was in no mood to get all dressed up today, so she just threw on a pair of baggy jeans, her 'Slipknot' hooded shirt and her favourite pink and black Vans sneakers. She tied her long, black hair up into a messy ponytail and headed back downstairs. Chrissy was all ready, sitting in the living room, waiting for Samantha. It was Samantha's job to take care of Chrissy in the mornings, since her father simply couldn't be bothered to get up. He was always kind to the little girl though and it was obvious that he loved his youngest daughter very much. He never even raised his voice to her. Samantha, on the other hand, was the outcast. The one that David treated like shit. The one that was always in the wrong and being yelled at and beaten for no good reason. She felt more like his slave than his daughter most of the time.

"You ready for school, Chris?" Samantha asked Chrissy as she grabbed her bag and opened the front door.

"Yup." Chrissy answered as she jumped down off of the sofa and ran towards Samantha, holding onto her hand as they walked out of the house.

Once Samantha had dropped her sister off at school, she set off for work. After she graduated from high school, she was sent straight into work by her father. Since he only worked part-time, there was little money coming into the house so he found Samantha a job and took a large majority of her wages from her every week. She only worked in a cafe on the edge of town so she didn't earn that much as it was, but at the end of the week she found herself with no more than $15 in her pocket, which was bad considering she earned $80 a week. She was never to argue or protest though. David said to her that the money was helping to keep her family and if she was to protest, she would only get punished for being "selfish". Though, her brother, Andrew, wasn't forced into work and got to go to college. Samantha soon learned to just keep her mouth shut, though, if she didn't want a beating. John was forever giving her money and buying her things though so she couldn't complain. Although the things that he did give her, she had to hide from her father and brother.

Samantha just sighed as she entered the cafe. She actually didn't mind working. It got her out of the house and away from her dad for a few hours a day. She was just so happy and excited to be away from him and be in an environment where she was free to say or do whatever she wanted without having to fear being punished for doing it wrong.

She walked around to the other side of the counter and grabbed her apron.

"Hey, Sam." the familiar voice of her best friend, Jenny, greeted her as she threw the apron over her head.

"Hi, Jen." Samantha sighed.

"What's up?" Jenny asked.

"Nothing." Samantha said, turning to face Jenny. "Life just sucks."

Jenny laughed. "Well, I've got a feeling things are about to start getting better."

Jenny looked over to the table in the corner. Samantha's eyes followed to see what her best friend was looking at.

Samantha's eyes widened and her heart started to beat faster as she saw John sitting at the table, flicking through a magazine. She remembered her father's warning from last night and knew that being seen with John in such a public place was not a good idea.