So first fan fic…. But i've been coming up with stories in my head for years to daydream about :p This isn't a happy story, it probably will be eventually but I figured I should at least warn there will be a lot of abuse of all kinds so don't read if that's a trigger. I'm not going to put an age limit on this as this is something that could happen to any one sadly so i'll leave it in your hands to decide if you wanna read or not! I'm going to start the story at the same point as the series only at the beginning :) I don't own any thing or the characters just wanted a different story to come out and couldn't find anything on fanfiction that was satisfying what i wanted to read so i decided to write it myself :p
Welcome to my Hell
So once upon a time, there was a girl, her name was Julie, her mother loved music and taught her everything she knew. They spent every moment they could together and life was amazing, perfect, to perfect. Along came her brother and then her mother died at childbirth leaving her father with a girl and a newborn to care for. Over the years their father lost his spark, lost his love and became a monster in Julie's eyes, someone to fear…
Julie's POV
I closed the door softly behind me as I entered the garage and prayed that I would be left alone for a few hours. It was the weekend and I had already dusted, vacumed, mopped, cooked every meal, done the washing and cleaned out our attic. I was exhausted, emotional and wondering how my life got to the point it was at. I had hardly looked at my homework but all I could think about was coming out to our garage that wasn't really a garage, it was furnished with all of my mothers musical instruments including a grand piano. I'd never seen her play the guitars and drum set but they were still there. I knew I couldn't stay too long otherwise my father would take out his wrath on my younger brother and he was too young to deal with all the chores my father would think of. Chores…. Chores were the least of my concern though, there were other activities that made me have nightmares in my sleep.
I walked over to the black couch that was against one of the sides and opened a box that I hid underneath a throw blanket, it contained razors and I quickly found my headset to plug into my phone to listen to some music. I never meant to become one of those girls that did this but it gave me a small release that I much needed, I couldn't scream like normal girls at their fathers as that would result in a much worse situation. I couldn't report him because if I did I would be separated from my little brother and moved across the country from the only home I knew and Carlos my baby brother might end up in a similar situation as I was currently in. Foster homes were never the best places for foster kids. So I dealt with some very toxic behaviour of listening to music, cutting, watching the blood flow and eventually covering it up for it to heal. It was the only aspect of my life I could control, cutting gave a release of endorphins for succeeding in something and finishing it. I used to have that with music but that died the moment my mother died, I would have found it eventually again if it wasn't for my drunk father who liked to use me as a punching bag. I was currently sporting a few lashes on my legs and back from being whipped with a jug cord for not being fast enough at getting up this morning. Today was Saturday and I had done all those chores the moment I had gotten home after school. I was exhausted yet still made to cook him breakfast as I bled on the tiles then told to clean up and mop before I was allowed to sit down and eat. Everything was sore and stinged whenever I sat down or pulled at the skin by bending. I thankfully managed to get out of there before Carlos saw, he must have had some idea of what was going on but I still attempted to shelter him from as much as I could, he was too young to witness the horrors that went on.
I was flicking through my playlist and nothing on there was sounding appealing at the moment, it was a mix of death metal and rock but mostly screamo. After a few frustrated moments I decided to pull out the box of my mothers stuff that I had found a few years ago and re-look at a cd that I knew was in there, Sunset Curve. They didn't look like music I would normally listen to but why not at least try before I judge. I managed to stand up and put in the cd then flopped back to the couch wincing, and began losing myself in the sound of the drums then the singer's voice. He was good and I began pressing the razor deep into my skin while leaning back with my eyes closed enjoying the high. If only I could have a father that loved me, hugged me, cared about me like he used to maybe my life would be worth living I thought as tears streamed down my face. I hated feeling this low and always made sure I had a safe place to retreat to. There were scars all over my body, most of them from him, a few from me. I knew it wasn't smart to go down this rabbit hole while doing what I was doing as I tended to press harder than I needed to. I didn't want to kill myself, just to feel the pain and know that I could control that at least for the moment. It was messed up and I knew it, however I couldn't dwell on that for long as suddenly I could hear screaming? I opened my eyes and saw three boys suddenly fall onto the floor in front of my feet from nowhere. I didn't know what to do, had I gone crazy? Maybe I fell asleep? Maybe I had died? Maybe it was a trap from my father… he had messed with my mind a few times using others to help with his play ideas, telling me I was free to leave with Carlos then when I would run for it to get Carlos, his friends would drag me back, rape me and laugh at my stupidity for thinking I would ever be let out. I began to tremble in fear and look for an escape while pressing the blade harder, maybe I should just end it now and be done with this life.
Lukes POV
We landed back in our old garage, it was a hard landing and my body was aching but we were home, although home looked a little different. Then I saw her, a beautiful girl with crazy hair, warm skin and beautiful eyes that one could lose their soul in. Then I saw what she was doing and rushed forward to grab her hand that was holding the razor and move it away from her wrist while calling out to her "Hey stop!".
My fingers went straight through her skin though and I was left piecing together what had happened. I recalled that we had all died so that would make us ghosts, could she even see us? I then realized up close that she was covered in scars, some were fresh from what could have been today and she was trembling with fear. I took a few steps back and sat down making Alex and Reggie sit down also. Alex and Reggie never had the best parents either just like me and we had all been on that couch or in her position at one point. We never got to the point she was as we always had each other to lean on.
"Hey there, can you hear us? If so we don't mean to scare you, my name is Alex, this is Reggie and this here in the middle is Luke, please nod if you can hear us" said Alex.
She nodded once, barely a movement but she nodded.
I scooched a little closer but not enough to be intimidating, she obviously was scared of something but I wasn't sure what it was, could just be because my hand literally went through hers.
"Please talk to us, tell us why you're self harming? Where are your friends, your family? You must have someone you can talk to? And who did those lashes on you? One of them is bleeding, were they from today?" I said as I tried my best to hide my anger in my last question.
"Y you a aren't going t t to hurt me?" she whispered, barely audible with fresh tears streaming down her face, I longed to reach up and wipe those away. My heart broke then was replaced with anger, fueling hot steaming anger, someone had done something bad to this broken girl, I could feel it in my dead bones. I couldn't reply but I could see Alex and Reggie coming to the same conclusion.
"We aren't here to hurt you or harm you in any way, we would never do that, why would you ask that? We are just ghosts that somehow you summoned back into existence, we can't even touch you" said Reggie with conviction.
"But if others can see you, you can tell on me…. Please just go, leave me be!" she said with a little more power to her voice.
"We can't do that, your hurting and we can all see that, I know you have no reason to trust us but we wouldn't tell or do anything to harm you, please let us help, we've all been close to where your at, please let us in" I pleaded as I moved a small amount forward.
"My.. m m my father d d did this, with a jug cord this morning because I didn't get up fast enough after being exhausted from doing chores since the moment I got home from school until midnight" she said finding her strength then breaking down into more tears. I didn't have to turn around to know that all of us just saw red, no father should ever do that to their daughter. I wanted to hold her and protect her from everything but I couldn't so I took a deep breath to calm my rage.
I got up slowly and sat next to her on the couch noticing she flinched but didn't run away.
"I wish I could hold you and take away your pain, I don't know what any of us can say to help with that, there's obviously a good reason why you haven't done anything about it, is there anything we can do to help? I wish we could physically move things, I would personally like to watch that guy burn slowly, piece by piece, no offence" I said with a small tear falling down my face that I quickly brushed away.
"Um, I hate to interrupt but you're about to cut an artery if you don't stop applying pressure, please stop" begged Reggie as he got up and pointed to where she was still holding the razor to her wrists. She pulled it back, assessed it and put a band aid on it and pulled on her hoodie again. Alex also moved to sitting at her feet while Reggie sat behind her on the arm of the couch. We had her surrounded which I just realized could come off as intimidating rather than comforting but she didn't run even though her breathing was getting deeper.
"None of our parents were very good either, not that bad but not perfect, mine disowned me for been who I am, Reggie's were always fighting and well Luke's, Luke's parents wish they never got him a guitar, they wanted a different life for him and refused to see his love and passion for music. We all ended up crashing in this garage at one point or another, that couch was actually Luke's bed for a few months straight before we passed, he couldn't go home then I had to sleep up in the loft for the same reason" confessed Alex.
"My name is Julie, those are horrible stories, I'm sorry to hear! Are you really ghosts? What stuff can you do? And why come to me, I'm no one".
I tried very hard to reach out a hand to touch her shoulder. It was about to go through so I left it hovering just above and said "Never say that you are no one, you are someone important, you are special and you have meaning. It may not seem like it but you do and things will one day get better, where are your friends so they can support you?"
This caused fresh tears to stream out as she pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them and burying her face in her knees. Alex got up with determination and headed to a box of tissues that were on the grand piano. We watched as he tried over and over to pick it up while Reggie and I stayed with Julie.
"I don't have friends, no one wants to be friends with someone who is covered in scars, never talks to anyone and eats their lunch in the washroom" she cried out between sobs. If she had been at our school when we were alive there was no way I would have not noticed this and tried to help, what had happened to the next generation to cause such blindness to someone who needs help? I leaned closer to her, making sure I didn't fall through her and whispered in her ear "You have us now, until you tell us to leave we will be your friends and family, we might not be able to hold you but we will always try, no one deserves what you have been through, let us be there for you anyway we can be, if that means never leaving you alone then consider it done, I know what it feels like when I'm left alone, my mind wanders to all the bad things that have happened when I have too much time to myself".
She looked up from her safe space behind her hair and arms just enough to look at me through a gap in her hair and whispered through tears "I would like that very much but you wont like what you see".
"I don't care, if it's happening to you I want to know, why don't you tell a safe adult?" I asked.
"If I do then I will be separated from my younger brother, Carlos, and he might be put into a similar position I'm in, just with a foster family. The only difference is I wouldn't be able to be there to protect him" she whispered back. Reggie had moved off of the couch arm to sit behind her but she hadn't noticed, he was quietly crying wishing he could hold her as well I suspected. She may have looked a mess but she had to be one of the strongest girls I had ever met, to endure all of that just to protect her younger brother.
"What is your plan then? Survive till you're eighteen and take custody of your younger brother?" I asked, already knowing the answer, it was a terrible idea and from one story of what happened this morning I wasn't sure if she would live that long.
She nodded and more tears flowed down as she probably was thinking the same thing as I was.
"Ah ha!" said an excited Alex, he came over with a box of tissues in his hands and proudly presented them to Julie who gratefully took them out of his hands.
"Bro how did you do that?" I asked.
"I just kept trying and concentrated hard on wanting that object, give it a try guys!"
I tried to pick up the box from beside her and eventually after a few tries managed to do it also.
"No fair, I spent five minutes learning that and you learn it in a minute!" complained Alex.
Reggie picked up the skill soon after as I explained that once we saw Alex could do it we already knew we could. As much as I wanted to take this new skill out on her father we knew it would make her situation worse. Before we came up with a plan though we heard her father yell at her to come inside.
Julie started trembling all over, then took a deep breath, forced herself to stop crying and trembling, cleaned her face, then got up wincing at the pain from her lashes, quickly put a band aid on the one that was bleeding and ran out the door. I followed as I said I wouldn't leave her side and I wanted to make sure she would be okay although there wasn't anything I could do about it. The guys stayed behind to continue trying their new trick and I followed closely behind Julie.
