I am soooooooooooooo sorry you guys! It's been so long since I updated and you have no idea how bad I feel. I've been extremely busy with school, since I just started my freshmen year and I decided to take all honors classes. I promise I'm going to try to update more. This chapter was hard to write because I don't really like writing abuse and I don't really go into any detail cause I just can't. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter and I hope you enjoy.

Maya's POV

After my meeting with the principal, I see Riley waiting outside the school. She waited for me the entire time I was in the principal's office? That's Riley for you. That's the part of Riley I wish I was more like, the eternal optimist. I don't get how she does it, how she always stays so cheery all the time. Doesn't she know how bad the real world is. She says she's ready to face the world, but I don't think she is. She thinks the world is full of happiness and cheer, but when she finds out the truth, it's going to hit her like a brick wall.

The world isn't full of happiness or rainbows Riles. It's full of pain and disappointment. It's full of crazies and psychos. It's full of harm and danger. It's full of sadness and depression. The world crushes all your hopes and dreams faster then you can blink. Trust me, I've seen this all up close and personal. It's the world I live in. And I don't want Riley to experience that.

I know what I have to do. I have to let Riley go. I can't keep holding her back. Riley's going to do great things in the world, but not me. We live on two opposite sides of the world; her the nice and happy side and me, the sad and depressed. I don't want to be the reason Riley is exposed to the dark evils of the world and I know Mr. M feels the same way, he made that very clear today.

Even though it hurts to let her go, I know I have to.

..!..

I should have know Riley wouldn't let me leave her that easily. She cares too much and only sees the good in people. Eternal optimist, remember. Maybe it was a good thing that she's there for me. It's nice to take a break from the hellhole I live in and see the happy side of the world that's she lucky enough to call hers. Seeing her stand up in front of her family that like, all for me, was a different kind of feeling. It was a pretty nice feeling, knowing someone cared that much for me. And while I appreciate it, it did do some damage.

After she dragged me to her house and declared our friendship, a lot of time had passed since school had ended. I know the principal had called my parents by this time and that meant that I was going to be in big trouble. Now add the fact that I'm late coming home after school. Like, a couple hours late. I'm so dead. I'm deader then dead. I'm going to be put through so much pain, I'm going to wish I was dead.

I ran down the street to the subway and stood impatiently on the steel train, tapping my foot in a rapid fashion. I urged the train to move faster, praying to god that my step-dad was too drunk to notice I wasn't there or that he was already gone for the night. Maybe he wouldn't even care about it, maybe he'd just brush it off and ignore me. Yeah right Maya, keep on dreaming.

The train stopped at my stop and I hopped off, tearing up the steps, accidentally knocking someone's coffee over (Oops?). I raced down the streets, almost getting hit by a couple taxis and one bus. As soon as I reached my apartment building, I slowed down a little bit, trying to catch my breath before running up the stairs to my third floor apartment.

When I reached the door to my apartment, I stood outside of it for a second. Do I really want to go inside? Do I want to face the wrath of the evil step-devil? Am I ready to face all the fears that lie behind that door, awaiting me to enter? Am I ready to enter my greatest nightmare? I could easily just turn around and run away, go join some circus or something. Nah, I could never be in a circus, clowns freak me out too much. But right now, those clowns look incredibly appealing.

No, Maya, you can't. You can't run away from your problems, you have to face them head on. You have to be brave, be strong. Running away won't help with anything, he'd just find you and hurt you even more. Just get it over with.

I reached out for the door knob and twist it open, the door creaking open. I slowly stepped in, not seeing him. I sighed out of relief, stepping fully inside the apartment and closing the door behind me. As soon as the door is shut, I heard steps traveling down from upstairs. Oh no. He entered the living, glaring at me. The smell of smoke and beer is heavy, so he must have been drinking all day. He stepped close to me, close enough so I can hear his breathing. Calm down Maya, I repeated to myself, it's going to be fine, just breath.

"You, my dear, are in very big trouble," he said, smiling. Gulp.

..!..

A few hours later, he left. He stopped causing me pain and left to go drink himself to death. Maybe he'd finally die, oh you have no idea how much I want that to happen. For him to walking to the bar and get hit by a bus. Or for him to make the wrong guy angry and get shot or something. Anything to get him out of my life. Anything to get him to feel the pain I always feel.

I walked upstairs to my room, locking the door incase he came back. I even pushed my dresser in front of my door, just incase. After I felt safe, I let my walls down, tears began streaming down my face faster then Niagara. Everywhere hurt, every bone in my body felt like it had been stepped on by fifty dinosaurs. My arm had cuts up and down from the knife he had grabbed. My other arm had a bruise blacker then the nighttime sky. My back felt like it had been run over by an army tank and my stomach hurt from when he shoved me into the kitchen counter. Everything made me feel pain, but nothing hurt more than my heart.

Why does this always happen to me! What did I do wrong? Did I make some big mistake in my life that caused me this misfortune? Is this some way to make me realize some deep message about how much life sucks? Did I make fun of the wrong person on my way to school? What did I do to deserve this! What did I do to cause me to feel so unloved? Why does nothing every go right in my life?

With these questions flouting around my mind, I fell asleep.

So, there's the chapter. I hope you guys like it and I know it doesn't make up for all the months I've been gone, but I hope it makes you hate me less. I hope I'll have some more time on my hands to write more of this story sooner and to hopefully, make it up to you guys, I'm going to finish a one-shot I've been working on. It focussed on Cory and Riley and let's just say, some harsh words are said. Hopefully I'll finish that this weekend and upload it sometime tomorrow. If you guys have any one-shot requests, leave them below and try my hardest to write them.

What did you guys like in this chapter? Anything I should change (Other then my updating speed.) What do you think will happen next? Tell me in a review. And I would greatly appreciate it if you wouldn't keep asking me to update or yell at me for not updating in the reviews. It makes me really annoyed and I almost stopped the story because of it last time. I'm a busy person and I try to update when I can. The more 'update soon' reviews I get, the longer I will take to update.

Okay, anyway, again I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

QOTD- Favorite episode of Girl Meets World so far?

Until next time...