Chapter One:

'There's something disgusting about you Mildred Hubble. Your mother won't admit what it is to me, but something is not right with you and I know it,' sneered her mother's new partner, Ezra. 'You are a freak. I have seen you do things outside which are unnatural. So tell me, Mildred, what is so different about you - how do you do it?'.

Mildred stared silently at the floor, trembling and too terrified to speak. This was not the first time she had been corned by her step-father, and she knew it would only end in the same way as all her other encounters with him did.

'YOU WILL ANSWER WHEN I ASK SOMETHING OF YOU!' Ezra bellowed as he crouched down to Mildred's level before he spat in her face. Slowly, Ezra grabbed her chin and lifted her face upwards until it was level with his. Mildred knew that something within him was about to snap. It always did when he had that predatory glint within his eye.

'If you do not tell me, I will hurt you' he stated.

There it was. In fact, his drastic change in temper had happened much faster than usual, compared to all of her other misfortunes this summer. Mildred could feel her eyes welling up with tears as she began to panic. She would not cry - she could not cry. She must not show any fear, any sign of backing down, or God knows what he would do to her.

'I am really sorry b-but I do not know what you mean,' she stammered, trying to stop her hands from shaking while keeping her voice steady, 'I spend a lot of time outside, an unusual amount of time I know, but it really isn't anything to worry abou-'

'LIAR!' screamed Ezra, as he grabbed Mildred by the throat in one swift movement, raising a fist towards her as she spoke. 'You make things move without moving them, you make things fly without throwing them.' Before she could register what was happening, a clenched fist met her nose at full force and she fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

'Do. Not. Lie. To Me,' Ezra drawled out, a hint of menace apparent in his voice. 'I am going to give you one more chance Mildred, what is wrong with you? How do you-'

'ME? What is wrong with YOU? Why are you doing this to me? Do you have any idea what my mother would do if-'

A steel capped boot collided with Mildred's ribs as she was kicked down to the floor once again. Too winded to fight back, but too angry to do nothing, she clambered to get away with little success as kick after kick met her body. She was gasping for air, her throat was closing up and taste the blood was pouring from her nose. She was helpless.

With one final blow to the stomach, Ezra stated, in a voice completely lacking in emotion, 'Your mother already knows. So tell me Mildred, what would she do? Because it appears to be nothing. Now, come here and take your final punishment for lying.'

Mildred tried to protect herself, but it was no use. She had no escape from the penultimate punishment that she had been receiving for the last two months. She felt Ezra's hands around her beaten body, and heard the unbuckling of his trousers while heaving sobs were escaping from her chest and down her cheeks.

*

Mildred awoke from her dream in a cold sweat, to find her pillow completely soaked in tears. It had felt so real, because of course it was. This was how her entire summer had been spent, full of terrifying encounters with the tall, built man that her mother called her partner, yet she was constantly reliving it in her dreams. Sleep was no longer an escape from reality anymore, and she worried that she would never be free from Ezra, despite this being her last night of the summer holidays.

She had been tossing and turning in her bed for the better half of 5 hours before she finally entered a restless sleep. In all honestly, Mildred knew she was exhausted but she found herself too scared to sleep. She feared that she would either have a nightmare about Ezra, or wake up to him towering over her bed which had also happened on numerous occasions, so she chose to fight sleep.

Accepting that she was now awake for the day, Mildred opened her eyes to her cold room that she could no longer bring herself to feel safe in. Sunlight was slowly creeping in through her window, as the early chattering of birds solidified to her that morning had come.

Despite her longing to remove herself from her house, she had been dreading today more than any other of her first days back at school. After the summer she had been through, she was terrified at the thought of having to socialise and study once again. Mildred had no idea how she was supposed to go back to normal and enjoy the things she used to before Ezra had taken them away from her. She was not prepared for the accusatory questioning from her friends after she'd neglected to contact them all summer. Furthermore, an even more pressing matter was the fact she'd not been able to complete any of her summer project for potions, and she would have to face the wrath of Miss Hardbroom for that. She was too scared to open any material on witchcraft over the summer, in case it was found by prying eyes, but this meant her form tutor of three years, soon to be four knowing Mildred's luck, was sure to be harder on her this year than ever as they entered advanced level magic.

Mildred shut her eyes firmly yet again, refusing to accept that she had to be awake in a couple of hours. As she lay there, she felt her emotions begin to consume her, as they had been for the last week or so. Eventually, she decided to get up and ready for the day ahead, knowing it would come either way, whether she tried to sleep or not.

Turning to her clock, she realised it was already 7am, as she got up from her bed and began to gather her things, having already packed them a couple weeks ago in hopes that the time would pass quicker. She would have to be at cackles by 10am, unless she wanted a repeat of her first year when she was so late she ended up flying over the gate of Overblow Castle, straight over Miss Hardbroom and into the bins. Mildred almost smiled to herself as she thought back to that day. She had been so much happier then, so innocent and unaware of what the future would hold for her. So confident that she would not be the worst witch.

As the time passed, she crept out of her bedroom and peered into the room that Ezra normally occupied. She was thankful to see that his room was empty and his work boots were gone, meaning he would already have set off for work before he was able to see the back of Mildred. In all honesty, Mildred wasn't even sure he knew she would be leaving today, or she was certain he would have given her a harder time for it. Her mother was probably too ignorant to even tell him, for Mildred knew her dream had some truth. There was no point in denying that her mother must know what Ezra was doing to her and she was none the wiser to care enough about Mildred let alone do anything to protect her.

Lost in her own thoughts, Mildred entered the bathroom and went to look at herself in the mirror. She looked dreadful, and she knew it.Her entire body was bruised and her face was yellow and green in certain areas which Ezra had managed to hit. Normally he tended to avoid her face, stating that she 'still needed to remain pretty to pleasure him'. She was also a lot thinner, having a lack of an appetite with everything going on.

'I do hope it isn't obvious' Mildred whispered under her breath. She could only guess what horrible rumours Ethel and Drusilla would have for her if it was clear to see she'd been beaten.

Mildred tried not to get upset when seeing herself, for she knew that these marks would not last forever, but she was anxious about hiding them at school. Taking a shuddering breath, she delved into her mother's makeup bag and attempted to cover herself where it was needed in order to look acceptable for her return to Cackle's. She also got dressed, careful to avoid coming into contact with sensitive areas on her torso - she was certain that she had suffered a broken rib or two and did not want to further aggravate her injuries.

After making herself look as presentable as she could, she gathered her belongings from her bedroom and equipped herself with her black cloak and pointed hat which had been forcefully stuffed into the bottom of her suitcase to avoid detection, along with her battered broom which she felt quite similar too at this current moment. Once she retrieved Tabby from under her bed, she was set to go, and snuck out of her room as quietly as she could onto the hallway.

Too scared to go downstairs, and too hurt to wake her mother to say her goodbyes, she scrawled a handwritten note,

Mother,

I left earlier than planned this morning and did not want to wake you. Hopefully by the time you are reading this I will have safely made my return to boarding school. I assumed you have told Ezra this, but if not please take pleasure in doing so. He should be eager to see the back of me.

Mildred.

P.S, I am sorry I was such a disgrace of a daughter that you did not see it fit to protect me.

Wanting to say more but not wanting to give too much away in case Ezra found it, Mildred placed the said note on her mother's bedside table. She then opened her rusting window with a screech and took off on her broom into the pinks and oranges of the early morning sky.

She was free for now, and despite everything, Mildred was ready to take on another year at Cackle's Academy for Witches.