Note: Dahyun-8, Chaeyoung-7, Tzuyu-7

Sorry this took a while... I've been real busy with school latety :P

Dahyun moaned quietly as she slowly blinked open her eyes. Chaeng and Tzuyu turned around and immediately paused their bickering. Dahyun tried to sit up but was stopped by Chaeyoung.

"Wait! Just rest for a second unnie. And I wouldn't wanna touch your if I was you." Dahyun raised an eyebrow. She was laying on her stomach and looked behind her to see her bottom and lower back completely covered in banages and ice packs. 'I guess that's why I can't feel my .' She thought.

"What happened?" She questioned. Tzuyu explained with a scowl on her face.

"Mom saw the B- you got on your test remember? Then she backed you up into the bed and whipped you like 50 times." Dahyun frowned.

"And what about you guys? Did she hurt you too?" She started worrying and tried to get up and check her sisters for injuries. The younger girls stopped her.

"Unnie, just lay down and relax. We're fine. We were hiding under the bed the whole time." Dahyun breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Okay, that's fine. I'm always fine as long as you guys are okay." She said quietly. Chaeyoung and Tzuyu just nodded.

Dahyun was always the caring type of person. She always wanted to make sure the people she loved were happy and healthy. But once her father passed away she almost lost that side of herself. She would be depressed to the point that she didn't want to move. She barely talked, ate, or even slept. Then her baby sisters came in. The little girls were only a year younger but they looked up to their unnie a lot. The girls would try to make sure Dahyun ate at least one meal a day and tried to have sleepovers with her to make sure she slept too. The girls eventually pulled Dahyun out of her slump of depression by showing her how much they cared about her. Dahyun wanted to make it up to them and she vowed to always make sure her sisters stayed safe.

After the death of her father, her step mother also went through depression. She started drinking and she was barely home anymore. She started having big mood swings and started taking her sadness and anger out on her daughters. She would beat them until she grew tired from the alcohol coursing through her body. But Dahyun took the most of the beatings. Her mother thought she deserved it because she wasn't even Dahyun's real mother.  And even when the beating wasn't meant for her, Dahyun would jump in and take the hits for her sisters because she didn't want the only ones she cared about to be hurt. Because of this, Dahyun had ended up with many scars and bruises that she hid under her baggy sweatshirts and long sleeves.

Chaeyoung and Tzuyu couldn't stand watching their unnie get hurt. The whipping that Dahyun received was the last straw.

"Unnie, we have a plan." Tzuyu said. Dahyun sighed.

"Tzuyu, we've gone over this. We can't just ask the birds and mice to fly in and help us by singing to them." She gently chided. Tzuyu pouted.

"Unnie! That was like 2 years ago! Why won't you let it go~" She whined. Chaeyoung giggled and Dahyun ruffled Tzuyu's hair.

"Okay, Okay! I'm just teasing. Now, what was this 'plan'?" She chuckled. Chaeyoung took over and the atmosphere suddenly turned serious.

"Unnie...We gotta get out of here. I know that you said you'd always protect us, but now we wanna protect you." She confessed.

"Tzuyu and I can't stand watching you get abused anymore and we want to leave." She bit her lip to stop its trembling. Dahyun looked on in sympathy.

"We already packed clothes and food and water, Unnie. We can leave whenever you're ready." Tzuyu said. Now it was Dahyun's turn to bite her lip.

Dahyun had always thought of running away but she never actually thought it would ever happen. She also considered the consequences of leaving. What if their mom found them somewhere and punished the girls harder than ever before? What if they run into thugs and get beat up again? They might even just starve to death! She didn't have a job; She wasn't even old enough to get a job! How would they even survive out in the real world- 

Tzuyu tapped her shoulder. She jumped.

"Unnie? I guess we shouldn't have even tought of it... Sorry for worrying you Unnie, just go back to sleep and we'll just put away the things that we packed.." Dahyun frowned. She watched as her little sisters dragged themselves off the bed and open up a suitcase. She hesitated before giving in.

"...Uhh I mean I think we can make it work. All we have to do is sneak out and I guess I can take care of whatever trouble we run into." She said with a little doubt in her voice. Her sisters jumped with joy.

"Yass! Finally we get to help you unnie! I really couldn't watch any longer." Chaeyoung said jumping happily. Dahyun smiled. 

As long as they're happy, I'm happy.

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Eventually, they ended up near some park. They had to sneak past their mother in her drunken slumber and quietly close the door before they sprinted with their luggage in tow. They hid from strangers in the darkness and went to the only place that gave them happiness. They used to go to this park all the time when her father was alive. They would sit on the swings as their father would push one of them then run to push another. Dahyun smiled at the thought.

"Unnie!" She heard Tzuyu and turned to see her sitting on the slide with Chaeyoung. Dahyun giggled.

"Hurry up! We're gonna sleep soon!" She scolded them jokingly. Chaeng pouted.

"Okay... Weee!" The girls went down the slide that was four times taller than them in a fit of giggles. Dahyun watched as she laid on her stomach under a tree in the corner of the park. The girls ran over and helped their older sister set up the sleeping area since Dahyun couldn't move much. In all honesty, Dahyun was in excruciating pain at the moment, but she couldn't tell her sisters that. She had to stay strong for them, so she pushed through the painful walk to the park and laid down as soon as they got there saying that she just wanted to watch them play. The girls pouted but went on to play anyway. 

Soon the sun went down and the three girls were watching the sunset.

"Unnie? What are we gonna do tomorrow?" Tzuyu asked. Dahyun pursed her lips. What were they gonna do tomorrow? She hadn't thought that far into this plan yet and she wasn't capable of doing much since she was only 8 years old anyway. She stared at the glowing sky and sighed.

"I don't know Tzuyu, I don't know..."