I finally found the strength to get up and clean myself up. I walked into the bathroom and stared at the mirror and saw how banged up my face was. I the faucet and splashed cool water onto my face. The water stung like hell as blood mixed with the water that trickled down my face.

I got a wash cloth and dabbed at my bruises and wounds and looked at myself in the mirror, “ it’s going swell up!” I gave myself a halfhearted smile to encourage myself, “You must be a sight for sore eyes!”

After I cleaned myself up, I went into the room I was assigned to sleep in. Knowing all too well what would happen later on tonight, I started to set up the room. I hated this daily routine I had to go through. I locked the door and pushed the dresser in front of it. Then I followed it with the bed and grabbed the bat out of the closet that I hid underneath the flooring.

After checking for any loose or sharp objects that could be thrown were put away, I crawled under the bed cradling the bat I was holding. Yes this is a daily routine for me. Looking at my sad situation, you must be wondering, why don’t I jump through the window? Well, I’ve been there done that! The window is bolted shut and the only way out is the door I’m blocking. I don’t have the strength or energy to run tonight. So I’ll have to wait it out.

Every time I manage to escape, I try different routes. I was so close this time. So close! The next time around I’ll make a mental note to take the next alley way over. I saw that there was an exit down that alley when I was being shoved into the police car. Pounding came from the other side of the door and I gripped the bat tight.

“Minzy, Minzy you , give me back my sister! Give her back,” said the drunk Teddy. I tried to ignore him so I could get some sleep for tomorrow by shutting my eyes tight and covering my ears. The pounding on the door grew louder and Teddy yelled through the door, “MINZY! Minzy I know you can hear me you little ! Open the door right now and give her back! Give back my sister!”

Depending on how much Teddy drinks, he can range from harmlessly yelling through the door to blacking out and turning into a violent monster! Luckily today Teddy didn’t drink too much, because minutes later the pounding stopped and I could hear him walking away. Just to be safe, I sleep underneath the bed with my only protection being the bat. As I slept I dreamt of happier times of when I had a care free life and I didn’t even know it. I used to have it good. Before living in this hell hole I used to have a normal teenage girl life.

I dreamt back to when I used to be spoiled by my loving parents and older brother. We were eating as a family when my best friend Bom called me on my cell phone. We were planning our sleep over that coming weekend to watch movies and talk about the hottest celebrity guys! After dinner I rushed up to my room to listen to my ipod and waited until everyone was fast asleep. As I peeked around the hallway, I noticed that everyone was asleep and so I climbed out the window.

“Hurry before we get caught,” came the whisper below me.

“Shh…I’m coming,” as I tried to hold in my giggle.

“Here jump into my arms. I’ll catch you,” the person said whispering loudly.

“Okay, but you better catch me,” I said before letting go to land in his strong arms.

“There, I told you I’d catch you,” he said proudly.

He held me in his arms and gazed down at me. I blushed and noticed that he wasn’t putting me down, “Jung Byung Hee, you can put me down now!”

He shook his head and gave me an apologetic smile. He then put me down, “Sorry.”

As soon as my feet hit the ground, I took hold of his hand and we were off. We ran to our spot, where we would go every night together. It was our little hid out. When we reached there, I looked around to see that the coast was clear and climbed up our tree. He followed and sat next to me. We carved a hole into the tree trunk to store a flash light and a box of bubble yums. I reached into the trunk and grabbed two bubble yums. I handed him one and I popped the other one into my mouth. We sat on the branch staring up into the moon lite sky.

Oh how happy I was, and how beautiful the sky was.As we stared into the night sky together, an obnoxious sound started to ring everywhere. The sound got louder and all the sudden I opened my eyes and I was back in the hell hole. WHY?! I cursed at myself for still being alive! Why must I live another day in this place? Why couldn’t God just let me die already? I had nothing and no one to live for anymore!

My life wasn’t always like this. I used to live a typical teenage girl. Talking and hanging out nonstop with my best friend Bom. I had the cutest boyfriend that loved and adored me. His name was Jung Byung Hee and all the girls in school would worship me for having such a hot boyfriend. Bom and I would also crush over and talk about the hottest celebrity guys and we were always a step ahead with our fashion!I also had a family too. Not just Teddy, but a mom, dad, and an older brother! We were an upper middle class family. We were well off, enough for me to get whatever I wanted when I wanted.

At times I would act like a spoiled brat towards my family, but what normal teenager doesn’t throw an attitude? But at the end of the day, I loved my family very much.I had it good! Even though there were some bumps along the way, I had it good! Until…until one day my world came crumbling down.

I was close with my older brother and I loved him to death, even though he was a little protective of me with boys. He came home one day and asked everyone to come and sit in the living room. We all thought it strange but we all went along with it. As we sat there, he looked at all of us and then said that he was going to the military. We all looked at each other and then back to him not knowing where this all was coming from. He then explained that he wanted to help serve our country and that he was leaving this weekend for training. He then said that he would be sent out to war right after training. We didn’t know what to say and I looked to my parents to say something to him. But my father just nodded his head while my mother cried. And just like he said, he was off, he left for training that weekend.When my older brother left, our world felt like it was flipped upside down.

My dad started to work longer hours at work and my mother would cry every night for my brother to come back. I couldn’t stand the dreary feelings at home and so I would always be out with Bom or Jung Byung Hee. I was so hurt that my brother would up and leave us like we were nothing to him! When the three of us were together it was nothing but gloomy.

But things got worse when we received a letter one day. It said that my older brother was killed in the war! My mom fell into my father’s arms weeping and they cried as they held each other. But me, I didn’t want to cry. I was angry and hurt that he died. I ran to my room to grab a pillow and screamed into it. How could he have left us? How could he have left us from this world?

As the three of us stood above his grave, I stared coldly as the grave yard workers lowered the casket to the ground. When I heard the casket hit the ground, I felt my heart drop to my stomach. I couldn’t watch any longer and walked back to the car. After my brother’s funeral my parents argued day and night. They argued so much, that the only peace and quiet I got was when I left the house. It didn’t matter when or if I left, because they were too busy arguing amongst themselves to notice. It got to the point to where, I would stay out all day during the week with Bom or Jung Byung Hee and sleep over Bom’s house on the weekends.

One day I came home to see my dad packing his things. He looked at me and told me that he was leaving and that he was going to divorce my mom! He stormed out and I went looking for my mom. She was a complete mess, as I looked at her crying and holding onto my brother’s clothing. My dad found a place to stay and I had to take care of my mom who had went into deep depression.

I slept in the same room as my mom not knowing what she would do when I’d take my eyes off of her. As we slept, I smelt something burning. I thought I was just dreaming it and went back to sleep. I awoke when I couldn’t really breathe well. I opened my eyes to a smoke filled room and saw that my mom was still fast asleep. When I shook her to wake her, she didn’t move. I kept shaking her and screaming her name, but she still didn’t move an inch. So I felt her face and it was cold. I cried as I looked around and saw that she was holding an empty bottle of pills in her hand. I panicked when I heard crackling in the hallway and ran out the room. The house was in flames and filled with so much smoke. I got out in the nick of time.

My neighbors came rushing over as I stood there watching my house burn to the ground. Minutes later, police officers and fire men were at the scene. Then Teddy came running up to me asking for my mom. But I was too in shock to say anything and so I looked to my burning house. He followed my gaze and knew what I meant. He tried to run in the house for my mom, but the fire men and police officers stopped him. As I saw Teddy fighting them off, I fell to my knees crying and covering my ears. I tried to block out the sound of Teddy screaming my mom’s name, but I could still hear him.

My dad showed up when the fire was finally put out, there was nothing but the foundation of my house. My mom’s body was burned to ashes along with the house. After all the questioning from the police officers, my dad took me back to his place. The cops told my dad that they would investigate the fire and get back to us. It was odd just being me and my dad. He changed drastically after the house and my mom were gone. He was never around and when he was, he wouldn’t say a word to me.

It was as if I didn’t exist and that I had died alongside my mom in the fire. Weeks later, there came a pounding at the door. It was the police and they wanted my dad. As I opened the door, I asked them why, but they just pushed right past me aiming their guns around the house. I let them know that my dad wasn’t home and they went searching around the house for something. But as they were doing so, my dad walked through the door. Two cops pushed my dad against the wall and arrested him. I didn’t know why they were acting so rough with my dad. So I ran up to my dad holding him and begged the police officers to let my dad go. I was pushed away and told that my dad was a murderer!

They blamed my dad for the house burning down and my mom’s death. My dad was furious and tried to get out of their grasp and shouted that he didn’t do it.I cried as they escorted my dad out to the police car. They then led me to the other police car and drove us to the police station. After they had locked up my dad, they called my one and only living relative which was Teddy.

Teddy became my guardian after my dad was put away in prison to life on some bull sh*t charges. Teddy cut me off from my usual world by moving me to the main city, taking me out of school and away from Bom and Jung Byung Hee.Looking back to all that happened I can't help but feel that it was all a dream. In one year, I had lost everyone I loved and cared for. At age 13, I had to grow up and learn how to survive under Teddy's roof. To make things worse, today marks the second year I’ve lived and am known as Teddy's punching bag and slave more than his niece.

Author's Notes:

I know that's a lot of info to take in all at once huh? Well Minzy's boo Jung Byung Hee is G.O. from mblaq if you all don't who that is, I think that's his real name...I looked it up haha. Anyways hope you're enjoying this as I'm refreshing my memory of this fic!