Chapter Text
Ava's POV - 12 yrs old
I woke up to a punch in my stomach. I shot out of my slumber and saw my foster dad standing over me.
"Get up, your alarm has been going off for 10 minutes." He said before he left
I got up and stretched my limbs, I wince at the dark bruises. I crawl out of bed and put on my school uniform then put on bandages and concealer. I quietly made my way down the stairs and grabbed a granola bar from the kitchen. Thankfully my foster parents were busy or else I would've been in trouble for sneaking food.
I made my way out the door and started walking to the bus stop. I kicked a few pebbles and rock out my way as I saw the bus leave.
"Hey wait!" I ran after the bus but it was useless
I then trip over a rock and feel, pain instantly shot up through my body. I look to see my knee all bloody, most people would freak out at the sight of blood but I'm used to it. I was mostly annoyed at the pain and blood, now my uniform was covered in dirt and had a few rips in it. I got up off the ground and kicked the grass in frustration, leaving it a dirt pile when I'm done.
'Great, guess I'm walking.' I thought to myself
I put on my pink headphones and put on Spotify as I walked to school. As the school came into sight, I ducked into an abandoned alley. I chanted a spell to heal my knee and fix my uniform.
"Heal." My knee and uniform glowed bright pink for a moment before it faded, leaving behind a healed knee and a brand new uniform
I step out of the alley a little drowsy. I heard the late bell ring and I ran, not wanting to get in trouble for being late. I made it to my class where my teacher glared at me.
"Miss Ava, your late."
"I'm sorry Mrs. Karen, I-" I tried to explain but she cut me off
"I don't want to hear it, detention after school."
"But-" My foster parents would kill me if I had detention
"Do not talk back to me! I will not tolerate this kind of behavior! Do I need to call your parents?"
"N-No ma'am."
"Good, now go to your seat before I change my mind." I walked to my seat with my head down, all the other kids were laughing at me
I sat at my desk and put my head down, I secretly put my air pods in while Mrs. Karen was teaching us useless stuff. I put on some music while I tried to calm my mind, was I going to be punished badly for getting detention? I didn't realize I had spaced out so much until the lunch bell snapped me out of my thoughts.
I quickly grabbed my stuff and rushed out the door. I look in my bag, hoping to see a packed lunch for me, but to my disappointment there wasn't. Of course they didn't pack me a lunch or give me any lunch money either. I guess I can hide out in an empty classroom or on the roof until lunch it over.
"Hey look, it's the foster witch." Oh no, I know that voice
I sped up my pace but 2 two girls grabbed my arms and held them in place. The leader of the group, Taylor (I apologize to all the Taylors reading this), ordered another girl dumped out my bag and another on was searching through what fell out.
A small book fell out of my bag and Taylor grabbed it and grinned.
'Nonononono they can't read that!' I thought as I started thrashing
"Well what do we have here?" Taylor said out loud
"Maybe it's her diary." The girl was holding my arm too tightly
'Oww, that hurts!' She was grabbing where some of my bruises were
"Let's see" Taylor opened the book
The girls holding my arms kicked me to my knees while Taylor started reading out loud.
"March 3rd, I got in trouble at school today again. Taylor and her friends walked up to me during break and they found out I was a foster kid. Taylor made fun of me for being an orphan amd how my parents didn't love me. When she said my bio mom abandoned me, I just snapped. I jumped on her and kept hitting her, her friends tried to pull me off of her but I was just so angry at everyone at the moment. When I got to the office, the vice principal kept yelling and ranting to my foster parents about how I was a 'delinquent' and I should be shipped off to 'boarding school' that would 'straighten me out'. Thank god the principle liked me a bit more than the vice principal. Instead of boarding school, he said that I'll have a 3 week suspension to 'think about what I have done '. I really think boarding school would've been better because as soon I got home, I was beaten up and locked in the basement for 3 weeks with no food or water. I hate them. I hate Taylor and her friends. I hate them. I HATE THEM. I HATE THEM!"
Taylor noticed the dried tear stains and the blood stains on the page and grinned to me maliciously.
"Cutting, really? Are you depressed or something? Either stop being so weak or..." Taylor grabbed my chin, making me look her in the eyes
"Just die already. It's not like any will miss you." She let go of me and walked with her friends following her
They all laughed when they walked away but their laughter was drowned out by what Taylor said to me.
Just die already. It's not like any will miss you.
My breathe quickened, I was hyperventilating. I wanted to go, I NEEDED to go somewhere. Anywhere but here.
My legs moved on their own and soon I was running. I didn't know where, I just needed to go. I ran into an empty classroom, I put myself in a corner and pulled my knees to my chest. I tried to breathe but what Taylor said still repeated in my mind. I just wanted it to stop.
I felt my bright pink eyes fill with tears. I pulled my hair to drown out her voice. I slammed my head against the wall, over and over again. Anything to drown out what Taylor said. I kept going until I felt a warm liquid on my forehead. I wiped it and saw that it was blood. Black dots danced around my vision and felt like I was going to collapse. Then I fainted.
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I slowly got my vision back when I woke up. The classroom I was in was dark and the air was cold. I pushed myselfup and checked my phone, it read 11:49 PM. There were so many missed calls and messages from my foster parents, they were furious. They might actually kill me.
I ran out of the classroom and out of the school, I didn't stop until I was back at the house. I got on to the porch and caught my breath, I silently prayed that I would survive this. I quietly opened the front door, hoping that they were asleep or not here.
As soon as I opened the door, a beer bottle was immediately thrown to my head and I fell to the floor. My foster dad marched right up to me and harshly picked me off the floor. I could smell the alcohol on his breath, he was drunk.
"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!" He grabbed me by the collar and screamed at me
"I-I lost track of time, sir..." I lied, I had to lie to save myself
"LIES! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT LYING TO ME?!" He screamed at me
"T-To not to." He saw right through my lie, I was terrified for my life now
"Then I guess I have to teach you again."He said calmly, which terrified me
He dragged me by the collor towards the the basement, which freaked me out more than I already was.
"N-No please! I swear I'll never be late again! I'll just-"
"SHUT UP!" He hit me across the face which reopened the gash on my forehead a bit, which dazed me
He dragged me to the top of the basement stairs and threw me down them. When I opened my eyes, I saw all the torture devices and instinctively jumped back into the wall. My foster dad then grabbed a whip and whipped me across my legs.
A scream erupted out of my throat but he kicked me to the ground and whipped my back so I suppressed it the best I could, pained whimpers escaped from my lips as he continued torture me.
After a while, he put the whip down and went upstairs. I heard the door lock behind him and I realized I was stuck down here until I could regain some energy to do magic.
The coldness of the basement made me shiver much, the darkness didn't help much either. My stomach grumbled, I was so hungry and all I had today was the granola bar from this morning.
Either from the blood loss or lack of energy, the darkness took me again.
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When I woke up, I was greeted to the coldness of the basement. I tried to get up but my legs were still to weak. I fell to the ground and stayed there for a bit to regain some strength. I slowly crept up the stairs using the railing to support me. I used my magic to unlock the door and walked out of the basement.
I walked to the kitchen and drank some water. I read the kitchen clock, it said 4:09 AM.
I climb up the second flight of stairs and into the bathroom. I took of my bloody school uniform and climbed into the shower. I turned on the water and hissed in pain immediately as the water hit my cuts. I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner which also got into my cuts which made the pain even worse.
I stepped out of the shower and disinfected and bandaged my cuts amd took some painkillers. I put some pj's on and crawled into my poor quality bed and fell asleep.
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I woke up to the sound of arguing, other people would be scared but this was normal for me. I walked through the kitchen where my foster parents didn't notice me and just kept screaming at each other. I just kept walking until I was at the bus stop.
Part of me didn't want to go to school today and the restof me agreed. So when the bus arrived, I left. I kept walking, I didn't know where I was going but something told me not to go.
I walked around town and sat down on a bench at the park. I was still tired from last night so I put my knees to my chest and fell asleep.
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When I woke up, the sky was orange and pink. It must have been hours. I didn't want to go back to the house since my foster parents would be there and they probably knew I skipped school and would probably have a punishment waiting for me. I kept walking on the sidewalk when I bummed into a couple, I fell and landed on my rump.
"Oh I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there. Are you alright?" One of them extended a hand to help me
I started getting flashbacks of previous abuse and flinched away violently and the couple noticed it.
"I'msorry! I'msorry! I'msorry!" I repeated frantically
I couldn't control body, I was shaking like crazy. My mind was plauged by previous abuse. I had to get out of there, I shot up and ran the opposite direction. The couple yelled and ran after me. I didn't stop until my abused legs gave out, blood seeped through the bandages I on.
I curled into a ball to prepare myself from being hit. The couple finally caught up to me and stopped when they saw the state I was in. My breath quickened and I was hyperventilating. A hand touched my shoulder and I tensed, I thought I was going to be hit again. To my surprise, the touch was gentle and I heard soft words.
"It's ok. Just breathe. In and out." The blonde on said calmly
After a while, I managed to calm down. The blonde helped he through my panic attack and the white haired one helped me with my bandages.
"There you go sweetie, your all fixed up. Now we can get you to your parents-"
"No I don't want to go back! Please don't make go back! They'll hurt me again." I begged them with tears in my eyes, if I would go back now I would surely die
The two looked at each other then at me, they had an unfamiliar look in their eye's, concern?
"My name is Devon and this is my husband Andrew. How would you like to come with us?" The blonde held his hand out
I looked at it for a while before I took it. All my fear and anxiety had left in almost an instant. For the first time in a long time, I actually felt safe.