My Own Downfall

It's been 15 years since my parents died. I was only four years old when that man stormed into my house and shattered the happy family that we once were. Now I live in Hollywood, California. In a small house on Weston street with my foster parents. I sleep in the crammed attic. My favorite band being Black Veil Brides. I'm 19 years old but I still live with my foster parents because I don't have enough money to rent an apartment. My name? Scarlet Brawn.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Scarlet, get your ass down here and redo these dishes!" Jeanie yelled up the stairs. "I just re-did them an hour ago!" I yelled. "Well I don't give one damn. I'm going to make you redo them until you do them right!" She yelled again. I was hot like lightning. This was not fair. I ran down the stairs and started the water. I gave Jeanie my best bitch look. But she just smiled. I have had it. Fifteen years I have had to live with this. I was going to run away. Even if it meant living on the streets. I finished the dishes once again and stormed back upstairs to my room. I grabbed the little bit of clothes that I had and shoved them into my old backpack. Then I put my other pair of converses in another pocket. Then I laid in my bed and took a nap. I woke up around two a.m. Perfect. I quietly grabbed my backpack and crept down the stairs. I tiptoed into the kitchen and grabbed some crackers. I also grabbed a box of granola bars. Then I grabbed two bottles of water and piled it all into the backpack. I remembered I left the iPod my biological grandma got me upstairs, along with 2 of my BVB CDs. For some reason BVB took me away from all the pain in life. It calmed me. They wrote songs with a purpose. Not some janko crap that Taylor Swift writes. I slowly crawled back up the stairs and grabbed the CDs and my iPod. Also some headphones that I bought with my own money. I started heading back down the stairs but then I heard my foster dad. No. No no no no. He walked by and must have saw me on the stairs. My foster dad was never mean to me like my foster mom was. He stared at me wide eyed. Then Jeanie came out. I ran up the stairs and shoved my backpack under my bed. Jeanie stormed up my stairs. "What the fuck are you doing up at two o clock!" She screamed at me. I started to reply but I studdered. The she grabbed my belt off my floor. "No! Please no! I didn't mean to wake up! My mouth was dry!" I pleaded. Tears streamed from my face. Then she came towards me. Whip. Whip. Whip. I screamed. Then she walked back down the stairs and slammed my door. I fell to the floor holding my wrists and arms. Red marks stretched across my arms. Tears poured onto my floor. Then I heard my door open. My foster dad walked in and picked me up into his arms. "I brought some lotion to help with the sting." He said sympathetically. Then he carried me to my bed. He rubbed the lotion on my arms into a rich lather. My face was red and blotchy. My arms hurt. "I saw the bag." He said. I looked up at him. "Please. Don't tell her." I whispered. He pulled out $100. "Take this. Spend it wisely and leave. I hope you forgive Jeanie someday." He said. I hugged him. I got up and pulled out the bag from under my bed. "Thank you." I said and nodded. I grabbed my iPod and headphones and shoved them into the backpack. Then I grabbed my jacket and put it on. I opened my window and took out the screen. "Wait." My foster dad said. "What?" I said angrily. I know it sounded rude after what he just did for me, but I needed to get out of there. "I know you really like that band Brides of the veil or something like that. So I went behind Jeanie's back and bought you a ticket because I thought you deserved it." He said and smiled at me. He held out the ticket to me. I took it slowly and headed to the edge of the roof. I looked back and then climbed off the roof. As I got to the sidewalk I turned to face the house. I held my middle finger out toward it and smiled widely as I did so. Then I started running down the street so happy to leave. To get away from the beating, to get away from everything. As soon as I got pretty far away I started walking again. I pulled my headphones and iPod out of the backpack and stuck them in. I started to head towards my only friends house. Rhea. She knows what happens at home. She has been through it. In a few minutes I realized I was at the doorstep. I was about to knock but then a car pulled up behind me. It wasn't Rhea. It was a guy. He got out of the car and looked at me. "Uh, who are you?" He asked. "I-I I'm Scarlet. Is Rhea here?" I asked shyly. "I'm sorry but I don't know who your talking about." He said. "Oh, ok." I said, then I ran off the doorstep and started fast walking down the sidewalk. It got cold. Really cold. I was listening to Coffin by Black Veil Brides. I loved this song. I sat on the park bench for a while. Then I crawled into the slide and laid down. I dozed off. I woke up inside the slide and wondered where the hell I was. Then I remembered. I ran away from home and now was sleeping in a slide. I went down the slide the rest of the way. When I got to the bottom a little girl looked at me. "Your pretty." She said and smiled. Her smile made me smile. Than she ran to the jungle gym. I got up and started headed downtown. I was going through my iPod trying to pick a song when some guy rammed right into me and knocked me down. "Ow!" I yelled. "Uh, uh I'm so sorry." The guy said. He was strange he wore sunglasses and and black hoodie. The guy tried to help me up but I fell back to the ground. The pain in my ankle was horrible. "Fuck." I said. "Are you ok?" The guy said. "Oh I don't know. I think I might have broke my ankle." I said and rubbed my ankle. "Umm. Do you need to got to the hospital?" He asked. I didn't know what to say. He was a stranger. But I know I wasn't getting very far with a broken ankle. "Yeah." I said finally. He helped me up and we limped halfway down the sidewalk. "Stop. Please I can't walk anymore. It hurts." I said. He looked at me contemplating what to do. Then he grabbed me and picked me up into a baby cradle. At first I was startled. But I went along with it. We got to a black mustang and he set me down. "Uh here." He opened the door and I limped into the car. He closed the door for me. Huh. I thought. Now that's gentleman material. He got into the drivers seat and pulled off the road. "You don't talk much do you?" I asked. "I have my reasons." He said smiling. That smile was familiar. Like a smile off of a poster from somewhere. The rest of the way it was silent. "Stay here." He said as we pulled into the hospitals parking lot. Him and a nurse came out with a wheelchair. "What's your name?" The nurse asked. "Scarlet Brawn" I answered. "Thanks hon. Oh and thank you young man for bringing her here." The nurse said. "Yeah thank you." I said and smiled at him. "Your welcome" he said and started back for his car, "Wait! What's your name?" I asked. He turned and looked at me. "Andrew. But I prefer Andy." He said and walked back for his car. I saw him pull away. "What a nice guy." The nurse said. Then she wheeled me into the hospital.

Notes

This is sort of a story dedicated to my name.