"Vanessa, can you get me?" I sobbed into the phone when she answered. "Serena, what's wrong?" she asked. "I can't do it anymore. I ran away, and I don't know where to go," I briefly explained to her the situation with my Aunt, and she told me that she would pick me up and take me to her house.

I sat at the corner for about twenty minutes while I waited for her, and I kept looking behind me to make sure that Aunt Mary, Alexa, or Isabelle weren't looking for me. Not that they probably would, given the fact they never gave a shit about me. Finally, Vanessa's car came to a stop in front of me, and I threw my stuff into the backseat and got in the car. "Oh my god, what happened to your face?" Vanessa gasped when she glanced over at me for a moment.

I was confused. What's wrong with my face? Vanessa pulled down the shade with the mirror attached to it, and I saw a red and purple bruise just below my eye was quickly developing. "Aunt Mary slapped me after she found out that I auditioned," I explained. "That doesn't give her a reason to hit you! That's child abuse!" I knew that it was abuse. I used to cry myself to sleep every night. But after being physically, emotionally, and verbally abused for a year, I stopped, and I started to feel numb, and it felt like I was already dead.

"Should I call the cops?" Vanessa asked after a large amount of silence. As much as I wanted to call the cops on my abusers, I was worried that they were going to make up lies and try to make it seem like I was pulling a prank on the authorities. "No, I'll be alright. Just get me out of here," I shook my head. She sighed and started the car, and we drove away from the house. And away from the pain that I had gone through that day.

"Your welcome to stay with us for as long you need, Serena. Can I get you anything to eat?" Vanessa's mom asked when we walked inside of the house. "N-no thank you, Mrs. Young. I just want to go to sleep," I  answered. Mrs. Young nodded understandingly, and she helped me take my stuff to one of the spare bedrooms. The room was painted the color of a dark green cactus, and white see-through curtains surrounded the windows. "Thank you, Mrs. Young, it means a lot," I said, pulling her into an embrace. "Of course, sweetheart. Get some rest, okay? Call me if you need anything at all," She smiled.

I carefully closed the door behind me and pulled out my phone from my pocket to see if Aidan had texted me. Sure enough, I saw there were three text messages. All sent about a half an hour ago.

Aidan

Are you alright? You sounded like you were in a rush to hang up.

Did something happen?

Serena?

I could tell that Aidan was beginning to grow worried about me just by reading the texts. I'll tell him I'm okay, but I won't discuss what happened with him until we meet up to work on music. He at least deserves to know that I'm okay.

Aidan

 Serena: Sorry, I didn't respond for a while. I didn't have my phone with me for a while.

What did your parents want?

My parents. Almost immediately, I got flashbacks from when they were still alive, and we were still a happy family. It brought more tears to my eyes, but I wiped them away before they could slide down my cheeks.

It was my Aunt. She needed me to do a few more chores.

Oh, okay. Hey, are you free this weekend?

I think so. Why?

Well, I was thinking, since we haven't gotten to talk to each other that much yet. Would you want to go to Veggie Grill and have lunch and chat before we work on music together?

He wants to take me to Veggie Grill? My heart started to pound a thousand miles an hour in my chest, and I was praying to God that I wasn't dreaming. Play it cool, Serena. Play it cool.

I'll have to check my schedule, but I'd love to meet up if I'm free.

Cool. So, text me when you know?

Okay, good night!

Even though the day had been full of despair, I hoped that tomorrow would be better and that Aidan would understand what I was going through.