Haley was in a toxic relationship with her boyfriend, Alex. He was always putting her down and making her feel bad about herself. She knew she deserved better, but she couldn't seem to leave him.

Alex was the only guy she fell in love with. She couldn't help herself, he fell for his charisma, his sense of humor, his dimpled smile, the tattoos etched on his forearms and biceps gave the typical bad boy appeal that made her heart flutter.

His body was a canvas, and her fingers bristled his toned skin like a paintbrush, stroking for warmth and affection.

Alex was the muse who colored to Haley's blank adolescence.

Haley was ignorant, naïve, she didn't have female friends or a positive role model that could warn her — encourage her to value her own self-esteem. Her mother was constantly working in two jobs with little time to rest, barely able to get by to pay the rent and taxes.

Most of her female classmates had already been with Alex long before the ash-blonde had set his hooks on Haley, and Haley herself was nonethewiser.

Haley didn't open her heart to just anyone, and Alex knew it. In his hunt for a new flame, he prompted her to give him a test.

A test that would win her over, something that she wouldn't forget. His honeyed words were laced with subtle manipulation, something that could push her to the edge.

That challenge didn't just made Haley open her heart, it made her feel that she could touch the stars the second he laid eyes on her and made her toes curl with ecstasy the night she had her first time with him.

Alex had a tattoo near the crook of his nape, and he left a little parting gift, a tattoo of her own which she had to cover up with a turtleneck when she had gone back to school.

When her mother had finally gotten a day off from one of her jobs she had laid down on the sofa. Haley had returned home for school, she dropped her backpack and school supplies on her bed, and picked her clothes from the drawer along with a towel to take a shower.

As she closed the shower curtain and the showerhead started running, her thoughts went back to Alex. Her fingers traced the hickey before she turned her sodden chocolate hair to the side. She wanted him to surprise her, to join her in a warm embrace just like in that rainy afternoon when he tested her and they fell down in the park.

By the time she came out of the shower, Haley's mom was watching a comedy skit before she heard the she erupted in laughter by the time Haley walked on her way back to her room. The woman swiveled her head to her head her daughter and asked her to join her in the living room, the response was the sound of the door shutting with a loud click of the lock.

The mother-daughter relationship was already distant, with them living separate lives in the same household wasn't any better.

The workaholic mother spent most of her time auditing paperwork in workplace and attending seminars during the summer which meant that Haley had time to herself, to keep the house in order, get a part-time job and invited Alex over during Saturday nights.

The only time Haley and her mother were together all day was during Thanksgiving and Christmas. The last time they'd had gone shopping together at the mall or attending church was vaguely a once in a blue moon occurence.

The last time Haley and her mother had spoken to each other was when Alex invited his friends over at the house. When the workaholic parent returned home to find the living room reeking of booze, sweat and smoke. A wasted couple made out on the sofa.

She became absolutely livid, yelling at everyone and dragging one of Alex's exes by the hair out of the house. Some of Haley's former classmates shook their head, scoffed, or left. Alex had swung his arm around Haley and made out with her in the bathroom.

She had found three teenagers on her bed passed out and half-dressed, one of them was topless. "Haley!"

The techno music tuned out the yelling coming from Haley's mother and the chorus of moaning coming from the shower. When they hit the climax, Haley's mother had opened the door swinging from its hinges.

The look of unbridled rage from her mother made Haley have a panic-attack when Alex rode out his ecstasy. Haley held onto Alex for dear life. When they heard the slap on the shower tile, Alex pinned Haley and immediately turned pale, pulling out.

The first red flag she saw was when her mother confronted Alex, and he dragged Haley out of the bathroom firmly, with a little too much force. Haley's mother yelled at them and tugged Haley back towards her when she felt a sting on the left side of her cheek.

Her mother slapped her.

When Haley's mother started insulting Alex and called him a low-life drug addict. He pushed her to the side, picked up his clothes, and left.

She vehemently forbade her to see Alex again, but she refused. She was old enough to make her own decisions, she had a part-time job and she would graduate in a matter of months. So Haley packed her things, and left the house and drove off in her car.

She asked Alex if she could stay at his house for two months so that she could save enough money to stay at a hotel. Alex allowed her to stay under the condition that she didn't interfere with his business, and with his personal life. The arrangement went well for a couple of days, until he became more controlling. He began hitting her when she had began questioning him.

"You stupid bitch! How many times do I have to tell you to not shove your nose where it doesn't belong!?" He shouted, then slapped her across the face. Haley begged him to stop hurting her, but it only made him angrier.
"You had no problem opening your legs like a whore! Didn't you?!"

"No!"

Another slap was what it took to make Haley fall to the carpeted floor, blood dripping out of her nose.

"Are you seriously that stupid? Get out of my sight before I kill you." Alex sneered before Haley crawled to the hallway, then grabbed her by the ankle. "If I find out that you're lying to me--" He grabbed her by the hair, craning her head back, tears trailing down her cheeks. He pulled her before pushing her head down, letting her go and she crawled, the scrambled to her room like a frightened little prey.

"I should've dumped that bitch when I had the chance." Alex muttered, searching for Haley's phone to check if she had anything that incriminated him.