3rd March 2012

It was a Saturday morning. It had been 3 weeks since I had seen Rianne and I was missing her deeply. Even though I wasn't supposed to, I decided to call her.

Sitting on the bed, I bit nervously on my already short nails, waiting for her to pick up her phone.

"Hello?" She said, her voice groggy.

"Rianne!" I was so happy to hear her voice.

"Riah?" She sounded confused.

"Rianne I'm so happy I'm talking to you right now. I've missed you so much!" I rushed. She sighed.

"I've missed you too."

"Really? You don't sound very pleased to hear from me." I frowned

"No I am. It's just, why did you call so early?" She yawned. I looked up at the clock on the wall. It was 10:20. I forgot that we'd normally still be asleep at this time but I had woken up early because today was a "family outing" and everyone was getting ready. I didn't want to go so I was in the house alone.

"Oh yeah. I'm sorry." I apologised.

"It's okay. What did you want to talk about?"

"Nothing really, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Oh. Well how is it over where you are? Where are you exactly?" I explained to her where I was and described that it was okay.

"Is everyone nice to you?" She asked. I stayed silent, contemplating whether I should tell her about Charlie or not.

"Helloooo?" Her voice pierced my thoughts.

"Sorry. I was in my own world for a second."

"I could tell! So is everyone nice?" She repeated.

"Um yeah. Yeah I guess so."

"You sure? You seem a little iffy."

"I'm sure."

"You're lying." She stated. I remained quiet.

"Ray, what's going on?" She asked. I opened my mouth to speak but a lump formed in my throat and tears sprung instantaneously. I mentally scolded myself for breaking so easily.

"He's worse than dad." I cried.

"Who is?" She asked.

"Charlie. He's fucking disgusting." I began telling her all the times he had come into contact with me since I got here. He had made regular visits to my room any time he knew I was alone. He was beyond perverted.

"What the hell? Well have you told anyone?"

"No."

"Why not?" She asked.

"I dunno. He gets aggressive sometimes." I wiped the tear that slid down my face.

"Well tell someone!"

"Rianne it's not that easy."

"Why not?"

"Do you have any idea what he'd do to me if I told someone? He'd end me!" I whispered even though I was home alone.

"You're being dramatic." She kissed her teeth.

"Are you fucking serious? When am I ever dramatic? When do I exaggerate or take things too far?" I was astonished that she'd think that.

"How about when you fought Kieran?"

"Are you seriously gonna talk to me about that? Get over it!" I was supposed to be confessing the truth about what really happens in this house but instead I was getting into an argument.

"You were completely out of order!"

"And I said I was sorry for that! Can you just listen to what I'm saying for a second please?"

"No, I want to talk about what happened with Kieran-"

"That's irrelevant right now, I don't feel safe in this house!"

"Oh gosh Ray, you're such a drama queen!" She snapped.

"Can you just tell Sally that I need to come home please? She said she's gonna be visiting you lot today and I don't have her number."

"No I want to talk about Kieran! He was so sweet and caring and-" I blocked out her voice as I thought is heard something downstairs.

"Shh shh. Stop talking." I said.

"You're shushing me?"

"Yes I am. Rianne I think there's someone in the house." I whispered.

"Well yeah, you don't live alone."

"No everyone's gone out, no one's at home but me. They said they'd be back late."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure."

"Check it out then."

"No I'd rather stay in the safety of my room."

"Well then stop complaining." She hissed. I rolled my eyes. She could be really harsh at times.

"No one's in the house." She kissed her teeth.

"What if it's Charlie?" I bit on my lip.

"Don't let him in your room, simples."

"It's not that easy you know. You don't think I haven't tried shutting the door on him? Or push him out? He's stronger than he looks."

"Ugh gosh. Why do I have a feeling you're lying?"

"I'm not lying! Charlie's a bloody psycho pervert and I need you to help me get away from him!"
My door suddenly burst open and Charlie stood there grinning. What the fuck. Great bloody timing.

"Talking about me are we?" He spoke. I slowly slid my phone from my ear and stared at him wide eyed. My whole body was frozen. I felt my heart beating erratically in my chest.

"I'm talking to you." He lunged for me and on first instinct I slapped him.

He stumbled back, shocked that I had put up a fight this time.

"Get out of my room!" I shouted, dropping my phone on the bed and pushing him. He reeked of alcohol and my nose burned at the stench. I finally got him out and rushed to my phone where Rianne was calling my name.

"I'm here, I'm here. I got him out." I panted. I stared at the door,waiting for him to come in again. There wasn't a lock on any door in the house apart from his room and the bathroom.

"Riah? What the hell happened? Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. He's supposed to be with everyone else. He just burst into the room." I exhaled.

"Do you believe me now? That something is wrong?" I waited for her to answer.

"Yeah. I think so."

"Now when Sally comes round, please tell her I need to come home, I can't take it here anymore."

The door opened again and I screamed as Charlie knocked me to the floor. I don't know why I was so scared and intimidated by him. Looking back at it, I was way stronger than him and I could have helped myself a lot sooner.

I dropped my phone somewhere, Rianne still on the line.

"You didn't think I'd let you go that easy, did you? You think I'd let you slip through my fingers? Not a chance." He snarled. He got on top of me and just went crazy. Even in his drunk state he could throw a mean punch.

I was shaking so much, my limbs numb with fear as I lay immobile. I didn't want to do anything to provoke him and cause a more severe beating. He punched my eye and I yelped. I pushed him off me, grunting as my eye watered. I looked up at him as he had stopped hitting me. He had a disgusted look on his face as he held his t-shirt away from his body. A little bit of blood was splattered on it and he looked at me. His demeanour changed from angry to enraged.

"You fucking bitch! I should smash your face in! This is designer! You want to get your blood all over my shit yeah? You're gonna get it." He shut the door before grabbing my hair and pulling me up. He wrapped his bony hand around my throat, my hands instantly going up to pry him off me. My head was throbbing, the headache was coming on strong, so strong I could barely make sense of what was going on. I could see that Charlie was hitting me but I couldn't feel it. My eyes lost focus before everything became blurry and went black.