"You're a freak Mia. You're a worthless and crazy and nobody will ever love you."

The look in his eyes told me that he had never been more sure of anything in his life, and this made me start to believe his words myself.

"You're right Luke." I whispered in resply.

"Now get out of my sight, I never want to see you again."

"Don't worry, you won't."

And with those words lingering in the air, we parted ways.

But not forever.

THE RAIN PELTED DOWN on the roof as I lay awake.

Thinking. 

About him.

About what I could do to get away from him.

A tear drop escaped from between my eyelids as his voice echoed in the back of my mind.

Worthless.

Waste of space.

Freak.

I gazed out the window. The rain was getting heavier, lightning occasionally illuminating the otherwise dark night sky. I sat up in my bed and hugged my knees to my chest.

I just could not seem to fathom how could somebody be so cruel? What had I ever done to Luke Hemmings that could justify him treating me this way?

Although he never lay a finger on me, his words haunted me day and night. Luke was smart and knew better than to ever leave any physical trace of his assaults, but his verbal abuse hurt so much more than a slap across the face ever could.

Luke had it all. He was attractive, popular and got whatever the hell he wanted, so his pathological need to harass me whenever he got the chance baffled me.

But in all honesty, nothing about Luke Hemmings made sense to me.

I accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight, if any, so I grabbed my old hoodie and pulled it over my head before grabbing a pair of track suit pants to slide on over my pyjama shorts.

The rain had now died down to a mere sprinkle so I was able to just make out the faint noises of my father snoring and my mother whispering to herself in her sleep. When I was convinced that I would not get caught, I tiptoed out of my room and made my way towards the kitchen. The only way to sneak in and out of our house while remaining undetected is through the door that leads from the kitchen out into the backyard.

I didn't notice the rain until I was safely out the kitchen door, over the back fence and on the street looking out into the black night. A clap of thunder sounds once again before a lightning bolt decorates the dark sky in a way that is almost beautiful.

I began to walk slowly down the road, aware only of the drops of rain hitting my face and the chill running up my spine. But as much as I tried to distract myself with my surroundings, I remained unable to escape from him. As usual.

The weekend had once again seemed to disappear in the blink of an eye and tomorrow I would be back at school. I would yet again be trapped in the place that reminded me with every step that nobody cared. The place that forced me to face my tormentor every single day.

I knew that there was an easy way out, but I didn't have to guts to take it. 

I really was pathetic.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when a light suddenly appeared through the wall of water that was falling. It was a light much brighter than the surrounding street lamps that my eyes had become accustomed to.

As my eyes begin to adjust to the bright light, an object came into focus. My blood ran cold and my mouth fell open in shock. A car coming towards me at an unnatural speed and I realised that I recognised the number plate of the black vehicle.

LRH1996.

Then everything went black.

TO SAY THAT I WAS WASTED would have been an understatement.

Tessa and I had just broken up, Calum and Michael were banding together and ignoring me for "being a dick about it" and to top it all off my parents were fighting. Again.

I needed a distraction, so I decided to pay a visit to the one person who I knew I could rely on to give me one. Ashton Irwin. Ash had a reputation for his parties and the "distractions" that could be obtained at them.

As soon as I arrived at his house I downed an entire bottle of vodka without even blinking, and that was just the beginning. Everything else after that was a blur and before I knew it I could hardly stand, let alone think about anything other than my pounding head.

Perfect.

Finally satisfied that no unwanted thoughts would be entering my mind for a very, very long time, I decided that it was time to leave and return to the comfort of my bed.

It was well after midnight by the time I got back to my car. As I slid in behind the wheel, a flicker of concern appeared for a moment, but it quickly disappeared moments later. I had to get home. Deep down I know that I knew that it was wrong to be driving in the state that I was in, but I needed to get home. I also figured that the roads would be empty at this time of night because what person in their right mind would go out for a stroll now?

As soon as I put the car into drive, my head started spinning, but I decided to keep going. Driving was second nature to me, and the route from Ashton's house to mine was one that I was all too familiar with.

As I gradually got closer to my house I began to feel more and more at ease. Just a few more streets and I would be home - or at least at the place that I was forced to call home.

I was humming quietly to myself when all of a sudden I found myself just able to make out a figure only a few feet in front of me. But I was too close and the road was too slippery for me to be able to stop in time.

No matter how intoxicated I was at the time, I don't think I could ever forget the screeching noise that followed, or the look of sheer terror in the girl's eyes. I recognised her as soon as her face was flooded with my headlights.

Mia Roberts.

The school freak.

The worthless, crazy Mia whom I hated with a passion.

But in that moment I couldn't bring myself to hate her. In that moment I saw more than just a freak. I saw a girl who knew exactly what was coming yet couldn't do a thing to stop it. I saw a girl who knew that she was about to lose everything. For the first time in my life, I saw her as a person.

But none of that stopped me from doing what I did next.