“Are you insane?!” I nearly shouted. “I can’t stay here with you!”

I didn’t mean to raise my voice like I had but the thought of having to spend any more time with my parents than I absolutely had to scared me shitless. It was fear screaming out, the terror I had been trying so hard to control finally beginning to creep to the surface. I may not have meant to shout like that but that sure as hell didn’t stop Vanessa from backhanding me across the face. I stumbled, my hand flying up to cup my burning cheek and my eyes began to water.

“You watch your mouth with me young lady,” she spat at me, the venom in her voice matching the hatred in her eyes. “And you won’t be going anywhere until I get my money.” She insisted, giving me a sick twisted smirk.

“What if I got you the money that I’m short on?” I bargained, regaining my composure as I stood straight again.

My mother cooked her eyebrow at me. “And where do you plan on getting two more grand?”

I took in a deep breath. “I have a few more stashes of money around, if you give me one more week, I can get you two grand, maybe a little bit more.”

She was quiet for a moment, seeming to think about it before she spoke again. “If you have more money around then you’re going to tell me exactly where it is so I can get it myself.”

“Like hell I will,” I muttered coldly. There was no way I was telling my mother where I had my money; some places had new people living there, new families; I wasn’t going to subject those innocent victims to my mother’s wrath.

I didn’t even see her hand fly out again but I felt the sting on my cheek once more as she slapped me. I stumbled once again but before I could steady myself my mother pushed me, hard, and kept her hands on my collarbones as she shoved me into the wall, her hands gripping my throat as she began to squeeze.

“The years have made you bold daughter dear,” she sneered darkly and I began to struggle against her, her strength surprising me as she squeezed tighter, cutting off my oxygen supply.

“Please,” I managed to sputter out as I gripped her arms, trying desperately to pry her off of me.

“Nessie.”

At the sound of my father’s nickname for her, Vanessa dropped her hands, brushing mine off of her arms like she had just been burned and I gasped, coughing as my body took in the oxygen it had been deprived of in an almost harsh matter.

“What?” Vanessa asked, turning toward my father, leaving me leaning against the wall, still heaving.

“Nessie, killing her won’t get us our money, any of it. She said she can give us the million, those two grand won’t matter after that; besides, she couldn’t stay here anyways, she didn’t come alone.” My father said, almost a hint of annoyance in his voice as he took a seat on the armrest of the couch in the corner of the room.

“Excuse me?” she gaped, glancing over at me. “And who exactly did she bring along with her?” she asked then, giving me a sour look.

“The boy.” My father responded with a roll of his eyes.

“Tony? The famous guitarist?” my mother asked and I couldn’t help but shiver as an evil glint began to cloud her eyes. She grinned darkly. “Well, well, Effie, looks like you’ll get to leave here after all and I’ll get my two grand.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked breathlessly.

“Oh, Effie,” she sighed, shaking her head. “You can be real stupid sometimes you know that?” I flinched at her words. “Tony can pay the rest of your debt in exchange for you.” She smirked.

“Tony doesn’t have that kind of money!” I gasped, this time keeping my voice level.

My mother face fell as a dumbfounded expression replaced her smirk. “My God Effie, you truly are stupid.” She muttered and began to walk over to me. I shrunk back into the wall, beginning to hyperventilate with each step she took. “Oh calm down,” she rolled her eyes and grabbed my arm, clenching tightly as she pulled me forward.

Before I even had time to react she once again surprised me with her strength as she launched me forward, her arm turning me as I stumbled backwards and fell into the computer chair behind the desk; the force of my weight causing me to roll back into the wall behind me. She gripped my forearm in one of her hands, holding me in place as her other hand slapped the back of the chair as she pushed me forward and I yelped as she pushed me right into the desk, my ribs colliding with the hard surface. She ignored me and began to hit the keys on the keyboard until the computer in front of us hummed to life. My mother’s hot breath was hitting my shoulder as she leaned over me, her hands beginning to type out two words into the search bar.

Tony Perry.

I watched in amazement as the screen was filled with hundreds of photos of Tony. Some were group photos of him with Vic Jaime and Mike, others were just him being on a stage, a grin on his face and a guitar in his hands. Some were old, his hair was longer and I could tell he didn’t have as many as tattoos as he did now. Others seemed recent and as my mother scrolled down I couldn’t help but gasp as I saw one that shocked me. It was a photo of Tony and I, on the beach, a small sand castle between us as we were smiling at the other and I realized that it was from the last day I had spent with him here before I ran away.

I knew that Tony was in a band and I knew that by the size of his tour bus it had to have been pretty successful but I never pictured something like this. My mother clicked on a link and another dozen or so photos popped up, all of Tony and random teenage girls. I noticed the words Fan Stories at the top of the page and I looked below some of the photos, seeing paragraphs of words that I didn’t have time to read as my mother once again started scrolling down. I realized in that moment that Tony was important to so many people, so many different people cared for him and loved him and would be devastated if anything ever happened to him. I thought I didn’t deserve him before, now I knew for a fact that I didn’t.

“Looks like you failed to do your research baby girl,” Vanessa whispered against my neck, making me shudder. “Get up.” She ordered and pulled the chair back.

I did as she said and took a step away, my thoughts and body seeming to go numb as I thought about just how royally I had fucked everything up. Not only was my life in danger but now so was Tony’s, so was Mike’s and so were every other person who looked up to them, to every single one of their fans who adored them. I had ruined everything once again.

“Call him.” Vanessa said icily.

“Wh-What?” I stammered, finding my voice as I looked over to her hard stare.

“I said call him, tell him you need the two grand. He will have no problem getting it, well, that is if he truly cares for you.” She smiled crookedly at me.

“No,” I said sternly, my voice surprising myself as I locked eyes with my mother, her eyes boring into my own.

“Excuse me?” she asked incredulously.

“I said no,” I repeated through clenched teeth, balling my hands into fists at my sides.

She shook her head back and forth slightly and her eyes darkened as she looked at me. “Stupid girl.” She spat and lunged for me.

Her hands slapped against my chest as she pushed me with all her strength. I flailed my arms as I fell backwards, just reaching for something, anything to save me from falling. I found nothing though, well at least my hands didn’t. My head wasn’t so lucky. I had been standing too close to the desk and as I fell, turning to try and catch myself my forehead collided with the sharp corner of the desk and I cried out in pain as I hit the ground with an audible thud. I felt another sharp pain in my side as my mother kicked me hard, whatever healing process my ribs had been in before now rendered useless as I screamed.

“Vanessa enough!” my father’s voice boomed throughout the room.

I took the distraction and scrambled up on my hands and knees, ignoring the throbbing pain of my head and side as I crawled to the corner of the room. I folded my legs up to my chest as I cowered in the corner, turning my body though so that I could see what was happening in front of me. I was gasping painfully as tears spilled out of my eyes and judging by the warmness I felt on the side of my face, the gash on my forehead was bleeding, a lot as I looked down to see the shoulder of my t-shirt beginning to be stained in red.

I felt a presence above me and looked up to see my mother standing over me, her face impassive as she looked down at me.

“Call. Him.” she said, her voice was soft, level but the venom in her words were staggering and causing me to whimper as I saw the hatred in her eyes.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight this much longer, especially not with this wound on my forehead so I whimpered and hissed in pain as I spread my legs out in front of me, allowing me to pull my cell phone out of my jeans pocket. I had to blink quickly, trying to clear the tears out of my eyes so I could see but even then the screen was still blurry and I knew that was a bad sign. I found his name quickly though, his number the first one in my log and I pressed the green button, bringing the phone up to my ear. It only rang once before he answered.

“Effie? Where are you? Are you okay? Effie?” Tony rushed, his voice drenched with concern and panic.

“Tony,” I whimpered, a sob bubbling in my throat and before he could respond my mother reached down, snatching the phone out of my hand.

I watched as she left the room quickly, my phone pressed to her ear and I saw her lips moving but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. I sat there, in the corner, struggling to breathe as I thought about what would happen next. I gasped as I saw my father suddenly in front of me, not having heard him move and I looked up to see him looking down at me, a slight frown on his face which despite everything that was happening, surprised me.

“Your forehead is pretty bad,” he muttered and I just stared up at him, not saying anything, not moving.

He sighed before reaching behind him and pulling something out one of the cabinets on the wall. He crouched down beside me and I closed my eyes and whimpered, shrinking into the wall as I saw his hand coming toward me. I cried out in pain as I felt pressure on my hurt forehead. I opened my eyes then, realizing that he was holding a towel to my wound.

“Hold it,” he ordered me and then reached down, picking my arm up and positioning my hand over the towel and I wasn’t sure how I found the strength to keep my arm in the air like that but I did as he said, holding the towel to my forehead and he stood back up and turned toward the door, just as my mother was reentering, a satisfied smirk on her face. She tossed my phone at me and I winced as it hit my leg.

“You’re lucky Effie, that boy really loves you. He’ll be here shortly with my money.” She grinned triumphantly then, though I could still see the evilness in her smile and she left the room once again, nearly skipping with glee as she did so.

My father sighed again, bringing his hand to rub it across his face and I realized something in that moment. My father may have been the one to initiate the first contact that day but this, this whole scheme was my mother’s doing. My father didn’t care about the money, he was just doing what my mother asked, or rather demanded of him. He was just as much a pawn in her game as I was.

“Why are you doing this?” I managed to say, my voice surprising me. I could hardly keep my eyes open at this point, how I managed to speak was beyond me.

He looked over at me, studying me carefully before he responded. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet with the way Tony has stood by you; love makes you do crazy things Effie.”

With that he turned, walking out the door and leaving me alone in the room. A few minutes passed and I heard the faint sound of a television in the distance. I was in here, bleeding, broken and bruised yet my parents were out there watching television, as if it were just a normal day. I felt something hit my leg and looked over to see a steady dripping of blood coming from my elbow and judging by the dampness of the towel I was clutching to my head, I was bleeding far too much than I should be, than what was safe, not that anything that was happening now could be considered safe.

I began to cry then, my soft sobs echoing around me as I realized that this was my life. No matter how hard I tried to run, to escape, this would always be the end result. I would always end up here, in the corner, alone and broken. Tony could try and fix me but it would be a useless attempt; what’s fixed will always be broken.

I would always be broken.

As I sat there, the shapes around me slowly beginning to blur and bend as I struggled to keep my eyes open I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe everyone would be better off if I just vanished, for good.

Effie, keep your eyes open. Don’t you dare give up, not now. Effie, stay awake. There is still so much of the world you have yet to see. Effie!

It was Emily’s voice that echoed in my head, begging, pleading me to stay awake, to keep fighting, but it was Tony’s face I saw as I gave in to the darkness, letting the comfort of the unknown surround me as my eyes fluttered closed and everything went black.

Notes

whew, sorry it took me a little bit to update, well, at least I thought it did. I've been working a lot and I've had some personal stuff come up that I needed to take care of so with that being said, sorry if this chapter is kind of lacking I seriously wrote it on two hours of sleep but I'm actually pretty happy with how it came out I'm just hoping I gave @Lost in Neverland enough to work with I never know how to end my chapters and I always feel like I leave it in a bad spot but she hasn't complained yet so I'm hoping that's a good thing...lol)
so with that good luck on the next chapter doll! :)

and as always thank you guys for reading and leaving us your comments! your comments are actually what motivated me to finish this tonight so thank you again! love you all <3