"You think you can get away from what you were made to do? Oh, you're so wrong. Get your lazy butt up and go to the car before I lose my temper completely," he screams at me after he hits me.

My body aches from when he hit me, but I try to get up as quickly as I can. It isn't fast enough for him, so he yanks me up, causing me to yelp in pain.

"Shut up. I can make it hurt a lot worse," he orders.

"What are you doing?!" my mother screams at him as she walks into the room.

He lets go of me and walks over to my mother. He slaps her and growls at her, "If I hear one more word out of you, you'll get something worse. She's going to work with me like I said she would."

My mother ignores his threat and begs, "Please don't do this. She's only twelve. She shouldn't be exposed to all of this."

He pins her against a wall and barks, "I told you not to say another word. I'll deal with you later."

She doesn't cry, and she doesn't cower. She just stares at him blankly. He throws her onto the ground and comes back over to me. He takes me by the arm and drags me out of the room. He pushes my mother out of the way as he drags me out to the car. He forces me inside his car when we get outside.

"Alright. When we get where we're going, you're not allowed to say a word. If you do, you'll get something similar to your mother later," he growls at me.

I don't say anything, and he drives off. We drive in silence, and I soon find myself feeling extremely uncomfortable. He's not someone I want to be left alone with, but I don't have a choice because I don't have someone I can go to that is trustworthy or that will help me.

All of a sudden, the car comes to a halt. He throws something at me and orders me to put it on. I reluctantly put it on and get out of the car. It's the most revealing shirt I have ever seen, and it doesn't help that I get out to meet a very creepy guy's eyes.

That night was the night where I lost my innocence. I learned what my parents were doing, and I was now involved in it too. My father took me on a drug deal with him to make him look needy so he could get more money from the guy. He told the guy that I was his starving daughter.

The guy believed him and gave my father more money than he should have. He even tried buying me from my father. My father only rejected the offer because he wanted to use me on more of his jobs.

I realized that night how worthless my father thought I was. It hurt, yet I wasn't surprised. Is that bad?

~•••••~

"Maya! Maya, are you okay?" someone says in my ear as they shake my shoulder.

I moan and open my eyes. Emma is looking at me with concern written all over her face, so I sit up quickly. "What time is it?" I ask.

"It's dinnertime. I tried calling you down, but you didn't answer. When I came in, you looked like you were having a nightmare, so I tried waking you up. It took awhile, though," she explains.

I just nod and stand up. "Alright! I'm hungry. What's for dinner?"

I can tell she sees through my facade, but she just leads me downstairs to the dining room, not questioning anything. I'm pleasantly surprised by this, but I still wonder how she is able to just let it go, unlike everyone else.

"Hi, Maya," my uncle greets as we enter.

I sigh and nod, mumbling, "Hi."

Emma sits down at the same spot from that dreadful meal a week ago. I also sit down in the same spot from last time and don't speak. In fact, I try to avoid eye contact with both of them, and they don't seem to be interested in starting a conversation. Then, the doorbell rings, and Emma goes to answer it, leaving my uncle and me alone.

"How was your day?" he inquires.

"Fine," I reply.

Emma walks back in with someone behind her and says, "Nick was able to make it."

My mouth drops open, and I turn around to glare at him. He gives me an innocent look, but I see through it. My glare follows him as he greets my uncle and then sits down in the chair across from me.

"Hello, Maya," he greets after he sits down.

I continue to glare at him and flatly say, "Hi."

Throughout the meal, I only give one word answers to the questions they ask me to try to get the conversation going. I continuously give Nick glares, and I avoid eye contact with both my uncle and Emma. To say that the meal is awkward would be an absolute understatement.

"So, Maya," Nick says after the meal, "would you like to take a walk with me out on the beach?"

I almost say no, but I remember that I have some unfinished business with him, so I find myself agreeing. "Sure."

He tries not to look surprised, but it's easy for me to see through him. My uncle and Emma also look surprised but don't say anything. In fact, Emma even pushes us toward the door. She opens the door, something sparkling on her hand in the sunlight.

I look down and see the ring again, so I make a mental note to ask her about it. Nick doesn't seem to notice because he's already almost halfway to the shore. I run after him, and Emma closes the door behind me.

When I catch up to Nick, I push him as hard as I can, catching him off guard, so he almost falls over. I laugh.

"What was that for?" he demands with amusement.

I don't play along with his game. Instead I glare at him. "You know why."

He can tell I'm in my usual mood, so he stops smiling at me and goes serious. "What did I do this time?"

I roll my eyes at him. "Even after I told you to not ask the principal to have someone show you around the school, you still asked him. Why would you do that? Do you honestly have no respect for someone's request?"

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "I didn't think you were serious. I'm sorry, but I can't get out of this."

"And why not?"

"Once I asked to do the tour, it was set in stone. I can't back out because he'll suspect something, and I don't want to upset him, especially since I'm looking to ask a favor from him," Nick replies, his piercing blue eyes looking straight at me.

"You could've at least avoided mentioning me."

"You're the only person I know from here. Plus, all the other girls wouldn't act normal around me, and I don't think the boys would be particularly receptive toward me."

"So that left me?"

"Yep. You don't care who I am, and I like that. It's a breath of fresh air, so I figured you'd be fine with it. You don't sugarcoat anything, and as offensive as it sometimes is, it's refreshing to not hear worthless compliments," he tells me.

I pause, not knowing what to say. Did he really just compliment me, or is he playing one of the games that everyone else plays? I turn away from him and stare at the ocean. He doesn't speak either. We stand side by side in silence, just listening to the sound of the waves. It's unbelievably peaceful.

Then, my uncle calls, "Maya! Could I speak with you for a moment?"

I sigh and turn to leave, but I stop and say to Nick, "I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to distract me when I'm frustrated. I don't like it."

He smiles at me. "Why not? Isn't it better to have peace than to be irritated or frustrated?"

I sigh. "Maybe for you." I begin to walk away again.

He yells after me, "I'll see you tomorrow for that tour!"

I smile slightly and jog back up to the house where my uncle is sitting on the deck. He doesn't look upset, which is good, but he looks worried. I hesitantly sit down in another chair on the deck, and he clears his throat.

"Maya," he begins, "I need to know what I can do to begin to move forward from the past. I hate this feeling of not being able to talk to you or take a step forward like I think we need to do."

I sigh and slump down in my chair, not wanting to talk about this subject. "I need time and space."

He sighs. "How much time and how much space?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I just don't think I'm ready for this. How am I supposed to trust that you just aren't here for business? For the last four years, you've visited just a handful of times for a couple of weeks at the most. You always just get up and leave."

He leans forward. "I don't want to do that anymore. I'm here to stay. I'll still have to travel around for business, but I'm officially moving here."

"Is that the only reason you're here? You came because you took pity on me? You came because you assumed that it would be easy to get me to talk to you? Do you honestly think that this wound can be healed with a few apologies? Words mean nothing to me unless you carry out what you say," I tell him as I stand up to go inside.

"I'll prove it to you, I promise," I hear him whisper to me as I walk inside.

I pause for just a second before stepping inside, closing the door behind me. I walk toward the stairs, and Emma is standing at the bottom of the stairs as though she's waiting for me. I avoid looking at her and try to walk past her.

She stops me by grabbing my arm gently and asking, "Are you okay?"

I take my arm out of her grasp and mutter, "Just fine. I'm tired."

"I'm here to be your friend, not your enemy," she whispers.

I just nod and hurry up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I get ready for bed and then slip underneath my covers with my laptop. I open it up and immediately go to my blog. I read some of the comments I have already gotten before beginning to type a new post.

As I type, I find myself questioning everything that has happened in the last week or so. It has been a very weird few days. Not only have I met three new people, but I've also been experiencing some of the dreams and flashbacks I had when I first arrived at Clearwater Bay.

The flashbacks and dreams are a part of me that have always bothered me. They're the only things that have remained constant in my life, as horrible as that sounds. Though, they did go away for awhile, but they're back, and it's horrible. I'm reliving my past. They're are more than just going back in my thoughts and remembering; they feel real, and it scares me.

My father was a horrible man who manipulated so many people. He mastered the art of lying and cheating. He mastered the art of covering up all the bad things he did. Nobody suspected him of anything, especially my uncle.

My mom was just drawn into my father's trap, but it doesn't take away from the fact that she never went to get help from anyone. She took it all upon herself. She took many of the blows and pain upon her, which caused her to break and almost ruin everything.

Knock, knock.

My thoughts stop, and I'm taken back into the real world. I quickly exit out of my blog page and open a new website. Then, Emma walks in. She walks over to my bed and sits down at the end.

"Maya, I can't keep watching this," she says.

"Watching what?" I ask cluelessly.

She sighs. "You and your uncle. You two are some of the most stubborn people I have ever met. You never will compromise or try to do what the other person wants. I'm tired of watching all this coldness going on."

I smirk. "You've only been here about two weeks. How is it possible that you're already tired?"

"This isn't what a family should look like," she replies.

At that, I laugh bitterly. "A family doesn't abandon you or turn their back on you. Family doesn't let you go. Family doesn't lie. Family tries to help you at all costs. He's never tried to help me at all costs. He's not my family."

She looks at me sadly. "I don't know what happened in the past with you two, but both of you need to let it go and move on. Maybe he hasn't done everything right, but he's human. It's natural for people to mess up. It's your job to choose to forgive and let it all go. Don't hold grudges because they'll eat you up."

"Do you think you're my therapist? You're not, and I really don't want to have this conversation with you. I've only known you a short time. I don't think it's right for you to push me," I tell her.

She sighs and stands up. "Okay, but you need to know that I know exactly how it feels. I was similar to you when I was a teen, and I just want to keep you from making the same mistakes I did. As hard as it might be for you to believe, I really do care about you. I might not know you very well, but I know enough to know that I want to help you."

I roll my eyes, and she sighs again. I don't bother replying, so she walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I stare at my computer screen and then close it. I turn all my lights off and lie down.

The last thing I remember before slipping off into a deep slumber is the sound of people's voices yelling.

_________________________
Random question:

Is it "I lie down" or is it "I lay down"? I've known how it's supposed to be, but I've forgotten. Anyone willing to help me?

Also, thanks so much for reading! I hope you've enjoyed it so far! Do y'all think that there's something else that Maya's uncle may have done? What do you think Emma's ring means?