All her life she has seen
All the meaner side of me
They took away the prophet's dream for a profit on the street

Now she's stronger than you know
A heart of steel starts to grow

—•—

I finished selling the last of my illegal guns that my dad forced me to sell at four o'clock.

"Good work today, kid," he said clapping me on the shoulder way too hard.  "Those suckers paid us two, even three times the amount we paid for these pieces of crap."  He throws one of the guns to the side.

We walk home quietly, me a few steps behind my dad, slouching. As soon as I got inside, I ran upstairs to my room and sighed. Freedom at last. I pulled out my science textbook, the only book I owned, and began to read. I loved science and dreamed of one day becoming a famous scientist.

Then, I heard the door open, followed by a slam and immediately tensed.

"Cassie, where are you?" my mother screeched as she walked in the door. I slammed my book shut, stowed it in its hiding place, and ran downstairs.

"Right here mom," I panted.

"Well what took you so long?" she snapped. When I opened my mouth to reply, she sighed. "Never mind, it was rhetorical. Now where's your father?"

"In the kitchen, I think," I told her. She started down the hallway towards the kitchen, and called over her shoulder,

"Clean the bathroom, useless wretch!"

I quickly went to do as I was told. When I finished that, I went to go to my room, but my mother called,

"Cassie? Have you finished the bathroom yet?"

"Um, yes," I replied hesitantly.

"Well then what are you waiting for? Make dinner!"

"Yes mother." I went to the kitchen and made dinner. For dinner, my mother and father ate together in one room and I had to eat in another. As soon as I left, the conversation started.

"I swear, that girl is as dumb as they get," my mother said. "Why in the world do we keep her? She's just one more mouth to feed."

"Yeah, but she's a useful mouth," my father replied. "People'll buy anything from a kid. In fact, I think I can use her to start selling drugs."

At that, I gasped. Drugs? I can't sell drugs. I'll be arrested! I'll go to jail for the rest of my life!

It's just a fate you'll have to take. You're too weak to stand up to your father, you always have been.

I shake my head to clear away the bad thoughts. This is one thing I can stand up to him on. I have to.

After dinner, my father tells me,

"Get to bed. We get up bright and early tomorrow, and we're going to buy some drugs to sell."

I run up to bed to escape him, but I don't fall asleep. Instead, I lie in bed and think about all the terrible things my parents have done to me.

Forcing me to sell illegal weapons, and now trying to coerce me into selling drugs too; making me do all the housework; the times my dad gets drunk and beats me; and most of all oppressing my dreams.

The more I think about it, the more I decide I won't let my parents rule my life anymore.

I quickly pack a bag with clothes, as well as a few other necessities, and throw my science book in as an afterthought. As soon as I make certain both my parents are asleep, I creep down the stairs and slip out the door.

Quickly, I run away from the house where I lived for the past fourteen years of my life. Soon, the streets I'm on are no longer familiar. Good. That means I'm making it farther away.

I keep running as fast as my legs can take me, going as far away from my former home as possible. Finally, I get too tired and have to find somewhere to sleep. I spot an alley, so I turn into it, find an old box, and fall asleep in it.

Two weeks later:

"Hey guys, I found us something to eat," Jamie announces as he walks into our base.

"Awesome!" Tori exclaims, and Lucas nods. Jamie passed around a can of peaches and we all take some.

Jamie was the one who found me in the box. I woke up the next morning to find his face staring at me. I was scared, but he offered me a home.

Tori and Lucas both accepted me immediately, and now it feels like I've been living with these three for my whole life.

Ever since leaving my past family, I've felt so much more free. While Jamie, Lucas, Tori, and I may have to steal food, we have each other and we're fine with that. We've all bonded so much that we're each other's family now and I wouldn't want it any other way.

At first I'd kept my past to myself and was afraid to open up, but then they each shared their own story with me which made me feel like I could open up as well.

Jamie had been raised in an orphanage by a lady who hated children and was only doing the job for the money. She took all the food for herself while the orphans scraped by with next to none. Finally, Jamie got fed up with it and left.

Tori's mother died while giving birth, and her dad blamed her for it. He drunk a lot, and would hit her for no reason. One day he went overboard. Tori tried to defend herself, but she accidentally killed him. She ran, and that's when she met Jamie. The two began to work together.

A couple years later, they met Lucas. He was super smart, and so his parents entered him into contests. He kept doing good, so his parents kept entering him into more, until the pressure got to him and he started botching the competitions. His parents believed he was getting distracted and slowly began clamping down on his freedoms. Eventually, they got too demanding and he ran away. When he met Jamie and Tori, they happily agreed to include him in their group.

After hearing about their lives, I felt better about telling them mine, and once it was off my shoulders, I felt great! Life is so much better now with my new family. My whole life was spent being scared of my mother and father, but that's all in the past now. I'm finally free.