“My father has been bugging me to invite you over for some food. Apparently, he was quite good friends with your father and wanted to check up on how you were getting along.”


    The small orange haired girl looked up from the book that was loosely held within her hands and looked over to Aaron.


    Chloe’s expression stiffened for a few moments, then quickly returning to normal as she thought about the proposal for a few seconds.


    Going over to Aaron’s house would give her an excuse to delay her return home for as long as possible.


    Even though that woman usually didn’t arrive home until late, even being in that apartment was an arduous task for the small girl.


    The whole abode was chock-full of painful recollections for Chloe, and the lurking black figure certainly wouldn’t give her a moments rest by vividly reminding her of those memories.


    Staying outside of the apartment wasn’t really an option for the frail child who was weak to the elements and lacked the energy to move around much.


    Chloe stared at Aaron before giving a small nod in response to his invitation, resulting in a beaming smile blooming upon his visage.


    The small orange haired girl had been enjoying her experience at the new school she had been attending, finding the material to be a definite improvement from what she was taught at her previous institution.


    Furthermore, thanks to the boy sitting next to her, the number of unpleasant experiences caused by her classmates had certainly dwindled indeed.


    It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say that Chloe trusted the kind Aaron more than any other person as of current.


    After the school day had ended, Chloe met up with the black-haired boy and began their walk towards his house, which happened to be in the same direction as her apartment was.


    Although, it wasn’t nearly as far as her abode was.


    Whilst they walked together, Aaron made no waste of the time he had with her, rambling on about a few series that he’d recently read and which parts he liked and disliked, Chloe sometimes nodding in agreement with what he had to say.


    Just like when she was reading books, listening to the boy’s words had enlisted her into a calm state, her past trauma forgotten about for a short moment.


    Slowing himself down to match her pace was also something Chloe appreciated. Having a weak body combined with her left leg’s previous injury, which had left her with some residual pain, her walking pace was certainly not up to par with normal people.


    Around ten minutes of talking later, they approached a medium sized house prompting Aaron to reach into his bag’s pockets and pull out the door key.


    The front yard had been neatly taken care of and a few colourful plants placed beside the door helped make the house look more vibrant from the outside.


    Compared to Chloe’s concrete complex, the difference was like night and day.


    The moment the bright blue door swung open; Chloe started to realise how unnatural her life had been up until this point.


    <hr>


    A pail whine shrieked from a rusty metal door which slowly crept open to reveal a small apartment.


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The sun behind the girl leaked into the gloomy space, vanquishing the darkness which had taken hold over her place of residence.


    Shards of glass and clothes haphazardly laid on the ground, stains of all colours littering the grey walls as a laugh track sounded out from just around the corner.


    Soon to be enveloped in darkness, Chloe closed the door behind her, tinkering with the door lock until she heard a small little click.


    Moving further into the apartment, she was careful not to accidentally step on the brown and green fragments which ignorantly sat proud upon the floor, unaware of the several injuries they had caused in their short lifespan.


    Having had taken of her shoes at the front door, lest she track mess into the house and face the older woman’s drunk fury, she made sure to carefully choose which floor panels to step on to ensure no painfully loud wooden groans would be evoked from them.


    One look into the apartment allowed Chloe to piece together the situation inside the abode.


    A figure was slumped over on the couch in front of a bright tv set that had yet to be turned off, accompanied by faint snoring.


    A comedy show had been running in the background, each time a punchline came along a pail hand would ebb up and down as the old woman let out a shrill giggle followed by the snoring that Chloe was used to hearing.


    Cans and bottles of beer surrounded the couch, all empty, sending Chloe into high alert.


    The black figure behind her came close to her shoulder, and tightly gripped it reminding her of the several occasions she’d been caught.


    Blood was not an unusual sight to see dripping down her body, the sight of a broken middle-aged woman focusing all her efforts on kicking the small girl curled down on the floor as hard as she possibly could.


    In fact, there were many of such war scars that remained upon the floor to this day, making it look like as if jam had been smeared haphazardly across it in some places.


    Several times had Chloe been sent to sleep, a radiating pain surrounding her abdomen as the hysterical giggles of the black figure that stood behind the older woman flooded into her ears.


    Just the thought of those times had Chloe rubbing her stomach due to phantom pain surging from her abdomen.


    It seemed as though the older woman’s shifts had ended early, much to the young girl’s horror, resulting in the before mentioned scenario.


    As Chloe made progress towards her room, she accidentally stood on a new piece of glass piercing into her right foot, resulting in a few muffled high-pitched grunts of pain, small hands covering her mouth in an attempt to stay as muted as possible.


    Looking over to the old woman, it seemed as though she hadn’t woken up from Chloe’s small outburst causing her to release a sigh of relief.


    Peering down towards her foot, she took in a sharp breath before pulling out the 3 or so centimetre shard out, a web of blood seeping down it before dripping upon the floor.


    Softly placing it towards the side of the corridor, making a mental note of where it was for next time, she moved onwards towards her room, wincing every time she used her right foot.


    Slowly pushing open her door, she heard a series of groans erupting from behind her followed by the woman sitting up and looking up towards the small girl before a torrent of slurred words flew out her mouth.


    “Bring him back! Mikhail! My Mikhail! Why did you take him away from me?” She cried out, her voice breaking at the end as tears welled up in the corner of her grey orbs, fingers gradually forming into balls.


    Seeing that she’d woken up, Chloe started to sprint towards her door, not caring to avoid any other fragments that laid in her path, for a more dangerous future would present itself before her if she could not get into her room quick enough.


    When the older woman was in such a drunken stupor, there was only one good ending for Chloe, to lock herself in her room until the older of the two had sobered up.


    The older woman frantically looked at her surroundings, realising that she wouldn’t catch up to the small girl before she got away.


    Grasping a half empty bottle of beer, she threw the bottle towards the girl, successfully landing a blow upon her frail figure.


    The glass bottle smashed into pieces upon Chloe’s left shoulder just before she managed to get into her room, a loud yelp escaping from her mouth prompting her to bite her lip in order to remain as quiet as possible.


    Her elder didn’t like it when she cried out in pain, stating that Mikhail must have felt much more than what she’d inflicted upon the child, and that she was being ungrateful that she was still alive.


    Hastily closing the large door behind her, Chloe quickly turned the lock as another bottle hit the other side of the door, making the orange haired girl quiver in surprise.


    Slumping down next to the door, the small orange haired girl whimpered as she saw the few fragments of glass that one again had become embedded in her shoulders and feet.


    But at least it was better than being “rewarded” with another beating.