Chapter 1

Heavy drops of rain drenched Aeolia's clothes as she ran, catching her breath as she picked up her speed. "AEOLIA!!" Shouted her mom's boyfriend as he went outside their house quickly but stopped under their roof as he watched her ran away. Antonio Martinez, she looked at their faces once more and saw that his sons were outside as well, looking at her in eager interest. She glared at them and turned her face back towards where she's running. It was the middle of the afternoon, but the skies were already dark and grey because of a storm. Nevertheless, no storms can stop her as she cried desperately, both from her broken heart and exhausted mind. Her shoes submerged in ankle deep water as she takes each steps on the flooded streets across her house making ripples in every movement. 'I want to run away."; she wanted to escape from them more than anything. She squinted her deep purple eyes from the rain and when she opened them, it was now filled with rage and determination springing from her broken heart. Her eyes were brimming with tears now as she came to a stop under the roof of a closed clinic. Aeolia tried to wipe her face and tears though her sleeves were wet and she sighed. She looked at her reflection on the black screen of the clinic and saw a helpless, haggard person looking back at her. She glanced at the empty streets, except for an elderly person and someone assisting him. Aeolia then, feeling exhausted, slowly sat on the stairs of the clinic's entrance. Here, she opened her backpack, the only thing she had with her when she decided to leave bitterly. She brought out her phone and checked, luckily it didn't get wet. This phone used to be her mom's phone which her mom gave to her because she had a new one and had no use for the old phone. Aeolia turned the power on and looked at the signal bar which showed no signal as it powered on. She sighed and felt heart broken, she ran away from her home because of the constant bullying and molestation of her step dad - Antonio Martinez. Thinking about what they had done to her made her clench her fists and fill her heart with hurt, because her mom... did not do anything to stop all of it. Her mom, Poppy Hernandez Ari, reprimands her boyfriend and the kids but it has done nothing. Aeolia tried to tell her mom about the molestation, and her mom got beaten up from confronting Antonio Martinez. He said this as he pushed my mom towards me after dragging her by the hair across the house; "Do you see this?" He leered, as his sons and I watched him, "This will happen to you if you don't keep your mouth shut!" He was itching in anger. He threw a chair into the ground and we flinched from the sound when it hit, we were trembling, cowering in fear as he strode the room and went outside to drink alcohol. Aeolia quickly arose from where she sat and helped her mom who was on the floor, "Mom I told you, if he really loves you he wouldn't hurt you!" Aeolia shouted at her while holding her mom on both shoulders and her mom smiled at her through tears and a swelling eye; "And Lia... if you truly love someone you wouldn't leave them.." Upon hearing this, Aeolia took a step back from her mother, stared at her mom in disbelief and quickly ran towards her room to pack her stuff. "Aeolia!" Her mom shouted but she had no strength to walk so she asked the two children to help her while Aeolia packed her own stuff. Three days after that.... Aeolia ran away after leaving her mom a sorry note underneath her blanket.

After reminiscing of the past, Aeolia woke from her trance when the sun started to peek from the clouds again and the rain turned into a drizzle, dripping wet from her clothes and shoes; she walked once more. She thought of what to do, she could ask her bestfriend to take her in but she didn't have any signal here, and also, Aeolia felt embarrassed for her friend because she didn't want to be a burden. So Aeolia began to walk, looking at her surroundings for a job and if she couldn't find any, she planned to call her friend for help as the last resort.

The sun peered through the clouds and Aeolia sighed, feeling unburdened by the constant feeling of danger when she lived in their house. She breathed in... and felt hungry as she walked, so she went to a shop to buy cookie biscuits and went on with her job hunt like a monk finding enlightenment on a path unknown.