First

Plak! Plak!

Two hard slaps hit both of the girl's smooth cheeks as her mother went berserk. She smiled as she felt the sting of the familiar slap.

Her name was Agnes Alexandra, a beautiful girl who was often abused by her mother, Chelsea Caroline. Since Agnes was 5 years old she has been used to this kind of treatment, so don't worry. Once she was stabbed with a pencil in her right hand for not knowing how to read. Of course she didn't know, she was just a 5-year-old little girl who had just entered elementary school. So naturally she didn't know anything. Plus her mother never taught her.

"Don't expect to be able to sleep in your room tonight!" her mother said and waltzed away, leaving a weak Agnes sitting on the floor.

The sound of the door being locked made the girl look up, staring at her surroundings which already seemed quiet and a little dark. The girl then tried to stand up, stepping closer to a long, Scandinavian-style sofa to sit on it.

The girl leaned her body against the back of the sofa, looking up at the ceiling of the room with a blank look. Slowly, tears began to flow from both corners of her beautiful eyes, the girl did not sob, but the flow of tears that came out was enough to show how fragile she was.

Her mind began to wander, recalling every one of her mother's torments which made her eyes water even more, her throat felt like it was being strangled, it hurt, it hurt so much that Agnes had trouble catching her breath.

If God had given her the choice of which family she wanted to be born into, she wouldn't have chosen her current family. She didn't want to be a child of a broken home, and she was also ashamed of having a father who loved to cheat on her. Dominic Edzard, that's his name, a father who deserves the title of drama king. How could he not? He was so good at acting that his affair went unnoticed by Agnes and his wife—Chelsea until Agnes was 4 years old when her father's lies were exposed and the divorce was finalized. Her birthday was just a few months away. And what saddened Agnes the most was that her mother's attitude and demeanor changed, from kind and gentle to rude and often playing with her hands. Sometimes when her mother had a problem, Agnes would become her mother's outlet for her tantrums. She was tired, very tired of being her mother's outlet. Slapped, cursed, and many other abuses she received without a fight. Her mind and body were really hurt.

Agnes closed her eyes and let out a long sigh, soon she opened her eyes again and immediately threw her face towards the window. Instantly Agnes smiled happily, there was her friend. A star.

Without waiting any longer, Agnes quickly wiped away her tears, got up from the sofa and rushed out to meet her friend. But before that, Agnes first checked on her mother to see if she was asleep or not.

The girl put her ear to the door to hear her mother's voice, and she immediately smiled a little at the sound of snoring. It was a sign that her mother was asleep, very soundly.

* *

The night breeze greeted her as soon as the girl opened the door a little wide, before taking a step Agnes did not forget to close the door first.

Her bare feet began to walk towards a large tree in her front yard that had a swing hanging from one of its branches.

Agnes sat on the swing that had long been her place to talk to the stars. The star is not human, so who is the star? Bintang is God's creation who listens to all of Agnes' complaints after Grace Kyle. Her little friend.

"Hi Bintang?" greeted Agnes as she smiled at the black sky sprinkled with many sparkling stars. Agnes loved this view. It was beautiful.

"It's been a while, we haven't seen each other. You're always disappearing!" she added a little annoyed.

But suddenly the girl changed her face to a gloomy look. "Star? I'm confused, on the one hand I love my mother very much. But on the other hand I hate my mom,"

"I want to run away from home, but I don't know where to live," she added in a soft tone.

"Then—"

Bruk!

Agnes' speech was interrupted when she heard a sound like something falling, coupled with the faint sound of crying and swearing made the girl look around.

"It hurts..."

Agnes, who felt familiar with the sound, got off the swing and climbed the big tree nimbly.

After reaching the top of one of the high branches, she was shocked to see that the girl who was sitting in the middle of the road while grimacing occasionally was her best friend, Grace!

"Pssst, Grace!" Agnes called out in a low voice.

Feeling her name being called, the girl named Grace immediately looked around for the person who called her.

"Upstairs," Agnes told her when she saw Grace looking confused.

Suddenly Grace looked up. "Nothing," she muttered under her breath, and Agnes immediately tapped her forehead at her little friend's stupidity.

"Up in the tree!" said Agnes angrily. She wanted to scream, but she held back because it was late, quiet and very lonely. She was afraid that her mother would wake up to hear her scream.

Grace went back to looking for the owner of the voice, the sweet, exotic-skinned, long-haired girl cast her eyes along the big tree and, gotcha! She saw the person.

"Agnes? What are you doing up there?" asked Grace looking confused at Agnes in a position still sitting on the asphalt, seeing her best friend standing on one of the branches of a fairly large tree with both hands clinging to the other branches made Grace wonder.

"I was sitting on the swing when I suddenly heard a sound like something falling. And it was you," Agnes replied. Grace only responded by scratching her head.

"Then what are you doing in the middle of the night like this?" Agnes continued asking she was a little surprised, not usually her little friend was out in the middle of the night like this.

Grace let out a ragged breath. "I got hit! So I ran away from home," she said sounding upset.

Hearing the word run away, Agnes immediately bit her lip.

"Emh, where are you going to live then?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"I'll be staying at my aunt's house," Grace replied as she tilted her head to look at Agnes who suddenly fell silent again after hearing her answer.

It's great to be Grace. She had a paternal family that loved her very much. Actually Agnes did too, but she didn't really like and get along with them, because they still had a relationship with that man-her father even though they said they didn't care about her anymore, but Agnes was still too awkward with them. It wasn't that she hated them, it was just that she couldn't accept reality yet. Yes, that was Agnes, someone who could not accept a painful reality.

Softly, Agnes called her best friend back. "Grace?"

"Yes?"

"I want to run away from home too." Agnes' words startled Grace and made her eyes widen.

"You're not kidding?" she asked for reassurance and was answered with a shake of her head.

Her head bowed, she was silent for a while before opening her mouth again. "But I don't know where to live."

One of the reasons why Agnes was still living with her mother was that she didn't have any money or a place to live if she left or ran away from her mother.

Grace looked sadly at her friend, she was not new in Agnes' life, she already knew about the girl's family problems because she often exchanged stories.

"Don't worry, you can stay with me at Aunt Chloe's," Grace replied, flashing her sweetest smile.

Agnes paused and began to think about Grace's words.

"Won't it bother Aunt Chloe?" she asked cautiously, a little worried about how Aunt Chloe would respond if Grace took her to her Aunt's place.

After all, Agnes didn't know Aunt Chloe very well.

Grace chuckled. "Of course not," she replied.

Without thinking any longer, Agnes said yes. "Okay. You'll wait for me at the usual place," she said and Grace gave a small nod in return.

Agnes had already decided that she would go with Grace.

After her best friend waltzed away, Agnes climbed down from the tree and went inside her house to get some clothes and items that she thought were important to carry and fit in her backpack.