The skunky but delicious smoke fills this little corner of campus, exiting my lungs only once it's done its job. I feel the calming weight fall over my anxious brain almost immediately and glance down at the tiny joint in my hands, surprised by its secret potency.  "Miss Xanderson!" I grab one more big hit before stomping the lovely little thing beneath the heel of my combat boot and turning to face our principal, inwardl...

After my initial reply, Adam and I sit across the desk from Boss and wait for her to start in on me with questions. She sits for a little while, quiet, making me nervous. I just want to get this over with, but I know that's not how it works. We'll talk at her pace, not mine. I'm the one that came in to talk, but she's the one asking the questions.Adam's hand is on my shoulder again and he squeezes it reassuringly, bringin...

Adam hands me the pregnancy test and a package of mini blueberry muffins. I set the muffins aside and look in his eyes as I grab the test and exit the car. I don't say a word, but he nods in understanding, sitting back and drinking his morning coffee, eating--of all things--some mini donuts while I enter the store. I go to the counter first, asking if I may use their restroom. The guy behind the counter says that usually...

The days blur as time passes and I wait for Garrett's reply. Bruises disappear as scars multiply and Adam is still as persistant as usual. He wants to know why I'm so silent. He wants to know what 'that' scar is from and where 'this' scar is from. He wants answers from me and I'm just too tired to give them to him, so he finally just hands me a slip of paper with his phone number on it and shuts his lips. But that doesn't...

---------------------- Please be advised that this work contains language which some readers may find offensive. In consideration, Stories Space has hidden the preview of this selection. By choosing to view the piece in its entirety, you agree that you are 18 or older and do not object to such content. ----------------------People ask why I didn't leave sooner. Why I didn't tell someone sooner. Why I just let him do what...

It's an understatement to say that Stepmonster wasn't all too happy when I got home twenty minutes late. But because he was hungry, he let me make dinner first. Small reprieve, but a reprieve all the same. He had me sit down next to him and watch him eat. Not that I was hungry. In fact, it made me even more thankful for the stop at the cafe that Adam made.Stepmonster tried his version of small-talk."So what were you doing...

9. MayDear Diary,I feel so stupid. Why can't I just tell them? Why can't I open my mouth and say it out loud? I can write it here--it's easy. I don't even care if somebody finds it written here. Why can't I report it? Why couldn't I just tell Boss today? Why couldn't I open my mouth and tell Adam? Why can't I say it?I've been abused for almost ten years. Ten years. See? Easy. I can write it. So easy. But it's like, if I s...

"Why didn't you just tell her? I know it's your stepfather. You live in the same house; he can't be that good at hiding it." I don't look at him. I get into his car and sigh at the warmth inside, shivering at the cold covering me from the inside out. He gets in and starts the car, turning on the heater for me even though he looks like he's roasting."I didn't tell her, because my stepfather doesn't do drugs--he drinks--and...

"Mommy! Mommy, I have to go potty." I tug on Mommy's summer dress and she looks down and smiles. It is a tired smile, but she grabs my hand and starts towards the women's restroom. He stops her, kissing her softly. "You look tired, dear. Go sit down, I'll take her." He smiles and she nods, letting go of my hand as he takes my wrist. She sits on a bench around the corner. He takes me to the men's restroom and back to the h...

My arms are white with self-wrapped bandages from my wrists up to my elbows. I have a large tank-top on underneath a long-sleeved jacket. Can't exactly wear it the whole day--it's supposed to be in the 80s today. Funny, summer doesn't start for two weeks--after I turn 18--and I'm already finding it difficult to cover up.There's a bruise on my wrist. I tried to cover it as much as I could, but it's still semi-visible. Step...

"Be awake early tomorrow morning, 'Lena."I shiver and curl up farther into my covers. I don't know what he has in store for me. He's never up earlier than he has to be, which is usually around the time I get home. It's Spring now. I turn eighteen in another couple months and graduate the month after that. Or, maybe, if I pass the test I have in Pre-Calc today. I hear footsteps and then my doorknob turns and the door opens...

At age five, I had already experienced the loss of a parent. My biological father died of lung cancer. At age six, I had already experienced alcoholism, though not personally. My mom was glued to her wine. That was how I found her one day, walking into the house. I had just gotten home from school and she was already drunk off her ass."Mommy? Mommy, I know you miss Daddy... but I miss you..." She was passed out on the flo...

"Every day is one more inch of a slow blade sinking in. Vision fading, suffocating inside my own skin... And I'm fighting the stranger in my eyes, and I know that only one of us will survive. If I can't save us, I've got to save myself. I can't stay here in this place... I'm slowly freaking out, I'm slowly freaking out and out and out again." - Skylar Grey, Slowly Freaking Out.Eight months after the trials to put Stepmons...

I pause at my locker to switch out my books and binders during my appointed lunch time. I'm just about to head to the library to finish up today's homework for Calculus, College Writing, and ASL when Adam strolls up to his locker next to mine. He doesn't seem to ever change clothes. Today is another black on black on black with black leather boots. Other girls might call him "hot" or "sexy", but I just see another guy......

"Does that make more sense now?"I look down at my paper- Calculus homework that only an hour ago would have completely stumped me and had me giving up. It does make more sense. I could finish this in 15 minutes now. Easy.I nod and smile, eyes wide in surprise."Good... what time did you say you had to be home by?"I look up from my homework- almost finished, by the way- and glance at the clock. 4:45pm."Fuck! I have to be ho...