I step into the yard once my leather jacket ad my sneakers are on. I walk into the woods and I find a beautiful clearing. I have a seat against a beautiful tree, and the memory of the day my abuse from Ricky started.

Flash back (authors POV)

Ricky walks into the house, drunk from a long night at the bar in a large city in Missouri. Penny looks at Ricky pleadingly as his hate filled eyes land on Brandi. He stumbles closer.

"You're such a disgrace, a disgusting waste of space.!" He always thought so, just never said it out loud.

Penny flinches at the harshness of Ricky's words towards her daughter. Ricky said those things because he didn't want another child after Emily.

"She is my everything, Ricky, please leave her!" Penny pleads.

Ricky narrows his eyes at penny, and he stumbles across the room towards her. He wraps his hands around her throat, and chokes her to death, in front f their daughter, Brandi.

-///

Tears fall from my eyes as the memory of Ricky killing my mom fill my head. I frown as I hear birds chirping from all around me, as memories fill my head again.

-////
Ricky turned his attention back to Brandi, hatred still full in his eyes and on his face. He grabs the brunette by her hair, and throws her down the stairs, to the basement.

-///

That was when Ricky began abusing me, the night he killed my mother. My mother begged and pleaded him to get her and leave me, because I was her everything. Ricky listened to her that night. He killed her right in front of my eyes, then he began his abuse towards me.

I blink and allow the tears to fall. I lay my head against the tree trunk as I stare at the blue skies.

I guess you can say I had it rough. I got lucky when Marcus Gibbons arrived right before Ricky killed me same way he did my mother.

I pull out my phone, and I breath out in relief that I have signal. I dial a familiar Missouri number I know by heart.

"Hello?" Marcus' voice says into the speaker.

"Sheriff, its Brandi Young." I reply.

His intake of breath tells me he is surprised. "Brandi? How are you, little lady?"

"I'm doing better." I reply. "My cuts and bruises are fading. I've been impressing my teachers."

Marcus sighs. "That's great. I have something I should probably tell you, dear."

"What is it, Marcus?" I ask. "You sound sad, and tired."

"I had to quit the force." Marcus says, sounding almost out of breath.

"Why?" I ask. "You was the best sheriff that town ever had."

"I appreciate the compliment, miss Young." Marcus says with a shaky sigh. "I have been diagnosed with sage three colon cancer, than has just spread through my stomach and lungs."

I frown, knowing he probably won't be alive much longer. "That is so sad, Marcus. Are you getting treatment?"

"I was at the beginning." Marcus replies honestly. "It seemed to make it worse, as the doctors kept saying, so they quit treatment."

"How long do you have, or do they know?" I ask.

"If the cancer keeps spreading this fast, I have half a year." Marcus replies bleakly. "I had to go. I have an appointment to set up hospice soon."

"Play, Marcus." I sigh.

Marcus hangs up, and I frown. I am glad I called now to check on him, instead of six months from now. Apparently, his cancer is spreading fast and he should be dying in half a year.

I stand up from my spot as the sun brings to set. I look up from where I stand in the clearing, and I smile at all the stars. It's a clear, cold night. I sigh before I walk through the trees, the dead fall leaves crunching beneath my feet.

"How was it?" Sam asks, he just finished patrol. "Being alone for a while."

I smile. "It was needed."

Sam wraps a protective arm around me before we walk inside. I smell lasagna when I enter the house, and Sam makes a beeline towards the kitchen. I shake my head in amusement and I hear people enter the house. I turn around and I see that it was just Paul and Jared entering the house.

"Emily's cooking her heavenly lasagna." Jared mumbles as his stomach growls loudly. "Smells great."

"It does." I reply. "Let's head towards the kitchen."

I stop by my room first, and I toss my jacket on my bed. I find the kitchen, and I sit between Embry and Paul. Paul rests his left hand on my leg as Emily begins handing out plates. 

"I called Marcus Gibbons in the woods." I speak up.

"Whose he?" Paul asks, jealousy dripping from his words.

"The sheriff who saved my life." I smile. "He told me he has cancer."

Emily gasps. "Oh my, that's terrible."

"Marcus says if the cancer keeps moving this fast, he will die in half a years time."  I sigh. "I'm glad I checked on him."

"I am too." Sam smiles at me. "He is the one who saved your life."

I finish my lasagna, and Emily grabs my plate. I go to my room and I begin stripping from my day clothes. Tomorrow is Thursday, and we actually have school tomorrow. The seminar for the teachers was in Seattle today, so they had canceled school.

I pull on some pink shorts and a place training bra over my cup bra. I lay under my covers and I am asleep soon enough.