Hitting the asphalt was harder than anything I've ever witnessed in my life. Harder than Jessica has ever hit me, and it gave me a major headache. I'm surprised it didn't kill me.

"Get the fuck up before I shoot," was all I heard and I knew that this was just my luck. Out of all the luck I've had over the years, it just keeps getting better.

Hence the sarcasm.

I felt myself being pulled across the road, and I also heard Mrs. Shuler yell for them to let me go. I couldn't open my eyes because the pain in the back of my head was unbareable.

I was leaned against cold metal, which I'm guessing was their car. I heard the guy tell me to get up but I couldn't. It felt like I was paralyzed and everything in my body was frozen. My head was pounding like a broken washing machine and it hurt like a bitch.

I had no other choice but to ignore him. I then felt a cold object press against my forehead and it didn't take a genius to figure out what that object was.

I slowly opened my eyes and I was met face to face with a grinning psychopath. "Welcome back sleeping beauty, thought I lost ya for a second," he held the gun against my forehead and his grin faded. "Now, I should shoot you for pulling that stunt you did, but I can't because it's not in my nature to shoot someone when I need answers,"

I felt my heart speed up and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't exactly out-smart this guy because I'm not very smart myself. I can't signal to Mrs. Shuler because I'll get caught then we both would get shot.

But I knew that I had to do something in order to save Mrs. Shuler, and myself. I couldn't let him win.

We stayed in that position for a minute or so, both of us looking at each other without saying anything. I didn't know how to respond to him because I honestly couldn't give him the answer he needs.

I knew that his patience was running out, and I knew my time was too.

Before I could even blink, Mrs. Shuler was quick in one move, and that's when I seen her tackle the guy to the ground. I couldn't believe how fast it all happened, and I couldn't believe Mrs. Shuler was that fast.

They were wrestling on the ground for a while, and I was trying my damn hardest to try and get up to do something; anything. I needed to grab that gun away from him, but I knew that I was no match for him.

I then felt a pain in my head and that's when everything was blurring. I then noticed that Mrs. Shuler was pinned to the ground and I couldn't do anything to help. The pain was getting worse and I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. I noticed that Mrs. Shuler kept trying to grab the gun but he was a lot strong than she was.

It was like time itself was going in slow motion as I watched the guy aim the gun to her head. It felt like a million seconds until I finally did something.

I lunged forward and tackled him away from her. I didn't have a strategy in mind, but all I could think of was to get him away from her.

It felt like forever as I was trying to hold him on the ground. I didn't know how long I could keep going, because he was struggling to get free.

I felt myself being pulled away from him and that's when I saw Mrs. Shuler grab the gun and knock him out with it. He laid there motionless and that's when she grabbed me up and told me to run.

As we were running, I felt myself become dizzy and I had to stop. Mrs. Shuler asked if I was ok, but I didn't respond. The pain in my head was hurting more and more.

Without warning, Mrs. Shuler grabbed me and carried me bridal style. I didn't have the energy to fight against her, so I let it go. I didn't want the pain to keep coming so I decided to just lay there and let her do her thing.

I stared up at the sky and admired the stars. I thought about how everything was happening and how much m0re shit I'm going to be in later on.

I never can have a normal life, can I?

I looked at Mrs. Shuler and the streetlights gave enough light for me to see her face every few feet. It didn't seem to show if I was too heavy for her or not. I had no idea how physically strong she really was.

I guess if you put someone in a situation that they never experienced, you get someone entirely different than the person you thought they were.

I decided that I didn't feel dizzy anymore so I told her to put me down. It made me feel uncomfortable having her carry me.

We were walking for a while, and I decided to say something because the silence was killing me.

"How'd you learn how to fight like that?" I watched as she looked at me. I could see her blue eyes even in the darkness, besides the street lights giving me the light I needed.

"That's a long story," she looked back ahead and I watched her for a moment. She looked back at me, "Why are you staring at me?"

I smiled a little, "Well, for one, my teacher can kick ass better than I can, and two, she just picked me up and carried me down the street in the dark, which is not at all strange, and the fact that it didn't seem like I weighed over a hundred pounds," I heard her laugh a little and it still made my heart swell.

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Samantha,"

I chuckled, "You can call me Sam. I hate the name Samantha," which was true. I don't hate it as much when she says it, but it still makes me want to cringe.

Samantha is my real name, but I don't like it at all. My mom named me after her mom, and even though I thought it was sweet and all, I don't like that name. It sounds too formal to me, and I prefer Sam or Sammy.

"What's wrong with the name Samantha? I like that name," hearing her say that she liked my name made my stomach do flips. I don't understand why she has such a huge affect on me.

"You still didn't listen to me back there," she looked at me as we were passing a street light and she raised an eyebrow. "I told you to stop playing games with me because it's all confusing me,"

I heard her sigh, "I'm not playing anything, I don't know what you're talking about," obviously she did.

I looked over at her, "Where are we even going?" seriously, did she know where the hell we were?

"We're going to my house,"

"And you know where that is?" I'm surprised she even knew where we were. I couldn't tell where the hell we were or anything that looked familiar.

She looked at me, "You trust me, right?"

I crossed my arms, "Not really," it slipped out and it was too late to fix it.

I saw her look at me, and even in the dark, I knew she had a look of shock on her face. "You really don't trust me?"

"How can I? After what you did," I mumbled the last part in hopes she didn't hear it.

I heard her sigh then she looked ahead, "I've been needing to talk to you about that,"

I looked at her for a moment, "You already sort of did, remember? You told me you didn't want any contact with me anymore, but this whole situation has my head in a confused state and I don't know what you're doing,"

She didn't respond, but just kept walking. I can't believe she's doing this to me. She has me so confused and it's messing with my head.

After a while, she spoke, "We'll talk when we get to my house,"

I stopped and she turned back to stop. I looked at her, "I'm not going to your house," there's no way that I'm going back to that house where I kissed her and where everything started falling apart, and where everything will continue to fall apart.

"Where are you going to go, Samantha? Those guys could still be looking for you! I'm not letting you walk the streets in the middle of the night!" she stood there with her arms crossed, trying to intimidate me.

"Here's the deal," I started. "When we get to your house, you will drive me to mine, and then we will no longer have anything to do with each other," sounded fair enough, even though my heart was screaming.

"I can't do that," I barely heard her whisper. I stood there and watched her for a moment. She looked up, "There's something that I need to tell you," I stood there and waited for her to continue. She stood there then shook her head, "Nevermind," she started walking away and that's when I knew I had enough.

I caught up with her then stood in front of her to stop her from walking any further. "This is what I'm talking about! You tell me that you don't want anymore contact, and you stuck to your word until earlier when I ran into you outside of the restaurant. You could of just ignored me and kept on walking, but you didn't. You didn't have to save me from those guys, and you didn't have to come after me. If there's something you need to tell me, tell me now or never," I stood there and waited.

It felt like hours went by until she finally said something. "You need to come to my house. You'll be safe there. I'll tell you anything you want to know," I stood there for another moment until I finally agreed.

I don't know what I'm doing, but my heart can't take anymore of this.

*

We made it to her house in ten minutes. We weren't very far from the place where we left those guys, which was odd. It was strange that we were even remotely close to where she lived.

She instructed me to sit on the couch until she came back. I looked around the living room and noticed that almost everything was gone. I guess her husband owned a lot of it.

I heard her come back into the living room and I seen that she had a glass in her hands. She sat down next to me and handed me the glass but I sat there, staring at her.

"Drink this," she kept trying to hand it to me but I was refusing. I don't know what she put in that glass, so I'm not drinking it. She looked at me for a moment, "It's not poison if that's what you think. It'll help your head,"

I slowly grabbed the glass from her and inspected it. I looked over at her as she was watching me and I knew that she was thinking I was an idiot for not trusting her. I slowly drank whatever it was and immediately wanted to spit it out.

"Drink all of it. I know it tastes bad, but it'll help," she helped me drink the rest by carefully tipping the glass over my lips.

After it was all gone, I wanted to throw it back up. That was the worst tasting shit I have ever drank. I'm not even sure if she really knew how disgusting it was.

I handed the glass back to her and she laid it on the table in front of us. She looked back at me and I stared at her for a moment. I didn't know what was going on inside her head, but I knew something was going on.

"Are those the guys who left the bruises on you and the ones who you said were chasing you before?" she questioned while watching me. I wasn't sure if telling her a lie was the best way to go, because honestly, I was tired of lying. Before I could answer, she continued, "We need to call the police," she got up and I started panicking.

"No, you can't," I got up and she turned around to look at me.

She stared at me for a moment, "You're kidding right? Do you not realize what just happened, and you're refusing to call the police?" she stared at me and I knew that I would have to explain to her.

But I didn't want to.

"There's reasons why we can't go to the police," I stared at her as she was staring at me and I felt my heart speed up. I knew that this was the time to come clean about everything, but I wasn't sure how it was going to end.

She crossed her arms and continued to stare at me, "What reasons are those?"

I sighed, "There's just some things that are meant to be kept a secret, Mrs. Shuler. I'm sorry, but it's actually none of your business what goes on in my life,"

"As your teacher, I think I have the right to know why you won't let me call the police after we were both attacked," she stared at me and I didn't know how much longer she was going to take before she refused to even believe me.

"Even as my teacher, my personal life is none of your business and there's nothing you can say or do to change my mind," I wasn't going to let her win against me because she decided to use that 'I'm your teacher' card.

She was silent for a moment. I wasn't sure if I won the arguement, but what she said next surely made me realize that I didn't win.

"You're how old, eighteen? And I'm thirty? I'm pretty sure that whatever you say or do cannot win against me, who happens to be the authority figure, so I'm not going to sit here and pretend to believe everything that comes out of your mouth," I watched as she studied me for a moment. "I'm calling the police," and with that said, she was out of the living room in a heartbeat.

Shit.

I ran after her and I found her in the kitchen with a phone in her hand. She looked at me and I knew that this was going downhill, fast.

"Don't try to stop me, Samantha. I'm calling them, so stay right there," she proceeded to dial the number and I knew I would have to be fast.

I didn't think about it much as I took one large step and tackled her to the ground.

"Samantha!" she was struggling to push me off but I wasn't budging. I had to be stronger than the woman who took out two guys.

I grabbed the phone away from her hands and threw it across the kitchen. She stared up at me for a moment, "You did not just do that,"

I grinned victoriously, "Oops," I shrugged. It made me want to burst out laughing because the look on her face was priceless.

I saw that she wasn't taking my humor the way I was, so I decided to run and grab the phone before she did. I got up and ran to the phone in time for her to get up as well. I ran out of the kitchen away from her.

I heard her yell throughout the house as I was running, and it only made me more scared shitless than I already am. I didn't have many options to hide at and I wasn't sure if I was brave enough to run out into the dark.

No doubt she'll be right behind me.

I decided to go to the back door and just throw the phone out into the dark abyss, and hope that she never finds it. I couldn't have her call the police, and I would do anything to keep her from doing that.

I opened the back door and threw the phone out as hard as I could. I didn't see where it went, but I hope that it went somewhere far.

I shut the door and turned around just in time to see Mrs. Shuler standing there, staring at me. I knew I was in some deep shit than I already was, but she had to understand that she couldn't get the police involved.

"I don't know what the hell is going on through your head, but you better start explaining everything right now," her stare alone made me want to crawl somewhere and hide.

I sighed. I felt defeated because I was tired of running away from my problems. I was afraid that if I told her the truth, she'll have my sister sent off somewhere and I'd have to be sent somewhere also. I didn't want that happening because I couldn't handle it.

Even as an eighteen year old, I don't have a job and I can't afford to pay the bills. The only reason for me to keep everything a secret is because I can't do it on my own. Even if that meant having my sister constantly beating me for however long, then so be it.

"It's a long story," I stared at her as she was watching me and she glanced somewhere for a moment then looked back at me. I knew that she wasn't going to tell me that it could wait, because I've been lying to her for a while and even she knew it.

"You can tell me. I don't care how long it takes," she walked over to the couch and motioned for me to sit down. I was hestitant, but I accepted.

I knew that I would have to explain what my sister does, but that doesn't mean that I would explain how my sister acts. I won't tell her that she beats me, because it'll just cause something that I'm not mentally or physically prepared for.

I watched as she turned slightly to face me. She laid her arm across the back of the couch, and sat in a comfortable position.

"Take your time, and tell me everything," she stared at me as I nodded. I didn't even know where to begin.

Might as well get it over with.

*

It was after one in the morning, and Mrs. Shuler and I was sitting on her couch. I couldn't believe that this was happening because it didn't seem real. None of this seemed real. My whole life didn't seem real.

But here I am, sitting on the couch at my teachers house, telling her about my fucked up sister and how she's on drugs, and how she owes money that I knew nothing about. How nothing she tells me ever makes sense, and how she never tells me any of her personal business.

"What about your parents? Where are they?" see. That's the question that I didn't want to be asked. Why? Because it kills me to know that my parents are gone. They didn't care enough to stay together and they didn't care care enough to stay. Especially my dad. He's the biggest enemy in my life. How could he leave us? He didn't have to move a dozen states away from his own family. He didn't have to leave us when we needed him the most. We all needed him, especially mom.

He had no idea that mom was dying. He had no idea that she was on her death bed because we didn't have any information on him. We knew he moved to Texas because his sister, who is my aunt, told us. But she didn't give us any other information because just like him, she doesn't give a shit.

Mom died four years ago, and he still doesn't know. He still thinks that she's living this day. He never once cared enough about her to call, or check up on her or any of his kids. He's a selfish bastard and he always will be.

It took years to finally get over the fact that he wasn't coming back to visit us. It took me longer than my sister, because she never cared about him to begin with. He was always the authority figure towards her because he knew how she was. He tried to raise her up the right way and teach her wrong from right, but all she thought he was doing was being mean to her. Which wasn't the case at all.

He tried to help her, but nobody could help Jessica, not even herself.

Jessica ruined my life for the last four years, along with my dad. They both made me emotionally depressed and I hate them both for it.

My mom was the only one who made me happy. But now that she's gone, I have no one.

I sat there in silence, feeling drained from having to explain everything to her. I didn't shed a tear, because I knew that it was no use in crying when the damaged has been done for years. The only reason I cried to Matt that day, was because I've been lying to him for years and finally being able to tell him everything, except my abuse, felt great and a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Mrs. Shuler stared at me for a moment until she pulled me to her and hugged me. I didn't feel anything except the pain growing inside my chest increasing. I knew that she was comforting me, but it didn't feel like she was.

We stayed like that for a moment until she released me. She looked at me and smiled slightly, "Thank you for telling me. I understand why you don't want to get the police involved, and I respect your personal life," I smiled at that. At least she sort of understands. "But that doesn't mean that you're safe, Samantha. Those guys are still out there, and we need to do something," I knew what she was saying, but I didn't want any more problems. "I won't call the police, but I'm not letting you out of my sight," I looked at her to try and understand what she was saying. "I will be taking you to and from school again," oh great. "And," ugh. "I want to talk to your