Lily's pov (Dream she's having the night after Nolan yelled at her)

"You're useless and pathetic. I can't believe I have the most useless, stupid, and ugliest child in the world," Mother yelled,

"I'm sorry, Mother, it won't happen again," I cried,

"Oh, crying again! Crying is for babies and stupid emotional people who don't care if anyone sees how weak they are. Are you trying to embarrass me? So, you want me to hate you, is that it? Because you're doing a great job of making me hate you," Mother said,

"I'm sorry," I said,

"So, are there anymore terrible grades you need to tell me about. As long as I'm going to punish you, I should punish you for everything bad you've done this week," Mother said,

"No Mother," I said,

"I did catch you watching that movie last week," Mother said,

"The teacher was showing it in class," I said,

"That's no excuse, you know you're not allowed to watch Harry Potter!" Mother yelled,

"I'm sorry!" I cried,

"So, add that up, you've got two months being grounded, twenty lashes, and four more hours studying for the next two months," Mother said,

"No, Mother please, don't hurt me!" I cried,

"Crying only get's you more lashes so get over here and take your place," Mother said,

"No, Mother, I'm sorry, please, no!" I cried,

"Alright, thirty lashes for not listening, get over here now or I make it forty," Mother said.

Crying I made my way over to her, turned my back to her, and kneeled down over the wooden block in the basement. I felt Mother's hand on my shirt as she pulled it up and then I heard it. The crack of her belt against my back. Then, all I felt was the pain as she whipped me, all I heard were my screams. I wanted this to stop but she wouldn't stop.

"Lily, Lily, wake up, Bunny"

Mother was still whipping me and I was still screaming.

"Lily, sweetheart, it's me, Chance, wake up now,"

No, I don't know a Chance. All I know is Mother.

"Lily, please, please, wake up"

"LILY!"

Chance...

I opened my eyes and as my blurry vision cleared, I saw Chance's worried face above me. I sat up and Chance kept his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs rubbing circles into my collar bone. I noticed movement near my bedroom door, I looked over and saw James, Julian, and Henry standing in the doorway. Each of them had a worried look on their faces. 

"Lily, you were dreaming, baby" Chance said pulling my attention back to him,

"I-I'm sorry," I said shakily,

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Chance said, 

"I woke all of you up," I said, 

"That doesn't matter, baby, it's okay," Chance said, 

"But, Mother-

"She's not here and she has no power over any of us anymore," Chance said, 

"But-

"No, you were having a nightmare, it's okay," Chance said, 

"Do you want to talk about it?" James asked, I shook my head,

"Okay, if you change your mind, you know where to find me," James said. James made everyone else leave the room but Chance. Chance stayed sitting on my bed with his hands on my shoulders. I looked at him and I felt the urge to hug him. I haven't hugged anyone or tried to since I was four. 

I tried to hug Mother after school one day and she shoved me away. I fell backwards and that's when she told me that only stupidly emotional people hugged each other. She said that showing affection to others was a sign of weakness and therefore she would never hug me and I shouldn't try to hug her ever again. I never tried it again but I wished she would turn around one day and pull me into her arms like a mother was supposed to do, but she didn't. I looked at Chance and thought about the fact that he had come to comfort me after my nightmare and I surprised myself by wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him. Chance paused for all of a second and then his strong arms wrapped around my shoulders. One of his hands found it's way to the back of my head and he held me there. I was further surprised by the fact that I started to cry. 

I didn't know if I was crying out of fear from the nightmare, or the sadness that my mother never hugged me, or love for Chance for being there for me. But, all I knew was that I didn't want to leave this embrace from my brother. I wanted to stay there forever and let him keep all my fears and sadness away. I did eventually pull away but Chance didn't leave, he laid me back down and promised to stay until I was asleep. I fell back to sleep with Chance running his hand down my hair.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chance's pov

I was jolted out of my sleep to the sounds of screams. I jumped out of my bed and ran into the hallway. I followed the screams to Lily's room, I threw the door open and there she was thrashing like she was trying to get someone off of her and screaming. I rushed to her and managed to get her awake. After calming her down and getting her back to sleep, I stayed with her. I felt like a knight standing guard over the princess to make sure nothing and no one hurt her. 

It was horrifying to wake up to my sister's screams. Our mother could still hurt her even when she wasn't around. She broke my sister so much that she has scars both physically and mentally. I want to take this pain from her, I want to take this fear from her, but I can't. I just want to protect my baby sister and I wasn't there to protect her when she needed me. Lily needed to be protected from her mother and she wasn't. No one was there to protect her, no one was there to tell her mother to stop, no one was there to save my sister from the cruel hands of her mother. Now, I get her back all these years later and find out what she did to my sister. I'm angry at her for doing this to her child. 

After a while, I did eventually go back to my room but I didn't sleep for the rest of the night. My mind was too busy wondering how a mother could treat her child like that. How anyone could do that to their child. I hated my mother for what she did, she abandoned her children and broke her youngest to the point that she doesn't even know what love feels like. 

I will put my sister's broken pieces back together again, she'll never know fear or sadness again. I'll fill her life with so much love and happiness that she'll forget she never knew what that felt like. I will make my sister happy again and get her to be the little girl I once knew. I just need my sister to be happy, safe, and comfortable here with me just like I keep my other siblings here with me. We only have each other so we have to stick together, no matter what.

================================================================================Author's note:

Thanks for reading! See you in the next chapter!! 

Lots of love, Starfire