Prologue
Hello, my name is Mia Brooks. I have waist length strawberry blonde hair, green eyes, and I reach a height of about 5ft 4. Today is Monday 23rd of June the day I turn 18 years old. Many people would be looking forward to their 18th birthday, either throwing the party of a life time and getting drunk like there is no tomorrow. However that’s just not me. I am an orphan. My mother and father died exactly a year from today in a tragic car crash. Yes, you heard me right. My parents died on my birthday.
If it wasn’t for Mary Anne taking me into the orphanage 6 months later, I would still be a wreck. Roaming the streets and constantly getting attacked for no good reason. I still have nightmares from what happened back on the streets, but nobody knows about them. Not even Mary Anne.
Mary found me curled in an ally way. I had my knees to my chest and my head down, hiding my tear stained cheeks. She kindly brought me back to the orphanage and I am very thankful for it. She did try to ask me what happened but I refused to tell her. I can’t tell her. I can’t tell anyone.
I can’t tell anyone how I was kidnapped and raped. How I was used and abused. I certainly can’t tell anyone how I learnt to fight so that I could protect myself.