Finding Her Lioness

Life never fucking changed, I would forever feel like a speck of dust when it came to the world, nothing compared to others in the world. I’d never become a doctor, or a soldier or anything that would give something to our planet. I was forever stuck in this shitty life my parents had dragged me into.

I knew my Dad did all he could, hours upon hours he spent in any job he could find, construction, factory, gruelling manual labour that had tired him out quicker than most men of his age. He was thirty-four and already greying badly, frown-lines on his forehead, muscles from working all the time and yet too skinny from lack of food. Whenever I cooked for us I made sure he got a bigger portion, though he would try and get me to eat it.

Mum, however, was a selfish bitch and I would never understand why they stayed together as she was so hellbent on ruining their relationship. She was mutton dressed as lamb, she’d go out in the skimpiest of clothes and come home with her lipstick smeared, skirt right up her ass and drowning in booze. She would sell herself on the street corners, a prostitute. I had all the respect for anyone in the sex industry, but the way she did it was more than likely to get her arrested or even killed…Sometimes I wasn’t sure what I would rather, though at the same time she was my mother…

I was glad I looked more like my Dad, I had his deep brown hair which I rarely ever cut so it was nearly down to my arse, occasionally Dad would take scissors to it, but otherwise I kept it up neatly. We shared the same blue, almost grey eyes too and I was skinny too, despite my diabetes. I have type two diabetes which ran in my Dad’s family, not that I had ever met them before.

They had abandoned Mum and Dad when they had found out they were pregnant with me at sixteen and seventeen. I didn’t know the whole story and I doubted I ever would. Dad always went tight-lipped with it if it was mentioned and Mum would always slam the front door and leave. Though I wasn’t stupid, I’d seen the slight smirk on her face sometimes when she left and I had a bad feeling she was more to blame than they let on.

“New town, a new chance, never forget that Kitty Cat,” Dad kisses my head softly as I’m looking in the fridge, we barely had any food left again, dinner would become more random until Dad got paid again.

Although I was seventeen, nearly eighteen, he hated that I wanted to work, forgetting college and just earning money. He wanted me to better myself, I understood that, but we also needed food.

Maybe it was time to rebel…Do it without his knowledge, get a job, earn money and prove I could do both. I didn’t have friends so my only concerns would be my job, college and home life. I could manage that.

I never had friends, we moved too much, my mother’s escapades causing more and more trouble, Dad tried to hide it all from me, but I wasn’t stupid, I was pretty sure she should have been in jail by now if it wasn’t for him.

It didn’t stop the rumours though, before we moved rumours would spread through the school like wildfire. I was the poor girl with a slut for a mother, ratty clothes, no make-up and no life. So, I stuck to the corners in class, kept to myself, kept my head down wherever I went and it became routine. If I didn’t have any friends then there was no one to hurt me in the end.

“Honestly Dad, I have no idea what sort of concoction I’ll be making for the next few days, this is the worst we’ve had,” I sigh as he peers over me.

“I got paid last night, we should be able to buy some bits, I think we’ve got thirty to last a couple of weeks, maybe a month,” he sighs and walks towards the bedroom.

Thirty pounds…to last the month…Great, it was going to be one of those months…I wasn’t surprised though. We’d had to move here from our two-bedroom house to this one-bed flat…One bed, three people…I wasn’t getting privacy anymore, that’s for sure, when I had to sleep on a sofa bed in the lounge. Though, I suppose I had to be grateful we had anything at all.

“AYLA!” Dad bellows angrily, making me grimace. Oh no, what had she done now?

She saunters out of the bathroom, lipstick half done as she rolls her eyes at me.

“What Maximillian?” she sighs.

“Where are my wages? They were right there.”

“I needed some new perfume, doesn’t it smell amazing,” she grins as I look at her in shock, though I shouldn’t be shocked in the least.

“YOU DID WHAT?! We… Fuck… Kitty Cat, you should go take a walk, I need to talk to your mother,” Dad says looking at me sadly.

“Yes, Dad,” I nod, walking past Mum with a scowl, kissing his cheek and picking up my crappy, cheap phone, the only reason I had it was for safety, we never had a landline.

I grab my hoody, it might be tatty and worn but it was like a comfort blanket to me.

“Love you Kitty Cat,” Dad says.

“Love you too Dad,” I smile, ignoring my mother who looked utterly bored.

I walk out of the front door, my key in my pocket as I wonder where the hell I should go. We hadn’t gone for our normal stroll around town to see where everything was…I was on my own this time.

“Alright, Sweet’art,” a woman nodded at me as I walked past her flat, a baby on her hip, a can of lager in the other hand.

“Hi,” I whisper before walking quickly down the stairs and out of the block of flats.

“Whoa! Careful!” an arm suddenly comes around my waist as I’m pulled back quickly, a bike flying past me, the guy on it scowling at me and flipping me off as he went.

“Stupid bitch!” he shouts too.

“Charming…” I roll my eyes.

“You should be careful, especially around here,” a guy behind me says as I remember that I had been saved from the collision. Turning I see a gorgeous hunk of a guy, tattoos covering his arms, piercings in the corner of his mouth and the deepest green eyes I had ever seen.

“Sorry…Oh…Uh, thank you,” I stammer, sighing at myself and my stupidity.

“Jett! You coming or what?!” a cute, caramel-skinned girl flounces out of the flats, a cheeky grin on her face.

“Yeah Lena, give me a minute,” he nods.

“I should…Uh…Get going,” I murmur. “Wait, what’s your name? I’ve never seen you here before, you’re new in town?” Jett asks.

“Yeah, I’m new, it’s Catherine…Or Cat, whatever,” I shrug nervously.

“Nice to meet you Cat, I’m Jett,” he holds out a hand with a dimpled grin.

“You too,” I whisper, shaking his hand quickly.

“Shy huh? Don’t worry, this town has a way of getting the shy ones out of their shells, just wait until you go to the café for the first time,” he chuckles.

“Jett! We need to go! We’ll be late!” The other girl, Lena, says running over, grabbing his arm.

“Alright, alright, I was just saying hi to the new girl,” Jett rolls his eyes.

Just then we heard angry shouting, you couldn’t hear what was being said, but it was definitely the shouting match of the ages and I knew exactly who it was…

“Sounds like a riot…” Lena raises her brows before looking me up and down.

“I should go,” I murmured.

“Watch out for bikes next time Cat!” Jett shouts out as I walk briskly off and away from the flats, wanting to get as far away from their argument in the flat as possible. Hopefully, I wouldn’t bump into Jett or Lena again any time soon.