Chapter One:

Mother screamed at me. "Devil Child!Devil Child!" each word felt like a stab in the heart. "How dare you!" She grabbed at my clothes and started to lash out at me, thumping me painfully. “Devil child”, she screeched, over and over again until she’d beaten to life out of me. I lay there, motionless, my heart pounding against my chest. Narla poked her head around the door, her eyes wide and scared. "Mother? May you please read me a bedtime story?" she asked hopefully, but Mother pretended not to hear. She was bent over the sink, breathing fast and before we could stop her she'd taken the bread knife off the counter and stabbed herself.

I gawped at her, and tried to get up, but every part of me throbbed. Narla burst suddenly into tears and ran and hid under her bed. I could still hear her sobs from the kitchen. "Mother?" I asked, but she was dead.....gone. I grabbed a chair leg and pulled myself to the table, where I got to my feet. Leaning against the table, I inhaled deeply and slowly walked to the bedroom. Narla was still sobbing, her small body wrapped in a dirty dressing-gown. "Narla", I said softly and managed to coax her out from under the bed. "Now you need to listen to me. Pack some clothes into a carrier bag and come into the kitchen. Ok, baby?" she nodded and I wiped away her tears. "Baby don't cry".

I stumbed into the kitchen and began to gather the little food from the cupboards. Narla returned with bags in her arms, "I've got your stuff, Sophie", she whispered, as if she didn't want Mother to hear, "where are we going?" I told her of the forest at the end of the village, where we were to stay for a while. I didn't know how long, but we needed to run for it.

Ignoring my bruises and grazes, I took Narla's tiny hand and led her from the flat. "Why did mommy used to hit you?" she questioned innocently.  "Mother was ill", I said and she continued to ask why she'd been hit too. I said that Mother was mentally harmed and that she couldn't help it. Then she asked about our Father.

"Did Father run away too?" she exclaimed. I shook my head. "No, baby, Mommy used to hurt Daddy aswell and then one day it got to much and he was rushed to hospital, then he escaped from Mother", I said. Narla cried then and I (again) wiped away her tears. "Now, don't you start again", I told her, "else I'll have to turn nasty like Mother". Narla shut-up at this, but she knew I didn't mean it.