A Night Of Fear.

DISCAIMER: Please be aware that despite this having been written purely as a piece of Fiction only, it may likely cause unwanted Triggers for some.

Therefore, proceed to read, only if you are certain.

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Laurie had only just turned the innocent age of fifteen when it happened. Not one single person seemed to care anymore about anything, least of all her, throughout all of this.

The night was dark and bitterly cold. What added injury to insult if that wasn't enough, was that the street lamps had all gone out together. Laurie's tiny frame, shivering from both the cold and the icy droplets of rain that were falling, was doing nothing but making her immediate situation nothing but more oppressive.

Her tiny four-foot stature simply made her appear to everyone that she was little more than a child of eight or nine. As wretched as the world had turned out today, this only made the situation worse for young girls like her. There were too many unfriendly folks roaming about these days, ready to prey on the young, vulnerable, innocent types.

She had to take care, she had to look out for herself, after all, her own dad proved earlier tonight that he surely favored his beer more than his young daughter. The past week, Laurie had enjoyed the seemingly never-ending fun and smiles she had encountered whilst staying with her foster parents halfway across the country. She loved spending time with them, and they loved seeing her again, after having spent seven years living in their care only just one year ago.

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Laurie's dad had been arrested by the police which had led up to the need for Laurie to live with someone else at that time. She had only just turned eight when her dad had done what he did back then. Coming home from work one night, after being fired by his regional manager for literally head-butting a customer, who had done nothing but return an item back as it was faulty to the store, which led to both an ambulance and police assistance being called out, he had evaded being arrested there and then, by running away from the scene and headed straight to his local pub for several intoxicating drinks. Laurie's dad had returned late that night, after being kicked out of the pub for causing a bar fight, and chosen to continue with the argument by taking his anger out on her mum. The argument badly ended with him pulling a carving knife from the kitchen drawer and stabbing his wife in the stomach, as she had attempted to reach for the telephone to call for help.

The infinite non-sensical decision of the court system had decided to charge him with affray and manslaughter only. Not giving any due regard to the blatant fact that he had killed his wife, her own mum, in nothing other than cold blood. It should have been nothing other than a murder sentence and nothing less. But then, that was but one of the ever-growing faults of how the world had been changing, and not for the better either. After just seven years of incarceration, her dad had undergone many stringent rehabilitation programs whilst safely locked away from the world at large, and the parole board, in their 'happy-go-lucky' and wrongly led belief in successful rehabilitation, had pronounced him fit to release him to return to his home. The correctional services incorrectly thought that simply because he had gone seven years without any alcohol, he was sober and over it.

The sheer fact remained that he was behind bars, and had no access to fuel his need for drink whilst locked away. Not one person had even given a thought to that it just did not work that way.

Worse still, the child health protective services had perceived absolutely nothing wrong in allowing him to take care of his now fifteen-year-old daughter Laurie. The only condition to this arrangement? Was that Laurie was to spend five days every other week, staying with her past foster carers, so he could have a break?

What about Laurie? Shouldn't this have been about her life, her thoughts, her safety? Her wants, her needs?

It was blatantly obvious to everyone that not one person truly cared in the slightest. The entire system was so horrifyingly wrong about everything.

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"Why the hell had the local care services allowed any of this trash to keep happening?" she cried softly to herself. "This would not be happening if only somebody had actually cared to hear her side of the story!" With her head gazing down at her feet, she continued walking toward where she knew the local park to be located, could do nothing more than to let her sobs endure and tears flow down her cheeks, she made an effort to avoid eye contact with any of the people that passed her by. She didn't want to draw any unwelcomed attention to herself, nor did she want to risk drawing any curiosity from the police foot patrols that were out on their routine street beats. She feared them. Not because they were inherently bad but, simply because she held a warranted fear of talking to them. Warranted because nobody had helped her back then at a time when she and her real Mum had needed them so badly. "They never came then, so why the hell would they help her now?" she thought to herself.

The cuts to her cheeks were drawing her attention momentarily away from the emotional build-up of anxiety that was creeping within her right now. "Why did he do this to me... again... it's always the bloody drink!" she thought again to herself. After about twenty minutes of slow walking, Laurie made it to the park boundaries. Surprise, the gates were not locked. "What's the point of having gates if they are never locked?" she pondered to herself, managing to grin ever so slightly.

She made her way along through the pitch black park, being careful to avoid the stones and trash, so as not to trip and fall, that visitors to the area throughout the day mindlessly and thoughtlessly simply chucked on the ground, not being in the slightest bit interested in using any of the waste bins that were generously provided. Her stomach was beginning to hurt so badly, that she had almost forgotten any of the searing pain she had been feeling resulting from the gashes she had sustained to her usually glowing cheeks after her dad had violently punched her, whilst wielding a pair of scissors at her. No, this pain was intense, it felt so cold, yet burning, she had almost become numb to the drunken behaviors of her dad by now that she simply didn't care anymore, just an intense fear now, and it was not going to go away.

Laurie decided that at least she could curl up on one of the benches underneath the bandstand. There at least she could achieve somewhat of a shield from the wind that was blowing and the rain that was showing no signs of letting up any time soon. The young fifteen-year-old, cold, tired, and frightened girl, suddenly started to clutch at her stomach. It wasn't like the normal monthly clamping pain that she always got toward the end of the month, no, this was something else entirely.

Laurie then suddenly began reliving the nightmarish moment in her lounge back home at that very moment... when her overly drunken dad had so painfully kicked her there earlier that evening... She staggered over to the bench, stumbling through the increasing pain, up the few stone steps it took to access the elevated bandstand platform area.

"This has to stop, and it has to stop now!" she screamed out to the miserable night skies above her. That night she cried herself into a deep but cavernous drowse. Her last murmurs to no one but the stars above her forevermore, "tomorrow, I'll get real help."

Nothing else mattered to Laurie ever again. She was back in the arms of her sadly departed mum who loved her deeply. That lonely fifteen-year-old teenager was discovered the next morning, by the parkkeeper during his rounds. Pronounced dead at the scene. Nobody ever knew the whole truth of the story... ever.

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