A New Beginning (Second Chance #1)

A New Beginning
The Second Chance Series

Book One
 

Christina Escue

Copyright © 2014 Christina Escue

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner. This is a work of fiction.

I would like to start by thanking each and every one of you who are reading my first novel. If not for readers, authors would have no one to write for.

I’d like to send out a very special thank you to my beta readers for taking the time to read, comment and correct. Malinda Diehl, Linda Cline, Deana Mesman, Corrina Price, Rachael Wallace, Rachel Mapp and Dayron Colon, y’all are invaluable to me. Thank you all so much for your feedback. I look forward to working with y’all again.

I’d like to send a huge thank you to the author of every book I’ve ever read, without these great authors creating their different worlds I would have been lost in my own.

There are a few authors who have supported me along this journey that I want to give a special thanks to.

Erica Stevens, thank you for always being there to answer my questions, offer advice, letting me use you in my book and for being an amazing friend and mentor. You’re not only an excellent author, but you’re an all-around great person too. You’re awesome.

D.L. Colon, thank you for helping me keep focused and for letting me bounce ideas off of you. You have been awesome throughout this entire process. Also thank you for your continued support and your ear when I needed to vent. You’re an invaluable friend.

Cheryl Davis, thank you for offering advice and helping in every way you could. You’re a great friend.

Next I’d like to send a huge thanks to Jesk at Taurus Designs
http://www.taurusdesigns2.com/
for making my beautiful cover.

To my beautiful daughters and the most loving and supportive man in the world, thank you for standing beside and supporting me though the entire writing process. Y’all are my life, my world, my happiness and without y’all I’d be nothing.

This book is dedicated to every child in the entire world who has suffered from abuse at the hands of someone who was supposed to be caring for them. You are all survivors and you are all stronger than people think.

“Karla, get your butt in gear, we’ve got to go. Now!” Karla heard her mother yelling as she ran down the hall of the small, dingy apartment they’d been living in for the past two months. Rent is due tomorrow and she’s drank away all the money again, Karla thought to herself as she grabbed her books, and what few clothes she had, and tossed them into a garbage bag. She took a deep, calming breath before she answered her mother.

“I’m ready mom.” Karla yelled back, praying her mother wasn’t drunk enough to hit her again for raising her voice.

“Karla, let’s go. I don’t have time to deal with you right now, but when we get away from here you will be dealt with for taking that tone with me. I am your mother and I demand your respect. Now get in the car before I change my mind and just leave you here.”

As Karla walked away her mother said, “I should have just had an abortion like my parents wanted me to.”

Having heard it all before, Karla wasn’t hurt by these words anymore. According to Diane, that’s what she called her mother in her head, but if she ever called her by her name out loud she’d never live to tell about it; she’s the reason for everything bad that’s ever happened to them. If not for Karla, Diane would be married, have a beautiful home and have children that were well mannered, well behaved and respected their elders.

As the beat up Ford Tempo they’re in pulled away from the curb their landlord ran out and chased them down the street, yelling profanities and shaking his fist. “Stupid man,” Diane said with laughter in her voice. “Doesn’t he know that he can’t catch us?”

Karla, not wanting to catch her mother’s wrath, just shook her head. “I guess not mom.”

“Wanna know why we had to take off like that?”

“Sure,” Karla answered, knowing she was about to hear another of Diane’s sob stories. She’d heard all those before too.

“Tony, the dirt bag, ran off with Leeanne and took all the cash I had saved to pay rent. Wanna know why he ran off with Leeanne?” She asked, but didn’t wait for Karla to answer before she continued. “It’s ‘cause she didn’t have a little ungrateful, disrespectful brat like you to take care of. She was free to go wherever, and do whatever, he wanted to do. It’s all your fault that we had to leave again. I hope you’re happy. You never liked Tony anyway. Spreading your legs for him then trying to tell me he raped you. Stupid kid, you had to go and ruin my happiness with your lies and jealousy.”

As her mother continued to rant and blame her for everything, Karla was transported back to that night. The night Tony had hurt her so bad. It was only a couple of weeks ago, so the memories were still fresh in her mind.

The way his breath smelled of whiskey, the way his callused hands had felt as they touched her in places she’d never been touched before, the pain she felt when he invaded her body. The sickening feeling of him inside her, beating her from the inside like he’d beaten her from the outside in the past. When it was over all she could do was curl up and cry. She told her mother about it the next day, but Tony had already told his version of what happened and, unsurprisingly, her mother believed him.

Shaking with fear, she tried to rid herself of the memories. When she finally composed herself enough to look around she noticed they are on the interstate and was curious about where they were going. “Where are we going mom?” She asked tentatively, knowing the slightest thing could set Diane off.

“Not that it’s really any of your business, but we’re heading to Nashville so I can try my hand at singing”

“How long will it take us to get there?”

“You’re pushing it kid, but I’ll answer ya anyway. It’ll take about ten hours to get there. Now crawl in the back and go to sleep, I’m tired of looking at ya.”

Karla crawled over the seats and stretched out across the ripped cushion. She wasn’t tired so she just laid there, watched the lights of the other cars go past and thought about what her life would be like if she were born as anyone other than Karla Ann Hall.

With that thought in her head she drifted off to sleep and dreamed of such a life.

A few hours later Karla was pulled from her dreams by someone banging on the window of the car, apparently Diane had pulled off the interstate to sleep at a rest stop, not having the money for even a cheap hotel room. Karla cracked her eyes open, but didn’t move another muscle in her body. She saw that the person banging on the window was a man. He was tall, skinny and scruffy looking; just Diane’s type, Karla thought to herself as Diane woke in the driver’s seat.

“Well hey there handsome.” Diane said when she rolled her window down to talk to the stranger.

“Where ya headed beautiful?” The man asked as he looked Diane’s body up and down when she got out of the car.

“On my way to Nashville. Gonna try my hand at singing. What about you?”

“I’m going anywhere you are, if you’ll take me with you.”

Diane nodded her head as her face lit up in a huge smile. “Sure, hop in. Oh, I have a kid, but she won’t cause any trouble, will ya Karla?” Diane said with an evil glare at Karla, who was now sitting up in the back seat.

“No ma’am. No trouble from me.” She said with a sweet smile, knowing if she didn’t Diane would beat the crap out of her at the first opportunity.

“That’s what I thought,” Diane said to Karla, before she turned back to the stranger. “I’m Diane by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Diane, I’m Garrett.” He replied, his eyes never leaving Karla.

As the two of them got into the car Karla thought to herself; here we go again.                            

Karla awoke in a dingy, run-down one room apartment over a free-lance recording studio on Second Avenue in Nashville. Six weeks had passed since Diane had picked up Garrett at that rest area and things had gone from bad to worse for her.

Garrett was, in some ways, worse than Tony. He never touched her like Tony did, but he was a mean drunk, like Diane, and Karla was his favorite punching bag. She looked at the clock on the wall and stretched, she instantly regretted moving as pain radiated through her body. She thought Garrett may have broken a couple of her ribs this time.

As she tentatively moved again the music from the recording studio started pounding into the apartment. She felt the drum beats pulsating through her body like a second heart beat, and with every beat the bruises covering her body throbbed harder.

She tried to tune out the music as she wondered where Diane and Garrett were. She looked at the clock again and saw that it was almost nine in the morning, they should be home by now. When her stomach growled loudly she went in search of something to eat.

She looked in the two cabinets above the sink, in the small refrigerator, even in the trash can and there is nothing to eat in the apartment. “Why am I not surprised?” She asked out loud to the empty room. Shaking her head she walked to the one bed in the room and lifted the mattress, if there was any money in the apartment, that’s where it’d be.

Finding the hiding place empty, Karla sighed and dropped the mattress back in place. “Well isn’t this just great. I really hate you Diane. You and Garrett can both rot in hell for all I care.”

She turned away from the bed and her eye caught the calendar that was hanging on the wall when they’d moved in. She’d been checking the dates off since she noticed it hanging there that first day.

She walked over to add the red X through yesterday and noticed that today was July 14
th
, her birthday. She was officially fourteen years old. “Well at least they’re leaving me alone today.”

Not wanting to listen to the growling of her stomach any longer, she went back to her corner in the room, sat on her blanket and hugged her knees to her chest. She laid her head on her knees and let the beat of the drums from below lull her back to sleep.

When she woke up again she noticed that several hours had passed and Diane and Garrett haven’t returned yet, if they had they would have woken her up. It was six o’clock, and she had gone more than twenty-four hours without eating. She was hungry, desperate and more than a little scared when she left the apartment in search of someone who could help her.

After she’d walked a couple of blocks she came across this little market that looked out of place in this big city. She decided to try her luck, hoping that since it was clearly a family-owned market, there wouldn’t be any security and she could steal just enough food to survive; it wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to steal food in order to survive.

She walked into the cool, air-conditioned building and just stood there a minute, looking around at all the food lining the shelves. She only saw one person besides herself in the store and he was over by the cold foods. If she could sneak down the canned food aisle and snag a couple cans of spaghetti and meatballs, and maybe a jar of peanut butter and some crackers, she’d be able to eat for a couple of days.

She got the spaghetti and meatballs into her bag without incident, but when she went to drop the peanut butter in, a hand came down hard on her shoulder, making her wince in pain from Garrett’s most recent beating.

“Hold it right there young lady. Just what do you think you’re doing? The stuff in this store ain’t free.”

“I’m..I’m…I’m..sorry sir. I’m just so hungry and I don’t know where my mom and her boyfriend are and I haven’t eaten since yesterday. I’m sorry, I’ll put it back.” Karla stammered, as terror filled her.

“Calm down kid. What’s your name?”

“I’m Karla, please don’t hurt me. I’ll put it back, I swear.”

“Well Karla, it isn’t that easy. See, I’m a police officer and I saw you putting that stuff in your bag. That’s shoplifting, and it’s a crime, so I don’t have any choice but to call your parents. If you put the stuff back it’ll help though.”

Karla, afraid of what Diane and Garrett would do to her if they found out, erupted into tears. She’d get the beating of a lifetime for this one.

When the police officer patted her back to try and calm her, she cried out in pain. He looked at her with a curious expression and moved to touch her back again, only to have her move out of his reach.

“Karla, I’m going to ask you some questions and I want you to answer them honestly. If you lie to me you’ll be in a lot of trouble. Do you understand?”

Karla nodded her head yes, but took a small step away from him.

“First I want to introduce myself. My name is Trent, or Detective Greeves, you can call me either. Now, what’s your full name?” Trent asked as he pulled a small, black notebook and a pen from the pocket on his shirt.             

“Karla Ann Hall”

“Okay Karla, what’s your address?”

“I don’t know the address. We’ve only lived there for a few weeks, but I can tell you where it is.” Karla answered, trying not to show how scared she was.

“Okay then, tell me where you live.”

Karla hesitated, her fear taking over for a minute, as she wondered if this man really was a police officer or if he was just trying to get her to tell him where she lived so he could hurt her later.

“How do I know you’re really a cop and not just someone else trying to hurt me?” She finally got the courage to ask.

“That’s a very good, and very smart, question Karla. Would you like to talk to a few people that know who I am?”

“Yes please.” Karla answered in a quiet voice, feeling relieved that he didn’t hit her for questioning him.

“I’m going to call my Captain and have him come down here, in uniform, so you can meet him. Will that help?” After Karla nodded Trent continued. “While I make the call I’m going to have the owner of this store come over and talk to you, okay?”

Karla nodded her head again because she was too afraid to talk.

“Come with me and I’ll introduce y’all before I call my Captain.” Trent took her hand gently and led her to the front of the store. When they got to the only cash register in the store he smiled at the older lady behind the counter. “Mrs. Jones, this is Karla. Can you keep an eye on her for me while I call my captain and get him down here? She doesn’t believe I’m a cop.” He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled like it was inconceivable that anyone would question his being a cop.

Mrs. Jones looked at Trent with kind eyes and smiled. “Of course I don’t mind keeping an eye on her while you make your call.”

“Thanks Mrs. Jones. Karla, are you okay staying here until I’m finished? I’ll be right outside the front door.”

Karla nodded, not missing the hidden message in his words.

When Trent walked off, Mrs. Jones looked at Karla and smiled again. “Would you like a glass of milk and some cookies while we wait?”

Karla, afraid to accept Mrs. Jones’ offer, but more afraid of being disrespectful answered, “Yes ma’am, thank you,” and followed Mrs. Jones to the small office beside the front counter.