The House of Angels

The story you're about to read contains themes or situations that may be upsetting to readers, including children abuse, r**e, violence, drug abuse, weapons, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, murder and blasphemy. Thoughts, words, behaviors, beliefs and actions of the characters, do not reflect in any way the author, whose sole purpose is to tell a realistic story. Please enjoy and let me know what you think about my story. Help me improve my skills. ______________________________________________ When you're on the floor the only way is up. Moon had been hearing these words for all her life, but she knew that it was different for her. There was no hope left. It was late. She was standing in the entryway of the house where she had spent all her life, frowning and fidgeting nervously with the hem of her little black dress. She was alone, but it was nothing new to her: she had been alone her whole life, but now her abusive father had left her for good with his wife, and she didn't know if she was supposed to feel sad or relieved about it. Her father was her only family, even though he had never been a real father to her. He was always drunk or on drugs and he often beat her and blamed her for all his problems. And the woman that he married after Moon's mother left hated Moon with all her heart simply because she was the daughter of her man and another woman so she put all the efforts in making him hating that little girl. She often lied about Moon's attitude towards her and she would even hurt herself blaming Moon to be assured that her husband hated his only daughter. Moon was sixteen years old and she didn't know what happiness was. She had spent all her life being told that she was useless, a bad accident, and that she deserved to die. She had two part time jobs because she could only count on herself to buy her dresses, school supplies, even food. Her father didn't give her anything, on the contrary he often stole her money to buy drugs and booze for him and his woman. The jobs also let her stay away from home for most of the time so she could avoid the beatings and the bullying of her father and stepmother. She had only known pain, sorrow, rejection, but now they were gone for good. They had finally left her to her miserable life. She actually felt relieved, until her neighbours somehow managed to find out that she was alone and allerted the authorities. Moon was very pissed, her neighbours never did anything when they heard her father abusing her, and they suddenly became good citizens when there was no need at all. Actually, she didn't have any good memory of that place she used to call home. Those walls only reminded her of all the pain and violence she was forced to go through everyday. But it was her only home. And now that those awful "parents" were gone she felt an even stronger bound to that place. Her green eyes widened when she heard the doorbell ringing and she braced herself for what was about to happen. Her trembling hand went to the doorknob and, after a shaky, deep breath, she opened the door. A middle-aged female cop was standing in front of her, a sympathetic look on her face. Beside her another younger agent who looked like he didn't even know why he was there, and a beautiful woman wearing a black tailleur with a polite little smile plastered on her face. "Moon Ravens...?" The cop asked politely. "Yeah... it's me." She answered shyly, looking at the floor to stop the tears that treatened to flow down her cheeks. "Please, come in." She said, moving to the side to let them in. "Thank you, dear." The policewoman smiled at her. The three of them entered the house and took their seats on the small couch in the living room where Moon had led them. They noticed that the house was clean and tidy even though the little girl had been living alone for the past four months. "Moon, do you know why we are here, don't you?" The woman in tailleur began, looking at her cautiously. "Yes, madam. They informed you that a minor was living alone and you came to drag me away from my own house, and throw me into some squalid foster home. And I know it is only your duty so nothing personal but I'd like you to get over with it and spill everything without the sympathetic glances and compassionate expressions. Thank you." Moon said bitterly, annoyed by their pityful attitude towards her. Then the woman in tailleur leaned towards her, making eye contact with her, placing her hand on Moon's knee in a reassuring way. "Moon, my name is Felicia Donovan, and I knew your grandparents. I can't bring myself to even imagine what you went through. You have all the rights not to trust us but I want you to know we're not here to hurt nor harm you further, but for your own wellness. These are agents Linda Jennings and Corey Mitchell, they're here to hear your story, like me. We only wish the best for you and we want to help you, we just need to know all the truth and I'm not gonna lie, you are old enough to know the possible developments of your current situation so we need you to answer sincerely to our questions, and I need you to know I'll do everything I can to help you. I hope you can trust me, Moon." At this Moon sighed. She didn't like to be rude, and she knew she just snapped at them with no reason. In the end they weren't the ones responsible for her misadventures. "I'm sorry I was rude but... I just want to be left alone. I know you are only doing your job and this isn't your fault so I had no right to act like this. I will answer all your questions, I just want you to know that I was doing better alone than with those two drug addicts. And I'm wondering why my neighbours decided to call you now that I was alone and safe, than a few months ago, when I cried and screamed for help while my father and his woman abused and beat me." She said, frowning. "When your neighbours called, they mentioned something about your previous living situation. They said they were scared and didn't dare to do anything with your father around. But I can understand why you are upset about all this. It mustn't have been easy at all for you. Tell me more, Moon, please." Felicia said with a tight, reassuring smile. "What do you want to know?" "Well, you hinted your father was an abusive figure... and the neighbours claim you didn't get along very well with your stepmother..." Felicia said calmly. "Yes. My mother left when I was so young I could barely walk... I don't remember her at all. So I ended up living with my father, but he was always drunk and on drugs and when I was four, fortunately my grandmother welcomed me into her house and maybe she was the only one who cared about me... back then my father just didn't care about me and I pined about that but if I'd known what was expecting me, I'd been grateful for his lack of interest. When I was ten, my grandmother died and my father decided to sell her house to pay for his debts, so he had no choice but to take me back with him. And that was the end for me. He and his woman tortured me all the time. But then, one day they disappeared, and trust me when I say that was the best day of my life. But then some tattler had to ruin everything by telling the police I was alone. So what's going to happen to me, now?" She said emotionless. Felicia was taken aback by the lack of emotion in the kid's face and voice. She felt her heart breaking, immagining all the sorrow that poor girl had to go through. It was nothing shocking, she saw stories like that everyday, it was her job after all; and the first thing they taught her when she started was that you needed to be focused and aloof, you couldn't afford to get carried away by feelings and pity. It would have only been counterproductive. "Moon... I'm so sorry for everything. And I know you have all the reasons to feel sad, angry, wary... I know you distrust us as well as everyone else. We just want to help you, give you a chance to live a better life. The life you deserve." She said, looking Moon sympathetically in the eyes, stroking gently her arm, trying to reassure her. "Do you have any other relatives who could take care of you?" She finally asked. "As I said before, I have no one. I don't know my mother or her family, and I have nobody else. But it's fine, I don't need anyone, anyway." Moon shrugged. "You do understand that we can't leave you here, do you?" Felicia asked cautiously. "Please, Miss Donovan, I don't want to be rude, but I'd like you to get straight to the point." Moon said, trying her best not to sound too harsh. "We have no choice but to take you to a foster home, Moon. But I assure you I'll do my best to immediately find you a better accomodation. We have some good families who help us with the kids and maybe some of them will be willing to welcome you in their houses... you are not alone in this, Moon, I want you to know I'm by your side and I'll help you in every way possible." Felicia said sincerely. "I saw your school records and despite your difficult situation you are a star student and you're even the capitan of the soccer team of your school and you are very talented: this means you have a bright future ahead of you, so I'm gonna help you no matter what." She concluded in a determined tone. Moon couldn't help but smile at the elder woman's declarations: there was something about her that somehow soothed her and she just knew she meant every word she said. Moon was not one who softened easily, for obvious reasons she tended not to trust anyone other than the few friends she had, the friends of a lifetime. But yet she felt a little hopeful. Maybe Felicia Donovan was a reliable person; maybe she really wanted to help her and maybe -maybe- she had the capacity to keep her promises. But Moon was too hurt and scared. In the end, why would a total stranger care about her, when even her parents didn't give a damn? She was just doing her job, probably she said the same things to all the miserable kids she had to deal with. She would probably just throw Moon into some run-down foster home and forget about her as soon as the door would close behind her. But Moon didn't have a say in that so why worrying? "I packed all my things already. What will happen to my house?" Moon just said coldly. "The house is your father's, so since he isn't here you can live here once you'll be legally an adult." Felicia smiled. Moon felt relieved, at least she would be able to come back soon and live her life in peace.