A fist fell down onto her face, tears fell like broken shards of glass and they glistened painfully, dangerously in the light, but they did nothing to lighten his anger. Blood trickled down her snow-white, ice-cold skin. It tangled in her hair that fell below her shoulders. No words or pleas would stop him in his brutal attack on her. She used to fight once. But the energy that once oozed from every pore of Carla's fragile body had faded. Gradually with every word of abuse Frank would hurl her way, it was slowly beaten from her tired body until it dissolved into nothing. She closed her eyes, her lashes were thick with blood. As he lashed her with slaps and hits, she remembered. She remembers the hope that used to radiate from her. She remembers how it felt to be so madly in love, that even guilt couldn't hold her back. She remembers how it felt to fall asleep in his arms. She was elated, on top of the world, even hurting those closest to her didn't hold her back. She was misunderstood, but in those days, she hadn't cared.

Now as she lays on the floor, the cold kitchen tiles rubbing against her bruised skin. She wishes she had cared, she wishes she had treated everyone better because now she wouldn't be so alone. She was foolish to think she could do this on her own. Pretending she was over Liam when really he haunted all her dreams, leaving her restless and regretful. She convinced everyone she had moved on and that she was happy but the hardest part was convincing herself. The bruises will fade, she reminds herself. The scars will heal. Her heart however, will never recover.

Again she had found herself falling for someone whose hands were tied and whose heart wasn't free. It was always the way for Carla, she never found love until it was too late. With Liam she got lucky, she loved him fiercely and in return he loved her back. Despite his girlfriend. But just as every good thing in her life that was cruelly snatched away, leaving Carla with a bitter pain that bubbled inside her every time her mind slipped to thoughts of her Liam. With Peter though, luck had not been on her side. The fierce, unrelenting love she felt for him was completely unrequited, or so she believed.

Frank had just been a rebound, someone to make her forget. But all too late she had seen him for the monster the was. And for Carla- life would never be the same again.