Olivia sat in her room, blindly browsing the Internet and nursing a plastic cup filled to the brim with red wine. "Where the hell is Harrison," she muttered to herself, glancing at the clock. It was already 8:30, and he was supposed to be back by 8 so that they could get ready to go to his friend's pool party. Olivia really didn't want to go. She hated dancing, crowds and teenagers in general. Most people her age found her to be too sullen and serious, and Olivia found them to be nauseatingly immature. But the party meant a lot to her cousin Harrison, and since she was leaving in 6 days, she had promised to go out and spend their last few days together doing "fun stuff."

Olivia was supposed to attend the small "end of summer" dinner with Harrison and his friends, but bailed at the last minute when she found out her aunt and uncle were going to have a romantic date night, dinner and a comedy show. It would be some much welcomed silence and alone time before she had to deal with the crowds of people she'd Inevitably face at the party. As soon as they'd left, Olivia had crept down to the basement to pilfer one of the cajillion bottles of cheap wine her aunt kept in crates in the basement and popped some popcorn. That would do for her as far as dinner was concerned.

Olivia had just begun writing a text to Harrison when she heard the front door slam open through the almost paper thin walls.

"...And bitch don't you EVER tell me when I had enough, I'll drink as much as I GODDAMN please!" Olivia heard her uncle's deep, drunken voice echo up the staircase.

"I'm sorry baby, I didn't even mean it like that! It's just that you're driving tonight and I..." her aunt started to reply.

*SLAP*

"Bitch don't you worry about mines! Mines is WELL taken care of! And why the fuck isnt this living room clean?! I know I told that little bitch to have this shit done tonight! Liviaaaa! OLIVIA get your worthless ass down here!" Olivia's Uncle called.

"Oh god," Olivia mumbled to herself. Her aunt and uncle were supposed to be gone for at least another hour or two, and it hadn't even been a full hour since they'd left the house . "I should've known it would be a COMPLETE disaster and they wouldn't make it through a whole night out," she muttered to herself. She'd gotten sloppy, with her being so close to leaving for college. Any other time she would have already had her chores done as soon as the door had shut behind her aunt and uncle, but she'd thought she had time. But who was she kidding, if it wasn't the cleaning, her uncle would have found another reason to berate her.

Resigned to her fate, Olivia found her iPod on the night stand and put the small buds in her ear and prayed the ruse would buy her some time. She was definitely not about to go down there straightaway so he could attack her. She hoped he would move on to something else and forget about her, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Her aunt would be up to drag her down to the monster in 5..4..3..2...

The door swung open with a crash and her aunt's statuesque figure stood in the doorway.

"Olivia!"

She looked up and saw her aunt standing there flushed and frustrated, her left cheek bright red and irritated from the brunt of the smack her uncle had freshly laid upon her.

"Huh," Olivia replied while removing one earphone, feigning ignorance to the ensuing chaos.

"Olivia, I need you to come pick up this living room, right now."

Olivia sighed, "I was gonna do it in a little bit. I thought you guys wouldn't be home for another few hours, at least. Do I really have to go down there? With him?" she pleaded.

"NOW Olivia! GO," she demanded, storming off.

Olivia sighed again. She both loved and hated her aunt. Before her mother had died, she'd thought the world of her aunt. Aunt Tiffany was smart, beautiful, sexy and successful in spite of all her obstacles. Before Aunt Tiffany had moved out of state, she would periodically come over and take Olivia out for the day on fun outings and tell her womanly things that her mother didn't, including all the details of her crazy dating escapades and wacky boyfriends, which seemed super comical at the time. But now that she had to live with it up close and personally, there was nothing remotely funny about her aunt's dating choices and who she chose to marry.

When Olivia's mother had died suddenly, she had found a little solace in the fact that at the very least she had an aunt she knew and loved, willing to take her in. But that solace soon turned into somberness, and many nights Olivia wondered if she would've been better off at a group home. The past 5 years living there had been the definition of hell, and instead of protecting her from the flames, her aunt often used her as a shield against the fire for herself.

Olivia took a deep breath and tried to still herself, but her hands wouldn't comply and continued to tremble. She hated this feeling of deeply being afraid and helpless. She wished she could go to sleep and wake up to move in day so that she could have hundreds of miles of distance between her and this hellhole.

Olivia slowly made her way out of her room and down the stairs, holding her breath the entire way. Her uncle was sitting on the couch with tv blaring, holding a cup with which she was sure was filled to the brim with cheap vodka and ice cubes.

"I thought I told you to have this living room clean by the time I got home," he barked with disdain in his voice, not even looking at her.

Olivia tried to think of a reply, but thought better of it, knowing anything she said would just infuriate him regardless. She moved silently to the corner of the room, grabbing the vacuum and plugging it in.

"I know you hear me talking to you!"

Olivia felt the heat of his glare on her back, but remained silent, turning on the vacuum.

"TURN THAT SHIT OFF AND COME OVER HERE," he bellowed, "NOW!"

Her mind told her not to move, but her feet were following his command in an attempt to to avoid the worst of his wrath. Olivia stopped directly in front of him, waiting for him to make his next move.

"You really think you some kinda big shot. You prance around here like you the...Queen of Sheba or something. Nose all in the air. Don't got shit to say shit to nobody. Thinkin' 'cause you don't make no noise, you go unnoticed. But bitch lemme tell you something - I see you! I see EVERYTHING around this motherfucker, and I most definitely see you," he slurred.

Olivia could smell the liquor emanating from his pores, and she noted that his cup was almost empty. Her uncle must have noticed as well, because he promptly poured himself another one.

"You go to your fancy little private school, and you think you so damn smart, and you think you so damn cute. Bitch you ain't cute! And you ain't SMART! You ain't shit! You hear me?! You! Ain't! SHIT!" he screamed so loud it reverberated through Olivia's entire body.

Olivia tried to tune him out by playing songs in her head and jumping an imaginary rope. She pictured herself in her childhood backyard, jumping rope and listening to her favorite song. She pictured her mother's side profile cooking on the grill, and smelled the hamburgers smoking. She could see the brown wooden fence in the distance, and feel the weight of the jumprope in her hands. She could feel the weight of her body suspended in the air momentarily, and the smack of the hard ground meeting her feet.

Olivia was brought back to reality by the violent splash of alcohol and ice cubes in her face, the harshness of its coldness forcing her to tremble as it dripped down her hair and clothes.

Her uncle sprang to his feet, and suddenly his 6'6 frame hovered menacingly over her, "You LISTEN when I'm talking to you goddamn it! You WILL listen to me." He spoke in a tone so chilly and calm it shocked her more than the cold liquid.

"You think you something 'cause you going to Harvard, but I'm telling you right now you ain't nothing, and you won't ever be. You ain't nothing but a little SLUT," he sneered. "Just like your aunt," he barked, his head snapping towards the upstairs where she had retreated into momentary safety. "And probably your damn mama, too. That's why your daddy ain't want your ass. You gon be the campus cum dumpster, and I put money on it, you won't last there. You'll be back here within a year - pregnant by some motherfucker who dont want you OR the little bastard. But don't think you can come back here with that shit. Get that shit right now! We don't want your ass neither. And you better unball those fists, too, unless you wanna fight," he stepped closer.

Olivia tried to follow his orders, but again her hands refused to comply. She was so furious she couldn't think straight, all she could do was struggle to fight back her tears. The next thing she knew, her uncle was hoisting her in the air by the front of her t-shirt and they were crashing to the ground.