ALLIAH MIRANDA

　　Another day to survive living with my family who despises me in this tiny, messy apartment of ours. "Can't you at least get your ass working off? Until when would you be useless to us, brat?" my father belted the moment that he stepped out of the shower room. "Don't tell me that you would be living your life just like how your Mom did?"

　　Dad threw the towel that he was using to dry off his wet hair directly to my face. I quickly, but gently moved it away and casually stood up to stand in the same level as him. "No, Dad," I responded then bowed my head to show a little bit of respect to him, even though his actions weren't supposed to be respected at all. "I'd rather not involve Mom with our discussion, you have no idea how ferocious she can be once you get into her nerves..." I slowly raised my head after attempting to fight back at least for this day, which I don't usually do.

　　"You now have the audacity to speak back to your own father!" he increased the tone of his voice even greater than before. Dad took several steps forward and without a second thought, he raised one of his hands and it instantly landed on my left cheek. "I'm the one who handles everything in here and all of the source of funds come from my work! Neither you nor your mother have no right to treat me without proper manners," he shouted which made me shut my eyes.

　　In that very second, I placed my hands beside my head to cover my ears, I was getting irritated with his continuous screams. Maybe, it's the right time for me to be the one who does the same to him. "Like you're one to speak! You are not even home most of the time just to flirt around with various types of women! You have no idea what kind of life that you are giving to your only daughter who is currently rght in front of you!" I yelled at him as I moved my hands away from my ears. "Do you even realize that you're talking to your daughter? Do you even see me as your daughter? Do you even know how hard it has been for me to continue with my life with this kind of treatment?" I consecutively asked my father, my eyes were glaring at him though I don't know if it was bringing some kind of effect to him or he doesn't give a damn.

　　"Alliah Miranda!"

　　Turning around to see who called my name, I saw my mom standing by the threshold of the doorway. "M-Mom..." I ran to her side and was about to embrace her and get a little bit of strength from my own mother but, her very action never failed to surprise me.

　　Another loud thud of slap was heard in the small home of ours. "Who gave you the right to complain about your life and act like we're the one responsible if ever you are suffering?!" she questioned me with such hatred coming out from her soul.

　　Was it a mistake for me to expect something from my mother?

　　"M-Mom..." I couldn't utter any other words besides what I usually call her. It was like, I am the only one who will fight against the whole world and there would be no one else to give me support or any kind of encouragement.

　　How I wish that I shouldn't have just been born into this crappy world.

　　"If you've got nothing to say to me then get out!" I rushed out of the house without thinking twice, I didn't even get the chance to say sorry when I bumped into mom's shoulder.

　　Where would I go now that I have been asked to walk away from home? What if I only misunderstood and she was only telling me to get back into my own room? Will they actually bother to look for me once the night approaches?

　　"A-Ahh..." I held my head when it started to ache and stopped myself from running in the streets. I crouched and shut my eyes, not minding whether there would be any vehicle which would pass by or is about to speed up towards my direction. "I-It hurts..." It felt like my head was spinning and it literally is pumping.

　　"Excuse me, are you alright?" I heard a voice asking me from behind. I didn't bother to look at who it was. Instead, I shoved him or her away and by the minute that I did that, I felt that I was gripping on the person's shirt. "Are you lost, perhaps..?" It seemed like it was a voice of a man who was about to panic, not knowing what he should be doing.

　　I waited for a few seconds until my mind has successfully calmed down before I opened my eyes and stood up on the street, not letting go of the man's shirt to use it as a support. "W-Who are you?" I asked when I saw an unfamilliar face.

　　Of course I wouldn't know who it was.

　　"Just someone who was passing by and stumbled across a woman who seemed to be separated from her friends or something," he chuckled as he slowly removed my grip on his shirt. "So, are you lost?" he repeated the same question earlier.

　　Rather than answering him, I just kept on staring at him. How can his guess be so accurate?

　　"Should I take your silence as a yes?"

　　"N-No."

　　"You finally answered me," he smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. "What are you doing here? Where are your friends? It's way too dangerous for a kid like you to be outside," he uttered and that's when it hit me.

　　This man who was in front of me was the type of person that I have been longing for. Someone who was gentle and shows affection to the people around them.

　　Maybe it was the right choice to take that I stepped out of our house rather than choosing to stay inside there for eternity.

　　Could this be what people call freedom?