She sits on the cold, unwelcoming stone floor in the small bathroom, leaning against the tub. The shower is running, steaming up the room and fogging up the large mirror directly in front of her. That’s good, she doesn’t want to see what she’s about to do. Her delicate body of fifteen years old quivers as tears flow from her bright blue eyes. Perfect black hair spills over her bare shoulders as she leans over, looking at her body in disgust. There are bruises appearing on her neck and waist. Two large, circular bruises are covering her inner thighs. This unbearable ache rips through her chest as a new, unknown rejection sets in. She smiles cruelly as she knows what’s coming. Standing up, she walks with great difficulty over to the sink. A small puddle of blood is left behind, a sign of her uncomfortable pain. She opens up the medicine cabinet and reaches up to the top shelf. Blindly tapping around, her hands wrap around something cold and familiar. She grins, and limps awkwardly back to the floor. Opening up her hand, she reveals her own means of escape, a small blade. A hysterical giggle escapes through her trembling lips. Flipping her left arm over, she presses the sharp piece of metal onto her delicate skin and lets her emotions burst out of her body. A swell of relief fills her body as she repeats the harsh strokes against her smooth skin. She closes her eyes and lets the pain obscure greater problems that must be faced. This routine, a problem solver, comforts her every time. Scars are layered over more scars which are all under these new wounds that she just inflicted on herself. A sharp rap on the door shocks her into reality “LAINEY GET OUT OF THE SHOWER NOW!” her drunken mother shrieks. Lainey groans in frustration. “Yes, mother!” she says with a sugar coated voice. If there was one person she could manipulate, it would be her mom. She carries booze with her almost everywhere, making her incoherent most of the time, but she was the complete opposite when sober. Lainey is proud of her intelligent, insightful mother. Unfortunately, most men only see her drunken half naked state as she sells her body to the shadys (a term Lainey prefers to “customers”) for money. Scrambling to turn off the water and clean up the blood on the floor, Lainey experiences this well-known accomplishment of hiding her problems from her mom. Besides, she has plenty of issues and stress to handle and it would be unfair to pile on some more from her daughter. Lainey wraps the soft purple towel around her broken body and makes her way to her room. Fearing she won’t make it to her destination before being interrupted, she scrambles down the hall. She looks back and realizes her efforts were unnecessary because her mother had passed out on the living room couch, grasping a half empty bottle of vodka. Lainey sighs and opens the door to her personal sanctuary…