In which characters are introduced and punches are thrown

"Ma! Pa! Please stop!" Xia yelled at her parents. They were having yet another of their constant arguments. Pointing fingers at each-over in yet another of their conflicts.

"You! Stay out of it Xia!" Her ma yelled. Ma had emerald green eyes and long curly ginger hair that Xia wishes she inherited. Instead she got her Pa's brown hair and mud eyes.

"Don't yell at her like that" her pa countered "she's done nothing wrong"

"Oh we both know that's not true" Pa's eyes widened at those words. But Ma continues nonetheless "she should never have been born"

Xia felt tears prickle her eyes, this wasn't the first time Ma's yelling had filled the entirety of their shabby, rundown apartment. She lived her Pa with all her heart but here, with the most disdainful woman she had ever met, was never home.

Finally, her ma punched her square in the jaw, making blood trickle down from the side of her mouth. The metallic taste of iron confirmed that she had punched a tooth out. Ma stalked out, undoubtedly to a place she could drink the night away with people that only care about themselves.

Xia walked to the rusty tap that they couldn't afford to replace, and turned it on. It sputtered for a moment then dripped out Luke warm water. She caught her reflection in the dirty, cracked mirror. Her pale, almost completely white skin contrasted the crimson red that was her blood. Cracked lips lay below a small nose. Her eyes were oak wood in colouring. Her reflection blurred as tears threatened to fall.

She always dismissed her Ma's words as- just that. Words. Words couldn't hurt... could they?

But this wasn't just words.

"Pa! We need to get out of here"