Late for school Ruby rises quickly from her creaky, torn up bed. The rusty, cold metal pressed against her pale legs as she sat up and planted her feet on the hard wooden floor. Ruby slumped to her closet and examined the three pieces of clothing that drooped from the hangars. Without many choices, it was easy for her to grab a little, dimmed yellow dress and slide it on to her tiny body. The faded yellow fabric loosely hung off her shoulder, exposing the dark purple marks on her upper back. She faced her mirror, frowned and slung her raggedy blonde hair into a ponytail. With a long sigh, she braced herself and opened her bedroom door. With a fake smile glued to her face, she greeted her father on her way to the kitchen. Cemented to the couch with a beer in hand, he didn’t even acknowledge his little girl’s presence. As Ruby bent down to look in the almost empty refrigerator, pain sprung through her spine, the ache throughout her body was unbearable. Finding nothing to eat Ruby walked her weak body to the door, tied on her shoes that squeezed at her ankles, and slowly opened the screen door. The air whispered through her body leaving her with the feeling of relief. She hated being in that trailer. Ruby was Ruby again, and the hands of any man couldn’t take that away from her.