“Hey,Carrie!”Eric was wearing a linen sweater and white trousers,he looked like he could not wait to see her while Carrie was still on the other side of road.

Carrie walked through the traffic road and Eric opened the door for like a gentleman,they chose to sit next to the table.

“I was very curious how did you know yesterday was my birthday?”Carrie asked him with great curiosity.

“Well,that was a secret.”Eric winked at her and replied mysteriously.Through his eyes that partly concealed by his hair,Carrie knew he was telling the truth,so she stopped keep asking about it and let it be a secret between two of them.

Eric was silent for a while and told her:“Celtic was not a good guy,you know.”

Carrie was shocked he was so straightforward,but she could not deny that he was telling the truth.Therefore,Carrie told him about Celtic forced to her to go to the motel honestly and Eric was angry after she told him,and wanted to get even with him,but Carrie stopped him immediately.

“I will break up with him and leave him for good,I promised.”Carrie made up her mind and told him with certainty in her eyes.

Eric looked straight to her eyes,but she could not dare to looked him back,because his eyes was so affectionate and charming,she was afraid that she would fall inside.When their eyes met,she instantly lowered her head and avoided him.

But Eric seemed like knew what she was thinking in her head,he turned her head to face him directly and told her:“Please,take good care of yourself and promised me you would fight back when things went wrong,I was so scared that I could not protect you all the time.”

This time,instead,Carrie had the courage to look at him in the eyes,and she could see her reflection in his pupil.She nodded with strength and said:“I promised,I will take good care of myself,I won’ t let you down,again.”And then she looked away unnaturally.

It was raining outside,overhead the sky was covered with vast black clouds,At that time,Carrie had no idea what was going to happen to her,so as danger ahead of her clouded around her.But so far,she just want to indulge into his arms and feel his warmth.

Outside in the alley,Celtic was beaten black and blue by a bunch of thugs,and begging them:“Please,please,stop it!”

“Just bring me that girl,or I would break your leg,forever,mark my word.”The fat man from last night kicked him twice more and left with his sidekicks.

Celtic was cursing Carrie and dialed a number:“Hey,honey,are you with Carrie?”

“No,and don’t mention her in front of me again.”and she hung up the phone right away.

Celtic cursed with the most vicious words and limping his leg,walked out of the alley.

The rain outside the window did not stop yet,but inside the coffee shop was cozy and snug,Carrie and Eric were having a good time,and also unraveled some misunderstandings in recent times.Carrie started to open her heart to him and she felt lucky and thought maybe things were getting better and better.

As the door opened ,some girls were talking loudly while they came in.Carrie first noticed was Barbara,and it surprised her the most was Judith also there.Carrie was puzzled by this,in her mind,weren’t they at odds with each other?Why they were hanging out together now ?

Carrie said hi to Judith from her own initiatives,but when Judith saw her was with Eric,she just ignored her and went away with Barbara.Barbara also saw them together,and she was irritated.She thought why Eric would fall in love with her,were he blind?What a waste!

Carrie was very upset when she saw Judith and Barbara walked away right in front of them.

“Maybe you should start making some real friends from now on.”Eric came up with it all of sudden.

Carrie looked at him,she trembled and tears welling up in her eyes:“Eric,Judith was my best friend and she was the only person in school who would like to believe in me,but I betrayed her and did some horrible things to her.”

Eric saw her was crying and told her something else:“But sometimes,what you see maybe was not real,maybe it was the other way around.”Carrie did not understand what he was talking about,but instead to explain,he told her carefully :“Trust me,will you,please?”Carrie still could not get the gist of it,but Eric kept asking her again and again until she promised him.

When Carrie was still in clouds and did not know how to reply him.Someone suddenly stood behind Eric,holding a chair in his hand.It was Celtic.Carrie screamed and Eric dodged away from his attack.“How dare you,you son of bitch!You two ruined me.”Celtic was beaten black and blue ,and it was scary to them.They freaked out.

“What was wrong with you,Celtic?”Carrie asked .

“Don’t act like a hypocrite,because of you,no ,both of you.”

“We?”“What the hell are you talking about?”

“If you just slept with Pete,everything will be fine,and I could get a load of money,but he messed the whole thing up!”Celtic told them everything about last night and Carrie was shocked and scared,she wonder:What?Why?Why did he did something like this to her?That was terrible.He sold her out,all she thought was he wanted to have sex with her only,but now,that was completely different.

If Eric was not there to rescue her,what would happen to her?If he got away and succeeded this time,there will be more, and he would force her do it over and over again.The more she thought about it,the scarier she felt.She could not help walking back a little bit,as if she was going to fall,but Eric held her shoulder and straightened her up.

“Celtic,that was your own business,and had nothing to do with me.If you came near me again,I will call the police.”Carrie was different and after what Eric just told her,now she had the courage to fight back because of that.

“Call the police?”Celtic did not believe that she would do it and thought she was just buffing and still wanted to get closer to her.

Eric took out his phone and started to call the police.When Celtic realized they were for real,he retreated.Because of Carrie really called the police,he was definitely going to jail,so he wanted to go away.But he was held by Eric,Celtic was kind of scared of him and did not know what he want to do next.

“What are you doing？”

As a hint,Eric looked at Carrie,Carrie took up with her courage and said:“We are never ever getting back together,so stay away from me from now on,we are done.”And Celtic went away gloomily.

As they saw him walk away,Eric told Carrie to wait for him a bit.He hurried through the rain,Carrie was confused and her eyes went away with him.She saw him go into the flower shop nearby,with flowers in his hand and came back.

Eric shook off the rain on him,and still felt chilly a little bit.Carrie stood up and Eric gave her the flowers and said :“A late gift for your birthday,hope you don’t mind,did you like it?”

Carrie was very surprised,this was the first time she got flowers as a gift from someone else after her parents passed away.She held them into her arms very great joy and preciously.Eric bent down a bit and laid a hand before her:“Would you like to go for a walk with me,this beautiful lady?”

Carrie reached out and they walked out from the coffee shop arm in arm.And all of sudden,the rain stopped and cleared up,the sky brightened up a bit.The street was clear and fresh after the rain.Carrie looked up and said:“It cleared up,you see.”

They were walking in the street and she could see the envious sights of others,and she never felt better than before,she was confident.

Eric’s phone rang and he had to go,and he asked her out tomorrow night to have dinner together.Carrie nodded with agreement,and Eric left in a haste.

Carrie was holding flowers in her hand and walking in the street casually,and sniffed the flowers from time to time.Carrie was in a great mood as people walking by.

She went back home secretly and put the flowers beside her bed and expecting tomorrow’s date with him.She thought this was a date for real this time,and she fell asleep quickly while smelling the fragrance of the flowers.

The next day,Carrie dressed up for dinner and came early to the place where they appointed.But after a very long time,it was getting darker and darker,but Eric still didn’t show up.Carrie felt terrible and in the end he missed it anyway.She was ashamed and angry.But she did not notice that where she was going and where she was now.When she realized she was lost,there was fewer people on the street and the lamps light was faint.She was alone out there...

“Hey,there was a girl over there!”“Yeah，and alone!”

Carrie saw some thugs whistling and walking over,she was scared and wanted to get away from them.She ran into the alleys,she looked back while she was running.Those guys were close behind her.Now she was in despair and panicked.She was screaming loudly and her voice was sharp through the dark night and piercing through.

But she still upset about Eric stood her up and lost her way,and now all she could do was trying to stay away from those thugs and praying someone could save her.But this time,there was no miracle.Those thugs spread from different directions and came to her and circled her around.She was in dead end,she was hopeless and thought why these bad things all happen to her, and she thought maybe death was the only way to set her free.

Those thug laughed dirtily and came closer to her,they started to touch her body with their dirty hands and tearing her clothes apart.She could not hold up her tears and she still beg them to stop,but she was weak and out of her breath.Gradually,she gave up fighting,her eyes were vacant and she could not hear the sound around her.In her world,everything was dark and waiting ahead of her was storm with rage.Carrie realized she was just a joke to him,and he was playing with her,but she still fell into his trap.

Carrie lied on the ground,closing her eyes.

“Bang bang bang...”

The beating sound,with those thugs curses and yelling and kicking around stopped before they laid hands on her.Carrie opened her eyes,it was Eric again.Even though he let them stayed away from her,but she was fed up with it,she did not want to have anything to do with him.What just happened all because of him.And now she knew he was a man she could no longer to believe in and only treated her like a toy.

She wanted to stay away from him,he was the man in school,every one was looking up to him,how he would fall in love with the Cinderella,someone so lame like her.Prince only existed in fairy tales and she was so dumb that she still believed he would the one who can save her out,like the fairy tales the Prince drove the pumpkin car to find her with glass shoes in his hands and happy ever after.What a joke! He must laugh at her right now.

Eric looked at her dearly,he could see her eyes were blank and stared to sky distantly.As Eric walked forward,she trembled and leaned against the wall,holding her body tightly.Eric took off his jacket and put it on her,she didn't refuse.She buried her head between her legs,trembling but she ran out of tears.

“I am sorry,Carrie.”Eric was helpless,but he knew all of this because he was late.And he came right before something horrible happened to her,and if something really happened to her ,he would never forgive himself.Why he always put her in danger like this again?

“I do not want to see you any more,I am not your toy for you to play with.”Carrie said coldly.

“Could you ever forgive me？I was serious and I did not play a fool to you.”

“Really?Are you sure?Because I could no longer trust you.”

“I am really sorry,Carrie.”

“I was not those women who threw themselves to you and asking for something else from you.All I want was to be a friend to you and now I felt like a fool.I never expected too much from you.It was my fault to believe in you,and I hope you could stay away from me from now on and never talk to me again,my life was messed up already.”Carrie stood up and walked away and left without turning back.

Carrie sworn inside her heart,she told herself she had to pull herself together and she was on her own now,she had to fight back against all odds.She did not want to suffer from any of this any longer,she needed to stand up and having the life she dreamed of.She really wanted to get rid of the grip from my aunt and having her own life.She knew it was hard,but she still has to fight for it,because she had no choice.

As Carrie walked away and disappeared at the turning point.He looked down and thought :Did he have to lose her again? All these years,and he finally found her against all odds and now he had to let her walk away from him again ?How could he let this happen to him again?He was in despair and had idea what to do next. No one knew and no one knew what their future would be like.Only they would know how to continue.

Carrie went home with Eric’s jacket.It was great,her aunt and cousin Lisa were not at home and Carrie could not let them see her look like this. The house was empty.But instead, Carrie still hurried back to her attic,while she climbed up there,she tripped over by a basket of dirty clothes.But this time Carrie just wanted to ignored it and kicked it aside. She knew those dirty clothes were from her aunt’s whole family, every time when they went outside,they would definitely put in front of her room and let her to get washed. But Carrie was so sick of this and thought why she should let them bully her like this and she had to be the nanny for them and they had the house entirely to themselves..This was not fair, and they were pushing her harder and now she realized it was her weakness and made them asking for more, if she wanted to change her life, she had to do something.Carrie went back to her attic, sat on her bed and thinking what to do next .

Oh, damn it! She almost forgot Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter was his father’s lawyer, when she was a child, he always come over. Since her parents passed away, he still cared about her all the time. She was coaxed by her aunt and did not tell him the truth. Even though she inherited her father’s company, her uncle-in-law was in power and he has recruited his own people as executive managers.Carrie could not get it back, her uncle-in-law had bigger voice, she did not know how much he earned every year,but she got nothing from it. And her aunt always coaxed her,she realized she let them get away with it due to her weakness. If now she could tell Uncle Peter the truth,he would help her and get back what she lost.

Carrie called Uncle Peter and told him everything about her.Uncle Peter drove to her house that very night.In the old times, when he was going to see her,he would call her aunt in advance and her aunt would ask her move out from the attic and let her stay in a room with a big and comfortable bed and prepared some fine clothes and delicious food for Carrie, threatening her she has to play along. And it made Uncle Peter felt like her aunt was very nice to her and taking good care of her.

When Uncle Peter came to the attic, Carrie packed up already and waiting for him.

When Uncle Peter saw the attic she lived in,he was angry and he was surprised about her life.He gave her a big hug, helping her carry the luggage,and comforted her.When they got out from the house, Uncle Peter’s black car just parked on the road, under the light from the car,he saw her face and said: “Good god, what happened to your face? My poor child.”

Carrie knew he must be misunderstood and he thought that was from her aunt. But she did not know how to explain to him about it, if she told the truth, he might think she went stray. So she just mumbled about it. But Uncle Peter was furious, he could not believe how could her aunt so harsh, taking everything from her and beaten her up.

“Carrie, would you mind moving to my house for a couple days? Maybe Jack could help you out and made you feel better.”

“Thank you, I really appreciated it.” Carrie was so glad he offer her to live in with him, of course, she would not mind. Jack was older than her, and he was very humorous and funny, when they were still kids, he came over with Uncle Peter to visit her. Later, her cousin Lisa didn’t like him and told her to stay away from him, so she estranged from him.

On their way,Uncle Peter called Jack and asked him to prepare the room. She was a little bit nervous, now there was no turning back and she could no longer went back there. Deep down, she knew she had to do it and make it work.

When Carrie arrived to Uncle Peter’s house,as she opened the door, Jack came over and gave her a big and warm hug, and said : “You little sister, and now you remembered me !”

Carrie was awkward and smiled, she was surprised how welcomed they were. Uncle Peter knew it and told off Jack. Jack made a face and put out his tongue, pulling her over,telling her: “”Look! Let’s take a look at the room I prepared for you, I hoped you like it, because I kind of ran out of time.”

Jack grabbed her and showed her the room. Wow,the wall was clean, the quilt was comfortable and there was even a fluffy toy on the bed. She never thought of that. Since her parents passed away, no one really cared about her. She was so excited and buried her on Jack’s shoulder and cried out. Jack tapped her back gently and said: “Just cry it out loud, you silly girl.”

“Thank you so much!” Carrie choked with emotions.

“Just live here and you can rest assure, everything is going to be fine.”

“Yes!”

Carrie was so happy,because she knew someone really care about her. But her phone was buzzing all the time, she knew her aunt would be the last person to call her,she dreamed one day Carrie disappeared and they could have all her family estate. Maybe it was Judith. Carrie took out the phone,it was Eric, what did he want? She hesitated and then hung up the phone. She did not want to have any relations with him right now, or, she could pretend she disappeared and let it go.

“Boyfriend?” Jack made fun of her.

“No, no, he wasn’t.” Carrie shook her head.

“Come on, maybe he is not, but he will be your boyfriend, because my little sister is so pretty.”

“Jack!Stop it!”

“Hahahaha, that was ok. I can teach you how to chase a guy, and I am really good at it.” Jack whispered near her ears secretly.

Carrie thought she was misunderstood, repeated again : “ You? You are really good at it ?”

“Of course, not just you can have boyfriends. ” Jack winked : “I am going to turn you into a goddess and every guy would chase after you. Have a rest.” Then he walked away.

Carrie closed the door and lying on the comfortable bed. She thought nothing,all she wanted to was have a rest. Tomorrow she would thing about things between Eric. If she really loved him, why did she just let him fall in love with her for real. She was not supposed to be the one being played by someone else. She relieved and slept well. Until the next day, Jack knocked on her door and asked her to have breakfast.

“Carrie, today I am going to change you, from your hair style.” Jack spoke while he drank milk.

“From my hair?” Carrie was lost.

“En, look at you, your hair was fuzzy and not smooth at all. I am gonna take to the saloon and have some treatment, I promised you will be a different person, and I aloso knew a friend to help you out your skin care, she would make you more charming!”

“That was too much,thank you!”

Jack took her to the beauty saloon where she has never been, she didn’t even basic lotion for skin care. The thins she had were from Lisa,which she did not want any more,some of them Lisa thought were too good to have them,so she threw away instead giving to her. After the skin care, Jack asked the hairdresser designed a hair style for based on her face. The smooth skin and hair,Carrie was completely different.

“Go,let’s go shopping.” Jack felt that was not enough, pulling her to the mall.

“Shopping? No.” Carrie knew it cost Jack’s money a lot,she can’t just keep let him pay for her.

“ Don’t think too much, take them as the gifts for your birthdays!” Jack refused and took her to the mall.

Jack was giving her a lot of options and kept asking her to try on. He packed them up while watching. She said: “That was enough, I did not need so many clothes .”

“Don’t worry about it , I used my money and girls would never get tired of clothes.”

Carrie was amused, she just thought that was too much. She already moved to live with them,and now it cost them so much money, she thought that was inappropriate. But Jack misunderstood her and she persuaded him to give up some of them.Jack helped her carry the bags and they walked out of the mall with laughs.

Eric? Carrie saw Eric was in the mall,how come? She covered up her face with her hand and she just wanted walked pass by,but instead Jack called out: “What is wrong with you,Carrie?” Carrie knew that was it, Eric would definitely found her out there.

Eric saw her with another guy and very intimate. The man helped her to carry the bags,and she looked different today, she changed her hair and she was prettier than before. She hung up his call and dating this guy?Or she had a different face,he was the one being played ?

Eric walked over and wanted to asked her,what was going on.

Three of them stood on the road, and that was very awkward.

“Who is he?” Eric was unfriendly.

“What was the matter with you about who he is.” Carrie didn’t think she was wrong and she thought he could not speak to like this. She held Jack’s arm and said: “We are nothing, and I don’t have to ask for your agreement being with whom.”

“You...” Eric was too angry to speak, of course, he was the one being played and he didn’t know her exactly,he turned around and walked away.

Carrie freed Jack’s arm and said: “I am terribly sorry, Jack.”

“That’ him, right? He looks strong. ”

“Jack...”Carrie saw him walked away,her heart was suffered,and she had no idea why she would say something like this,act like this and look like this, it seemed like she was a bad woman.