There was a moment in my house where it was silent; it was so quiet I could hear the rustles of leaves from outside. They were falling so delicately through the night sky that if I were to touch them, they would crumble at the tip of my fingers. But I knew for sure, the silence would not last long enough. My heart begged for silence so badly and wished for it to last more than five minutes. I sneaked quietly through the house and towards my bedroom as quickly as possible.

I skipped the places where I knew it would creak. These were instincts after years of knowing what would happen after waking my mother and father.

A loud creak echoed through my house after opening the door. My father's loud, demanding voice called out for me. "Mi Rae! Get here right now!" I knew I couldn't escape this household especially without my younger brother so I walked to my father's room sulkily. Once I opened my parent's room, my hair was immediately grabbed as I was effortlessly thrown to the ground. My head knocked against glass shards randomly laid around the room. Blood leaked onto the ground quickly, meaning at least one had pierced my head. "Where the f*ck were you? I never said you could come back this late. You should be glad that your mother and I are the best parents that anyone could have," he held a wooden stick.

My parents were twisted.

"You should be glad, you b*tch. Don't take advantages just because you're young," his voice was filled with insanity. Lies came out of his mouth endlessly. My father hit the stick against my back until he knew it was covered with purple bruises. I blocked out my cries of help and stared into my mother's eyes. She stared at me plainly with no emotions, watching me getting abused. The thing I could only hear was the imaginary laughter going through my mother's head.

I coughed up blood onto the floor, gasping for air. "P-please stop," I choked up more blood as my father scoffed at my pleadings.

He finally took pity on me and threw me out of his room, leaving me crying on the floor. I crawled to the bathroom, taking out the first aid kit. I took out some tweezers and revealed the cut on my head. Placing a towel between my mouth, I pulled the glass shard out with the tweezers. More blood poured out and for a moment, my eyesight turned blurry. Don't give up. I held a cotton ball on top of the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. I sobbed silently to myself, not wanting to disturb my parents again. I wrapped the area of my head with a bandage and took off my clothing.

My back was covered with bruises and a busted wound from my last beating. I took out a needle and thread. Piercing my pale white skin with the needle, I screamed into the towel and told myself to stay quiet. I sewed the wound back together and cut off the rest of the thread. I rubbed my back with treatment before putting on new clothing and washing my hands. As I walked into my bedroom, I saw my little brother sleeping quietly in the crib. Smiling to myself, I stroked his head before laying in my bed.

I tried to go to sleep, but I was restless. Unable to fall asleep, I sat back up and wore my sweatshirt, covering my head with the hoodie. I opened the window of my room quietly, crawling outside and was careful not to bump my head.

I patted the leaves off my jeans and wandered through the area till I reached my school. The school was large and included a swimming pool as well as a field. The wind blew against my thin shirt and my fresh wounds. I winced at the cold feeling, but ignored it. I reached the indoor swimming pool. The air was warmer than outside so I took off my sweatshirt. The pool was deep, probably about eight feet so not a lot of people come here. Sticking my hand into the clear blue water, I could feel the liquid graze my fingers lightly. The color of the water contrasted with the white of the tiles on the ground. I dipped my feet into the refreshing water, wishing that I could swim.

"I wish my life was different. I wish that I had someone to talk to and be with—someone who actually cares about me," a tear falls down my cheek and into the water.

My head snapped towards the door after hearing soft footsteps nearby. "Who's there?" I called out nervously as my voice quivered with fear. A chuckle came from behind me just as I felt a push on my back. I felt the impact of my face as water surrounded my body. It was freezing cold as I tried to swim back to the surface. I was the worst swimmer in my class because I had a horrible past.

My father had almost drowned me once when he abused me. He was laughing at me with my mother until he realized that I was going motionless. He rushed me to the hospital as soon as possible. Maybe he took pity or maybe he didn't want to get caught for murder, but I didn't care because he continued abusing me. I never tried calling the police or anyone because I didn't want my only father to be taken away from me, but I wish my parents didn't abuse me.

I swung my arms randomly as pressure grew when I sank down. Bubbles came from my mouth, slowly disappearing as I try to swim back up.

My breath shortened as I tried to breathe. Help. My swinging arms were slowing down into a motionless state. My eyes started to close as I continued to grasp for breath. It was blurry underwater, but I saw a shadow jump into the pool and was swimming towards me. My hand reached for the person but I was far out of reach. Within a second, everything turned black and my body went numb.

Someone help me.

~

Technically, I ain't even taking a break, but I decided that I should give you guys something for New Years so yeah.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

From your author,
Flora Lee