A little tape recorder lay beside the note. I looked around anxiously, closed the bathroom door, and picked it up. I pushed on the button with the red triangle. At first, there was just silence. Then, in a sudden burst of sound, I could hear the water from the shower pelting the ground.
I could hear myself dropping my towel and stepping into the shower. But something caught my attention. I rewinded a bit. In that brief interval where I dropped my towel, exposing my naked body, I heard a sinister, deep, croaky laugh. A man's laugh. It stopped the very moment I stepped into the shower.

In horror, I threw the recorder on the ground, letting it smash against the ground. I swung the bathroom door open, grabbed a fleece jersey. On my way to the stairs, I noticed that the smashed tape recorder was gone. My walking pace quickened into a sprint and I ran down the stairs.

"Off to Dana's?" mom asked.
"No, I'm taking a walk," I said, desperately wanting to leave.
"Can it wait? We're about to have dinner soon. It's pizza night!
"No mom. I'll be back soon."
"Okay. Text me when you're on your way back!" She said as I walked out, blowing her a kiss to mask my anxiety.

I walked quickly. I didn't know where I was going but I needed to be someplace other than home and school. I need to think. I could barely hear my thinking above the thudding of my nervous heart, so I decided to listen to some music. I turned on some Jhené Aiko. I walked past the park, the bakery, Forever 21 and a little ice-cream stand. After a while, I got to a dead end, so I turned around, deciding that I best get home before sunset.

It was eerily quiet on the way back. The ice cream stand was closed, the cake display light was off in the bakery and the swings were left empty. I walked faster, feeling someone watching me even though I was the only one walking.

I couldn't stand it. I could feel the eyes piercing my skin and taunting me. I turned around, and before I could yell, a clothed laced in chloroform was placed over my mouth, stealing the oxygen out of my lungs. I screamed, but a muffled cry escaped instead. The rough arms held me still before I was out like a light.

***
My eyes peeled open. I coughed out and choked as I tried to breathe. The light was overwhelming at first, but soon my eyes adjusted. I was chained to a steel table, lying on my aching back. I was facing up. The only light in this cold, dark room was a naked light bulb, swinging from the ceiling.

"She's awake," a rough voice said from next to me.
A man's footsteps echo in the empty room, me being its only occupant.
"Ah, so you read my note," a man said, sniggering.
"I, I don't know w-what you mean," I said, my voice weak and quivering.
"Well, I hid, and now you've found me, just like I instructed," he said, pacing slowly next to me, his footsteps were still loud.
"Who are you, and what do you want from me?!" I asked. I was louder this time, but I still sounded weak and hoarse.
"I'm your dad, or have you forgotten me already?" he leaned in so that his head was right above mine. The smell of liquor was heavy on his breath.
"You aren't my dad. My dad died years ago! When I was a kid!" I was yelling now, the strength slowly finding its way in me.
He chuckled. "Of course he did. But I'm your daddy now,".

He leaned in and planted a sloppy, wet kiss on my cheek. The saliva slid down onto my lip, making me flinch in disgust.
"You're not my dad so you can let me go now," I said, feeling the saliva run onto my tongue and down my throat.
"You're not going anywhere." He said.
He pressed on a remote. I felt the cold, steel wrist shackles tighten, cutting my skin and spewing out my blood. I winced in the pain.

A new set of footsteps resounded in the room. High-heels. It must be a female.
"Hey sweetie, look what I got for you," he said to the woman.
"Yay! You're the best daddy in the whole world!"
Daddy? There is only one female I know who shares a dad with me and owns that voice. Karla.
I heard her draw closer, her perfume diffusing with the stale air.
"Ahh. Kim, Kim, Kim. Who knew that the almighty Kimberly a knight could be so easy to defeat and break down?" Why the hell was Karla saying all this stuff? This wasn't like her at all. The loving, kind, beautiful sister I knew was turning on me, with a man that calls himself my dad.

"Karla? Is that you? I really missed you sis-"
Her hand delivered a heavy slap in my cheek. I could feel my skin burning up. She threw another slap and a punch. I felt my jaw dislocate and my eye swell. Brought my one good eye, I could see her taking the remote from the man.

The table I was tied to moved until it was up straight. She moved to face me. She was wearing make up and a dress. Since when did Karla do all this stuff?
"Please, have mercy on me. I don't know what I did to deserve this?" I said, tears streaming down my face. Karla came in with another blow to my jaw, blood gushing out as a mouler tooth popped out. She lifter her spike-studded stiletto and kicked my gruesomely on my stomach. She kicked over and over again, leaving little holes in my abdomen. I yelped and shook but to no avail. The metal grips tightened. I could feel the metal table grew hotter and hotter.

"Haha," chuckled the man, smiling with every squirm and cry I let out.
"You know Kim. I've been living under your spotlight for so long. You and your perfect hair. And the boyfriend and the marks and the sporting ability. You made me look like a ridiculous dork and I hated every second of it. While I sat at home, you went to all those amazing parties with all the guys. You could get drupnon Sunday night and still ace a test on Monday. I hate you! Why do you make everything I do seem so trivial?!!"

She delivered every syllable with a punch, a kick, or a whip. I had slashes all over my legs. The pains was so overwhelming, that I didn't notice how hot the metal table was getting. I could smell my flesh cooking and bubbling on my blood stained clothes.

"W-what? I didn't know Karla, I swear!" I cried, the agony eating at my skin- literally. "I love you and I looked up to you. I had no idea you felt this way."
A blood curdling scream escaped my lips as I moved my leg and I got a whip in return. I looked up with my one seeing eye and saw that Karla was crying. She'd been hurting all along and I didn't know about it.

Just as I though I was going to die from the skin on my back burning off, the heat was replaced with cold. The lashes stopped. The punches and kicks and slaps ceased. She fell to her knees and rested her head in her palms. She look back up at me, her mascara smudged down her plump cheeks.

"You know I love you so much Kim. I would never do anything to hurt you. You are my absolute world - my role model," she sniffed. I was confused. Is this the same Karla who had beat the guts out of me? She was caressing my cheeks, gently stroking my semi burnt hair. I saw a drop of insanity fall from her eye, disguised as a tear.

"You're sick. Do you normally beat the people you love?" I asked, angry but keeping it cool, just incase she raged again. She looked me in the eye, dropped her gaze, then walked out the door.
"Karla, wait! What going on? Let me out of here!" I yelled, desperate.

She walked back in with a tray of food. She opened my mouth and poured refreshing water down my throat. I smelled the inviting smell that reminded me of home.
"Here, have a bite," she said. I looked down at the plate. Her eye twitched and I noticed she was shaking. She continued: "it's pizza night."