I always believed showing you were hurt was worse than being hurt in the first place. If your offender knew you were hurt, they had won the battle even more. Getting hurt on the daily made me a master of the craft. Covering your scars and bruises was more than mounds of concealer and strength. It was a sport in it's own. Walking in a way that told the world your leg wasn't beaten or that you didn't have a black and blue bruise covering the entire left side of your abdomen. You had to speak normally despite the pain in your chest caused by breathing. You had to appear as if nothing was wrong. And as far as the world was concerned, nothing was wrong with me.

I winced as always as I swiped the makeup remover wipe all over my body. A total of thirteen bruises, four cuts, and six burns were revealed. The burns were the worst. That was my least favorite punishment, I say it as if I have a favorite.

I don't.

It was worth it though if all of my outbursts were to defend my little sister.

I happen to think that Dad was insane. He had multiple personalities. Sometimes he was an adoring father, he bought Chelsea and I ice cream, or he took us to the Georgia State Fair. Other times, he was a broken drunk who spent his time abusing his daughters in more than one way.

No matter how many showers I took, I could never be clean. He took away my innocence, warned me of the dangers of bad boys, and then he would become one himself. He never laid a finger on Chelsea though, and I was proud that that was because of me.

I had lost my trust in men because of him. I really only trusted three in our whole town. And I didn't even open up to them that much.

Six small taps on my locked bathroom door startled me. "Oakley?" The tiny voice of my six year old sister echoed through the room. "Oaks?"

I unlocked the door to the bathroom and greeted her. "Hey pumpkin!" I scooped her up and held her in my arms. Even though she was light, her weight hurt my arms. She didn't notice I was in pain.

Like I said, I was a master of the craft. "What have you been up to today?"

"Miss. Sharah decided that I was worthy of Student of the Week!" She was smiling so wide and her flaming red hair tangled in with mine.

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!" I covered her cheek in smooches and set her back down. She eyed my injuries on my arms but she didn't question them for some reason I didn't know. "Let's go get some pizza to celebrate. Does that sound like fun?"

Her blue eyes lit up brightly as she jumped up and down. "Pizza!" I laughed and we left the house to go get some food.

My phone rang in my pocket, I smiled as I realized it was Hudson. "Hey."

"Hey, Oaks."

I rolled my eyes. "You know Chelsea is the only one who gets to call me that."

He laughed. "Yeah, but you know that I don't care."

Hudson was my closest friend. Everyone thought we were more, but I just couldn't see that happening. More importantly, he couldn't.

"You're an idiot." I smiled. "Hey, Chelsea and I are headed to get some pizza wanna join?" I looked down at my sister and laughed as I saw the excitement in her eyes that Hudson might be coming. He was so good with her.

"Where at?" He said.

"Buckley's"

"Oh you know I'll be there now!" Chelsea was tugging on my arm, waiting for an answer. "See you there!"

"See ya, H."

Chelsea finally stopped jumping at my side and looked up expectantly. "So?"

"I'm sorry Chels, but," Her little frown broke my heart so I knew I couldn't surprise her with Hudson at the diner. "He's coming!"

"Yay!" She dragged me across the street and straight into Buckley's. She ordered a slice of pizza and a coke and we sat down to wait for Hudson.

"So..." I began. "Where's your ribbon?"

She dug in her backpack and pulled out a small blue ribbon with the letters SOTW on the front in a metallic gold print.

"I'm so proud of you!"

Two strong arms wrapped around my neck, "Who are you proud of and what for?"

"Hey!" I turned around and hugged Hudson back. "You got here fast!"

"Yeah. I was across the street depositing a check at the bank." He said.

I smiled. "Well, Chelsea got student of the week in Miss. Sharah's class. Remember her?"

"Oh yeah she did not like me."

"Well you were kind of a demon child." I laughed.

We ate our pizza and smiled like a little family. When the clock struck five I noticed that Chelsea and I had to be getting home. We said our goodbyes to Hudson and I couldn't help but giggle when Chelsea gave him the biggest hug. I loved that they were friends.

We took the back way home, just in case Jason was on his way home. I hated calling him Dad. He may have been my father but he would never be my parent.

I opened the back door to the house and pushed Chelsea inside. We went up the stairs to my room and I sat her down to do her homework which was just cut and paste animals to the spelling. I locked the door to my room and stared out the window to wait for him to come home. After about twenty minutes I saw him pull in the driveway.

"Dammit." I muttered. He had a bottle of half-drank vodka in is hand. "Hey, Chels?"

"Yeah?" She looked up from her homework.

I picked her up and laid her under my bed. "Let's play hide and seek from Daddy okay?"

She laughed and then shimmied further under the bed. "This is going to be fun!"

"Yes it will." I pulled the blanket off of my bed and draped them over the side  so she couldn't be seen.

I rushed downstairs and began to wash the dishes so he wouldn't see me and go upstairs. Chelsea had never seen this side of him, and I intended to keep it that way. 

The front door slammed behind me and I held my breath as I waited for him to speak. My heart was pounding, but I didn't show my nerves.

I felt his hands on my waist and I tensed up. "Hey baby girl." His breath smelled like he had had more than vodka. I don't know how he managed to drive home wasted.

"Hello." I pushed his hand off of my hips and he glared at me. "I'm sorry."

He slapped the back of my head as hard as he could. "Bitch." I winced, there would be more bruises by the time he was done.

But he didn't have my sister. He didn't have her.

I tried to continue to wash the dishes. I couldn't let him know he had hurt me.

I knew he would though, all it took was a few more blows to break me. I was in tears by then. I had lost. He knew he had hurt me.

"Stop." I begged. "Please, stop."  I was hunched over, trying to stop myself from going faint. My head was pounding so hard but I had to stay conscious. I had to be able to defend Chelsea.

"Fine." He turned around and picked his bottle back up off of the table. "Where's your sister?"

"No." My blood began to boil. "She's too young. Let her be a child please. Don't do her like you did me."

"You think I did this?" He yelled. "Your mother did this to you! She left, not me! Her!"

"I don't care. Don't. You. Touch her."  I told him. My tone was scaring me. I had no energy in my voice. Just pure resentment. "Don't. You. Dare."

He didn't listen. "Chelsea!" He called up the stairs. "Come to Dadd-"  He didn't get a chance to finish. I had taken one of the plates from the sink and smashed it over his head. He fell to the ground.

"You son of a bitch!" I grabbed one of the knives from the table. My hands were shaking, but I knew that I had to do it. I had to save Chelsea. I plunged the weapon into his chest. His blood splattered all over me, but I couldn't stop. I pulled the knife out only to find myself shoving it back in. Tears drenched my face, I was absolutely hysterical. I only stopped to the sound of tiny feet running to the stair case. I quickly dropped the knife and ran upstairs before she could see what I had done. I had killed him.

I grabbed her by the arms and picked her up. I sat her down on the ledge outside of my window. The pool was right below me, I jumped. I sunk into the water and hopped out. I encouraged Chelsea to jump after me. I caught her before she hit the water. "Dammit!" I screamed as her weight slammed against my arms. It hurt so bad, but I carried her out of the backyard and ran across the street to Hudson's.

He opened the door and saw the blood on my shirt. "What the hell?" He stepped back,  a little afraid.

"You have to help me." I put a crying Chelsea into his arms and ran inside. "Who's home?" I asked.

"Just me. Oaks what happened?" He was shaking.

"I can't tell you." I glanced at Chelsea to tell him that she didn't know. 

"Chels, do you want to go play in Deedee's room?" He asked her. She just clung to him tighter. "Come on." He took her away and I rushed to his room. I hopped in the shower and cried. I couldn't get all of the blood off of me. I had just killed a man. I killed him. I was a murderer.

Hudson knocked on the door and came in without hesitation. "Oakley what the hell just happened?" He was staring at me on the shower floor. "Oakley!"

I didn't care, I was terrified. He picked me up and wrapped me in a towel. "Oakley!" I was silent. I sat down on the floor and he left the room. He came back a few minutes later with one of his t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants.

He just stared at me. He didn't know what to say so he sat down at my side and let me rest my head on his shoulder. After I calmed down a little bit I spoke. "I-I killed him." I burst into tears again. "He-He was go-gonna touch her. He was going to hurt her."

He pulled me in for a hug but didn't say anything. What do you say to someone in this situation. You did the right thing? I could hear his heart pounding fast, when he finally pulled away and looked at me, I didn't see fear in his eyes. I saw pity, worry, and even sadness. He wasn't afraid of me, he was sorry for me.

I stood up and went to look for Chelsea and I found her asleep on his little sisters bed. I  sat down beside her but she didn't wake up. I played with her red hair and watched as she breathed. Then it struck me, because of me, someone wouldn't breathe again. I almost broke down again but I stood up and left the room.

I had a while before anyone found him. He didn't have a job, or a hobby. Bartenders and strippers would be the first to notice his absence. I had at least a week.

The doorbell rang and I stood up to answer it. What if it was the police? What if he didn't die? What if?  Hudson beat me to the door and was holding a note. My heart began to speed up again, I was terrified. I looked outside to see if the deliverer was still there, I saw Noah running towards my house.

"Hey!" I shouted at him. I couldn't risk him seeing my work.  He turned around and looked at me. 

"You better be there!" He called. I didn't want to go anywhere, but I had a feeling it was important.

We waited another ten minutes before his dad got home and asked him to watch Chelsea but we didn't wait for a response. We were out the door and on our way in seconds.

Once we got to the barn, we realized we were a little late. Everyone was already there.

We all looked to Noah to see what this was about, when he finally spoke. I couldn't be more thankful for him. This was my ticket out.