It has now been two weeks since me and Zak ended on good terms after the whole Holly thing. Of course, when Holly heard the news that everything was fine between me and Zak, she didn't take it very well. She's actually been bothering me every chance she gets. At first, she just tried telling me more lies so that I could be convinced to break up with Zak, but I know all too well now that it's all lies. But after a while, she gave up doing that and instead started to threaten me, embarrass or humiliate me, and she would insult me and say how if I wasn't around, she would've been with Zak by now.

     But Zak always assured me and said that she can't hurt me while he's around. Which is why she always bothers me when Zak isn't near me. I'm so thankful that she isn't in any of my classes. But sadly, she is in one of Zak's classes. Zak complains saying that Holly keeps trying to ask him out and always tries to speak or flirt with him whenever she gets the chance. He says she's super annoying, and even though it's kind of mean to say that... I agree. Once he said that how Holly is acting, and how much he loves me has made him forget how he even fell in love with Holly all those years ago. ...I'm not even gonna lie, it made me feel a bit special.

     Right now, it's Thursday, and I'm in my room, putting away my homework since I just finished it. I'm thinking about texting Zak. But then, I hear screaming downstairs. Ah... my parents are fighting again, that's normal. I try not to think about it and just let them be for a bit, but then I flinch at the sound of something crashing. It's fine... my dad surely just broke something out of anger again... right? He must've just thrown a bottle of alcohol at the wall again. But then, I hear a thud. Oh no.

     I then get out of my room and race downstairs. I then enter the kitchen to see my mom on the floor with some bruises on her face against a flipped over table, some drops of alcohol on the wall and broken glass on the floor below the drops, and my dad is standing up, drinking another bottle of alcohol. From this scene, I can make a conclusion that my dad tried to throw a bottle at my mom, but she dodged, since she also has some glass on her clothes, so my dad hit her into the table. I rush my mom and get down next to her and say, "Mom! Are you okay!?"

     My mom looks at me panicked and says, "Darryl what are you doing here!? You should be in your room!"

     "I can't just leave you here like this with him!"

     My dad looks at me grinning and says, "Oh, so you want to be a hero now? How do you expect to defend your Mother if you can't even defend yourself?"

     He's right, but that still doesn't mean it's right to just leave my mom here like this. I stand up and say, "Even though you're my father, and you've hurt me multiple times, I won't just stand by and let you hurt my Mom like this. Plus, I would much rather that you hurt me instead of my Mom."

     My dad looks at me furious and says, "So you want to get hurt? I will gladly do so."

     He throws the bottle he has in his hand at me, hitting my forehead and shattering. Dang it- the impact on my head hurts really bad. My dad then charges at me and pushes me against the wall. I can hear my mom yell, "Wait! Leave him alone!"

     I see her struggle to get up as my dad walks towards me. He grabs my throat and starts choking me against the wall. I grab the hand that is choking me in an attempt to make him release me, but he's just too strong. He then says, "And for the last time, DON'T CALL ME FATHER! ONLY REFER TO ME AS SIR!"

     He then goes grab a nearby knife while still choking me, though his grip on my throat loosens a bit, but is still strong enough that I can't force his hand that is holding me to go away. My mom comes up to us and grabs my dad's arm as he brings the knife closer to me, in an attempt to hold him back. My dad then yells out, "GET AWAY FROM ME WOMAN!"

     As he uses his arm to push her away with full force, he ends up cutting her slightly on the cheek. My mom falls on the floor again. With my dad's action, his hold on me releases and I can finally breathe properly for a moment. I then yell out, "MO-!"

     But I am cut off by my dad choking me again and he holds up his knife to my cheek, close to my eye and nose. He presses it down on that spot, slight blood starting to come out of my cheek. My dad then says, "This will make you think twice before messing with me again."

     He then cuts my whole cheek slanted. (like this --->🚫, imagine that the white part is Darryl's cheek, and the red line in the middle is the cut) I wince at the pain, blood starting to flow out of my cheek. My dad smiles and does a satisfied chuckle. He then lets go of his hold on me. I start gasping for air. My dad looks down on me, then he places the knife on a counter and leaves without another word. My mom hurriedly comes up to me and grabs my face, inspecting the damage on it. She says, "Sweetie! Are you okay? How do you feel?"

     I weakly smile at her and say, "I'm okay Mom... I'm used to this."

     My mom sighs and says, "Thank you for defending me, but please, don't do that next time. It's already enough that your father hurts you when I'm not around... Gosh, I'm constantly worried at work when I know that you're not at school and are at home instead with your father most likely there as well. I'm constantly praying to God that I don't come home with bruises on your face. And when you luckily don't, I feel like a weight is lifted off my chest."

     "I- okay... I won't do that again."

     My mom smiles at me and says, "Now, go to your room and treat your wounds, I'll clean up everything down here, don't worry."

     "But- what about your wounds? Let me help you!"

     "Thank you for worrying, but I'm more worried about you. Your wounds are worse than mine and they need to be treated immediately. You have cuts while I only have bruises and a singular small cut. I'll be fine without being treated for a bit."

     I sigh and agree. I go up to my room and go to my bathroom. I look at myself in the mirror to see the big cut across my cheek along with some other small cuts around my face from the bottle that my dad threw at me. I see a red bump on my forehead where the bottle landed. My neck looks red because of my dad's firm grip on it when he was choking me. Thankfully, the cut across my cheek doesn't look so deep, so it will surely heal a bit tomorrow with correct treatment, and I can cover what's left of it with makeup. The red on my neck will go away, and the bump on my forehead will surely also go away during the night.

     I sigh and start treating my wounds. I clean away the blood, and properly disinfect my cuts. I put bandages on my forehead and cheek where the big cut is. I put band-aids on the small cuts around my face. I look at myself, satisfied with how I treated my wounds. Sadly, I won't be able to keep the bandages and band-aids on for long, since I have to take them off for school tomorrow, or else everyone will start asking questions or be worried. I look at myself in the mirror again. It's fine, I'm used to this. This is just a... normal occurrence.