Chapter 1

Rough Day


Cat

I sat in the corner of my room facing the wall - my hands covering my ears as I tried desperately to block out the sounds of shouting coming from outside the door. My eyes were clenched tightly shut and I tried to imagine myself someplace else, like in a field of cotton candy with unicorns having a pillow fight, but that wasn't working. It usually did. The foul curses and insults weren't directed at me but they hurt nonetheless. I didn't like it when my parents fought. It just felt wrong. Even though it sounded selfish it felt even worse when the harsh words were directed towards me. And they were sometimes.

It was only my dad that did it. He would scream at me, swearing and technically spouting smoke from his ears. It didn't make much sense to me. If my mom ever heard it she would awkwardly pretend to be caught up in something else. I knew that it ate away at her - that he said those things to me. He had only laid hands on me a few times before... a slap across the face, a rough grab of my arm. I would pretended like it hadn't happened, mainly wishing that it hadn't. Mom didn't know about those. I pushed myself further into the corner like I always did when they fought, surrounded by my numerous stuffed animals and a large hot pink beanbag chair.

"Lower your voice, Cat's trying to sleep!" I heard my mom shout. It had been closer than the previous fighting. They must have somehow walked nearer to my door. It was true, being a school night and around 11:00 I would normally have been in bed. But every time I tried to sleep when they fought it gave me nightmares. I didn't like nightmares.

"No she's not! How could anyone sleep with you screaming like this?!" I heard him shout. I grabbed the nearest stuffed animal, Mr. Snowcone, and held him close. For some reason I didn't feel any tears but my eyes stung like I might cry at any second. The sound of stomping towards my room made me tense up completely. A blinding light flooded into the room from the hall. My door had been opened. I squealed in terror, unfortunately making my location known but I had been unable to contain the fear. My hands found their way to my mouth but it was too late to stop the sound.

"Look, she's right over there!" He shouted from my doorway. I suddenly felt the unwanted liquid rolling down my cheeks and I felt more weak than I had ever been in my entire life.

"Leave her alone, you're scaring her!" My caring mother pleaded. It didn't do much. It never did. I wished that I had a superpower that could turn me into a stuffed animal, so that he wouldn't be able to find me.

"She's not scared!" He walked towards me. I started to visibly shake. I felt his familiar hand grab my arm again and I yelped, being hauled out of my hiding spot by his cruel grasp. My mother hovered outside of my room, looking terrified and conflicted. My father's strength was basically lifting me into the air yet I wasn't sure if I should be struggling or not. When I squirmed a bit against his hand he tightened his hold, "Tell her you aren't scared!"

"I-I-I-I-" As always I couldn't form words. I was too scared and my mother could tell. We locked eyes from across the room, she was definitely trying to convey her sympathy. My father shook me by the arm, the tears rolling steadily down my cheeks now.

"Say it." He spoke through clenched teeth. My mother screamed at him to stop but he didn't. He never did.

"P-Please stop!" I begged him. Apparently it just made him more angry. I felt a familiar hand slam across my cheek and I cried out from pain. My vision became patchy and black in some spots while I just barely managed to hear my mother shouting at him. A trail of blood made its way down from my lip and I started to steadily lose consciousness. I vaguely felt the hand slap me again, and the other one gripping my arm let me go - sending me falling to the floor hard.


The next morning I found myself in my bed. At first I thought I must have been having a horrible dream, but when I looked at myself in the mirror and saw the bruise I knew it was real. When he had hit me before it never left a mark. I wasn't sure how to cover it up properly. I got ready like normal, only putting some foundation and powder on my cheek. I skipped breakfast because I knew all too well that my parents would be getting up soon. I wasn't sure what had happened after I passed out but I'm sure it wasn't too pleasant. Slinging my backpack over my shoulder and getting dressed without nearly as much enthusiasm as usual, I basically ran out the door and down the street to school.

I knew that my friends would notice my change of demeanor. Usually whenever something happened with my dad I wouldn't go to school that day, but last night had been especially brutal and I wanted to get out of the house. It was just hard to be bubbly and quirky when your father had beaten you the night before. I walked into the main hallway and I saw Tori at her locker, talking to Robbie but clearly trying to make him go away. Putting on the best smile I could manage, I approached the two and hoped nobody could see through my coverup. Tori spotted me first and she smiled broadly. My own grin became more genuine.

"Cat!" She ran up to me and wrapped me in a tight hug, a surprise since I was usually the one who hugged her. I let out a usual squeal of glee to maybe help convince people I was alright. When she let go I felt strange. I wanted to be comforted, but how could anybody console me if I hadn't spoken a word about the problem? Her smile didn't fade.

"Hi Tori! You seem so happy today!" I said. Even I was surprised at how normal I sounded, when on the inside I was struggling just not to run into the janitor's closet and skip my classes all day.

"Well you couldn't hang out all weekend! What was up?" She did a little pout sort of like I did when I didn't get something I wanted. I had totally forgotten that from Friday to Saturday she had been asking me repeatedly to do something. But because of the tension at home for some reason I wanted to be there in case something happened. I'm still not sure what I had been worried about. I quickly came up with a fake explanation.

"My brother got his foot stuck underneath a turtle's shell at the zoo! I was kinda busy." That actually wasn't a total lie, he had done that before. But it hadn't taken an entire weekend to get it sorted out. Tori looked unphased by the weird story about my brother, probably because I told probably five or six a week.

"Oh don't worry, it's cool. Your brother gets into some crazy chiz, huh?" She mumbled the last part but I had heard it. The word "chiz" always made me chuckle but because of the mood I was in I didn't even flinch. I hoped nobody noticed. Somehow I managed to maintain my fake smile.

The loud, chiming bell got my attention and told me I had to go to my first class. I let out one of my trademark giggles before giving a theatrical wave. Robbie said something about getting to his class to show off his new skinny jeans, and Rex made fun of him, and as I started to leave it was then that I felt a hand gently grasp mine. Becoming surprised, I turned my head to see that it was Tori.

"Can you come over to my place tonight?" Tori asked. I opened my mouth to make up an excuse, but then I started considering it. I didn't think that my parents would get angry with me being out of the house. Tori added something on, "We could watch a movie or something. Trina won't be there, she's going on a date with some boy. I'm pretty sure she paid him to take her somewhere."

I giggled again, "That's so sad." Eventually I decided that it would be fine to hang out with her, plus maybe she could help with my dad, "And I think I can go, sure."