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So Let Me Go
With one light on in one room I know you're up when I get home With one small step upon the stair I know your look when I get there
She crept up the stairs, hoping he wouldn't hear her soft footsteps. She had removed her shoes and placed them on the doormat, in hopes that he wouldn't notice she had been gone. Her hand curled around the doorknob to her room. She listened for him. Was he asleep? The light coming from under his bedroom door made it unlikely. She opened the door very slowly, hoping it wouldn't creak. But, to her horror, it did. Maybe he hadn't heard. But what if he did? She stepped into her room. As she turned towards her bed, he was there. Her eyes filled with tears, and the lump in her throat she hated, got bigger. He spoke, his voice so cold it gave her chills. "Hikari-san, why do you do this? Why do you leave me to come home to an empty house?". She couldn't bring herself to say anything except, "I-I'm sorry, Takeru-kun". His eyes filled with that horrid rage she had come to expect. He always looked this way when she went out. He rose from the bed, and stormed over to her. She slid against the wall, wishing she could absorb herself into it. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists as his hand struck her cheek. Her knees quivered and she stumbled. He came at her again, pushing her into the ground. She screamed as his foot struck her ribs, opening old wounds. He grabbed her by the hair, and dragged her to the foot of the bed. "You will not leave this house again. I forbid it!" he screamed, slamming her head into the wodden frame of the bed. Everything went black.
The unread book and painful look The TV's on, the sound is down One long pause Then you begin, "Oh look what the cat's brought in"
She opened her eyes, and she was slumped over the end of the bed, wearing only her underwear. She could smell the blood from the cut on her head, and the scent of whiskey from his breath still hung in the air. Her cheek throbbed, and her eyes were sore from crying. She could barely move, her ribs ached so much. This was the third time this month he had knocked her unconscious. She touched her head. It ached so much. She forced herself to sit up. She saw her clothes scattered about: her skirt, her shirt and her bra. He had made love to her again, she figured. She shivered. How could this monster be the sweet little boy she fell in love with? Though her whole body ached, she pulled on her clothes, and looked in the mirror. She looked so battered.. it was hard to tell she was only twenty. The swelling in her cheek had subsided quickly, there was just a large welt there now. She pulled her hair back into a braid, and applied the four coats of make-up she wore every day to hide new and old bruises. As hard as it was, she walked down the hallway, and into the kitchen. She was glad he had left for work. She looked at the note on the table, written in his messy handwriting: Hikari, you'd better have dinner on the table when I get home.. and do my laundry, I'm running out of things to wear. P.S.: I hope you learned a lesson last night. A chill ran down her spine. She pondered for a minute about why she stayed here.. she decided it was because she was still in love with him. She knew that wasn't the reason, though. She knew it was because she was terrified of him. Ever since his brother died two years previously, he had started acting more voilently. At first it was just little shoves and slaps, but it had escalated to what had happened last night. He became more brutal every time, and she feared that if she tried to run away, he would find her, and hurt her even more, maybe even kill her. He didn't act this way in public -- he was the sweet little boy she married. She hated having to pretend everything was okay. To pretend she didn't live in constant fear.. to pretend she was happy. She hadn't been happy for so long. He didn't allow her to be happy. She couldn't even talk to her onii-san, Taichi, whom she missed so much. She wished she had the strength, physically and emotionally to just pack up and leave. Go to onii-san and be happy again. She sighed, but it ached her ribs. Then she had, perhaps, an omen. How did she know she wasn't strong enough? He wouldn't be home for another six hours. What if she left today? She pondered this for a while, and began picking up the clothes and dirty dishes screwn around the apartment.
For the crown you've placed upon my head feels too heavy now and I don't know what to say to you but I'll smile anyhow and all the time I'm thinking, thinking I want to be a hunter again
Suddenly, she dropped all she was carrying, with a sudden rush of energy. She was going to do it. He couldn't get her back if she was with onii-san, he would protect her. She hurried into her room and gathered a few things. She stuffed them into a dufflebag, and slung it around her aching shoulder. She made her way into the kitchen, and turned over the note he had left her.
I want to see the world alone again To take a chance on life again
She wrote him this:
Takeru, We have been together for so long, and I can't remember a time when I was actually happy. Today is the day your abuse stops. I have realized what a fool I have been to stay here even until this point. I won't miss you, I don't love you, and you won't find me. Don't even try it. Hikari P.S. Dinner's not ready.
She wiped the forming tears from her eyes, and slipped on her shoes. As she rode the elevator down to the main floor, she kept thinking, "Why didn't I have this revelation before now?". But, it didn't matter. At least she was still alive. Alive and going to change her life around. To do this, she decided, she would have to change everything about herself. She had to become like the child she once was. She started by taking the scissors from her bag, that she had packed with other necessary items. She grabbed as much of her long hair as she could (Takeru always loved her hair when it was long), and she cut it off. The hair fell to the elevator floor. When the elevator door opened, she dashed out into the subway station, not caring about her wounds anymore, though they still pained her so. She took a seat in the nearly-empty subway car, and sighed. She pulled one bunch of her now-short hair to the side, and pinned it in place with a pink clip.
Her stomach was churning as she got off the elevator in her brother's apartment. She braced herself as she stopped in front of his door, clutching her dufflebag. She didn't know what the reaction would be. She was so nervous. She knocked on the door twice. The door opened.
"H-Hikari-chan?" said an almost forgotten voice. The sound of her name rang in her ears like beautiful music. Her whole body shook, and she collapsed in his arms. "Onii-san.."
So let me go. Let me leave.
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Okay, I know Takeru isn't like that, but I still think it makes a good story. Reviews welcome!