Chapter 1: Death & New Beginnings
Ziva was not a normal teen. 15 year old Ziva David had a problem. She would never tell anyone. She didn't have friends. She was always alone.
When Ziva was 6 she witnessed the death of her mother. Her mother died while giving birth to her younger sister, Tali. Sadly, her younger sister later died of cancer, when Ziva was 9. Her older brother was all she had left. Sadly he died too. Ziva was a walking mess. She was mad fun of. Everyone called her death chick. Only because all of her family had died and she was the only one left.
Her father was all she had left. But ever since the death of her brother, Eli David, her father, beat her. Not only did he beat her but he starved her and locked her in her room. This caused Ziva to cut herself and become very depressed. She felt alone. She was alone. She hated herself. She wish someone would save her.
It was a normal Monday morning. Ziva got up at 6:30am and dressed for school. She pulled on black cargo pants, a white tank-top and a black hoodie. As she laced up her combat boots, her father stormed up the stairs, screaming.
"Ziva David!" He screamed. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?"
"To school, Aba." Ziva said in a small voice.
"School? And leave all your chores? What the fuck is wrong with you? Get your ass down stairs and wash the fucking dishes and cook breakfast! How many times must I tell you? I want breakfast cooked and hot by the time I am up! Get to it now! Bitch!" Eli screamed while hitting Ziva in the face causing a nasty bruise to begin to form.
"Yes, Aba." Ziva sobbed as she ran down the stairs.
2 hours later, her father had fallen asleep, and Ziva had snuck out of the house to get to school.
Ziva came into her first class 30 minutes late.
"Ziva David! Why are you late?" Her math teacher Ms. Grace asked.
"I have a note from my father." Ziva handed the note, she had copied in her father handwriting, to her teacher.
"Fine, take your seat." Ms. Grace said.
The kids whispered things about Ziva as she made her way to the back of the class to her seat. Ziva kept her hood up so no one would see her bruised face.
She was a few steps away from her desk when a girl stuck out her foot and tripped Ziva. Ziva fell but got up fast. She stared at the girl for a second before punching the girl in the nose. The girl fell to the floor with a bloody nose.
"Ziva! To the office now!" Ms. Grace yelled.
Ziva pulled her hood back up and walked to the office. The principle, Mr. Gibbs, called Ziva into his office.
"Wanna tell me what happen?" Mr. Gibbs asked.
"No." Ziva said. "It's pretty simple. She tripped me so I punched her. Easy. Done."
"Put your hood down and please remove your hair from your face so I can see your face." Mr. Gibbs said.
"No." Ziva simply said.
"Why not?" Mr. Gibbs asked.
"Cause it's my face!" Ziva snapped.
"Remove it, don't make me call your father!" Mr. Gibbs snapped back.
"Fine! Don't call my father! Please!" Zia pleaded.
"Ok, fine. Not remove the hood and clear your face." Mr. Gibbs said sitting back in his chair.
Ziva removed her hood and pulled her hair back in a ponytail.
"Ziva David, what happen to your face?" Mr. Gibbs said.
"Nothing Mr. Gibbs. It's nothing." Ziva said in a small voice.
"That is not nothing. And what happened to your arms?" Mr. Gibbs asked.
While Ziva was removing her hood one of her sleeves went up reveled her cut up arms.
"Nothing! It's nothing! Just stop!" Ziva said with tears in her eyes.
"Ziva, is there something wrong at home?" Mr. Gibbs asked.
"No." Ziva said in a small voice.
"Ziva, you know that no one can lie to me." Mr. Gibbs warned.
"Yes, there is something wrong at home. But I beg you, please don't get involved. It will only make it worse. Please, I beg you." Ziva said with tears running down her cheeks.
"Fine. But if it gets worse, I am involving myself and the police." Mr. Gibbs warned.
"Yes sir." Ziva said.
"By the way. I know I tell the whole school to call me Mr. Gibbs but you can just call me Gibbs." Gibbs said.
"Okay. May I go back to class?" Ziva asked.
"Yes you may." Gibbs said.
Ziva walked out and went to her locker.
"Hey!" A female voice said from behind her.
"What?" Ziva snapped.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you! Really, I'm a really nice person! Oh my god! What happened? Did that girl do that to you? Oh I could kill her! But I saw what you did to her! Wow! You broke her nose! That is sooooooo coooool!" The hyper gothic looking girl said.
"Do I know you?" Ziva asked slightly annoyed.
"No, I'm Abigail Scuito!" Abby said holding out her hand for Ziva to shake.
"Ziva David." Ziva said flatly.
"Sweet name! Wanna sit with me in Biology? I need a new lab partner, my lab partner, Kate, moved away last week." Abby said frowning.
"Sure, I would like that. I have never had a lab partner." Ziva said.
Normally Ziva would have told the girl to fuck off, but for some reason she felt like she could trust this hyper young gothic girl.
"So, how did you get the bruise?" Abby asked as they did an experiment.
"I fight. Like boxing." Ziva lied.
"Oh, I box too! We should workout sometime." Abby said sipping her Caf-POW!.
"What is a Caf-POW!?" Ziva asked.
"Caffein and lots of it. Wanna try some?" Abby askes.
"No thank you. The only caffein I drink is coffee." Ziva smiled.
"Oh, cool. So wanna hang out today? We could go to my house and order pizza and watch movies with my two best-friends, Timmy and Tony." Abby smiled.
"Sorry, I can't. My father will not allow it. He will be mad if he knows that I am not home after school. I have a lot of chorse. I'm sorry though." Ziva half way told the truth.
"Oh it's cool. Maybe some other time." Abby smiled.
"Umm..sure." Ziva said.
Ziva spent the rest of the day with Abby, Timothy and Tony. They all sat together at lunch.
"So, Ziva, where did you learn to box? Abby tells us your like a ninja." Tony asked.
"I taught myself." Ziva lied.
"Sweet!" Tony said.
"Why didn't you get a tray?" Abby asked.
"Not hungry." Ziva lied. Ziva was starving, but she new if she ate, she'd just throw it all up later when her father would beat her.
"Ziva, your stomach was making dying whale noises all through World Geography. I know your hungry." Abby said.
"I am not!" Ziva snapped.
Abby eyes filled with tears as he got up and ran to the girl's restroom.
"Abby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." Ziva said getting up to follow Abby.
"Ziva, I only wanna help you." Abby said as Ziva entered to restroom.
"I know, I'm use to someone caring about me." Ziva said.
"Ziva, what's wrong? Why won't you eat?" Abby asked.
"I'm just not feeling hungry." Ziva said right before her stomach growled.
"Do you not have money?" Abby asked.
The truth was, Ziva had no money and she knew if she ate she would throw it up later when her father would beat her.
"Yes and no." Ziva said.
"What does that mean?" Abby asked trying to hug Ziva.
Ziva pulled away from Abby and sighed.
"Abby, I wish I could tell you but I can't. Maybe one day but just not today. I'm sorry." Ziva said.
"I know you'll talk when your ready but just to let you know. I do it too." Abby said lifting her skirt enough to reveal her freshly cut thigh.
"It is nice to know I am not the only one." Ziva said lifting her sleeves to reveal her freshly cut arms.
"If you wanna talk, here's my number." Abby said handing Ziva a piece of paper.
"Thank you." Ziva said before they returned to the table.
They all finished their lunch silently. The rest of the day went pretty smooth. Ziva was slightly happy for a change. She walked home. As soon as she closed the door, her father attacked her.
"Where the fuck were you?" Eli demanded.
"I had to go to school. People asked about my bruise but I didn't tell anyone, I promise." Ziva sobbed.
"Get cooking! I want dinner!" Eli said throwing Ziva into the kitchen.
Ziva cooked as her mind raced. How could a father do this to his daughter. Would she ever get out if this hell? Would she ever stop feeling this emptiness? She cooked and cried. She took three punches to her stomach and four to her ribs. She laid on the floor as her father ate. She was in pain and she was sure he had bruise her ribs. She laid on the floor till Eli came in and demanded she wash the dishes then go to bed. Ziva did as she was told. Then she went to bed.
"Will I ever get out of this hell?" Ziva asked into the darkness before falling asleep.