Authors Note: Id like to thank my Beta reader whitetiger101! You are Great! Also I really hope you guys like this story! And I hope you guys will review and tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Artemis POV:
Pain is all I feel. Pain and loneliness. He hits me again and I hear a crack. The pain comes from my ribs making it hard to breath. I lay on the floor trying to curl up in a ball and wait for the beating to be over with. He kicks me over and over. I hear my mother crying for him to stop. He turns on her and slaps her so hard she hits the wall and lands on the floor.
"You're a worthless piece of garbage, both of you," he yells kicking my mother in the stomach.
"And you," he says kicking me," are a bastard child, you piece of shit," he kicks me again but this time in the back of the head making everything go black.
"He didn't mean it," my mother says holding me," he loves us. Just sometimes he is in a bad mood and when he gets angry, he can't help it. He didn't mean any of it."
My mother always says this after he beats us. That the Step-douche didn't mean it, he never means it. She tells me that he's sorry and he loves us. I knew it was all lies. If he cared he wouldn't treat us like this. I know that he lies and that tomorrow he will do the exact same thing. He always does. But I say nothing and just fall asleep in my mother's arms, hoping to not wake up to another day in hell.
I wake up the next morning in my bed confused. My name is Artemis Sky. I'm 17 years old. I live on the La Push Rez with my mother and step-dad. My dad died when I was 3. Every day after a beating I go over this in my head to make sure I remember who I am.
I try to sit up in bed but fall back down because of the sharp pain in my ribs. Step-Douche must have cracked my rib. I gently get out of bed embracing the pain and walk to my full length mirror on my closet door. My face has no new bruises but you can see the old yellowish brown bruises from past beatings. Nothing that a little concealer can't take care of.
My dad was a Quileute but my mother wasn't. I got my long black hair from my dad but my ivory skin from my mother. My features were completely ordinary. I had light blue eyes, a small nose and small thin lips.
I lift up my shirt to see the damage from last night. My stomach is covered in bruises. The old ones are an ugly yellow-brown color, the new ones purple, black and blue. I take some bandage wrap and wrap it around where he crack rib is. I wince when I tighten it.
My legs have no new bruises, so besides the cracked rib the beating wasn't that bad. He's done worse. I go into my close and look for something to wear for school. Today is the first day back from winter break and the start of a new semester. Which means my classes change and new people raising eyebrows at me and teachers asking questions.
The one good thing about school is a guarantee that I will get one meal each day. Step-Douche likes to keep my mother and I weak so sometimes I don't eat for a few days at a time during the summer and breaks. Most of the time I go to bed on an empty stomach because Step-Douche won't allow me to have dinner. That's why I am so tiny. I barely reach 5'1" and when I lift my shirt you can see the outlines of my ribs.
I dress in an old pair of jeans and black sweatshirt with a gray wolf on it, our school mascot. I grab an extra jacket, slip on my gym shoes and go downstairs. My mom is in the kitchen cooking for the Step-Douche, who sits at the dining room table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
"I'm leaving for school," I tell them walking towards the front door.
"Wait come eat breakfast. Can't have you going to school on an empty stomach, now can we?" The Step-Douche says giving me a charming smile. To anyone else this smile would charm them, to my it turns my stomach in disgust.
I listen to him knowing the beating tonight would be worse if I didn't. I sit down at the dining room table. My mom lays out the eggs and bacon she made beside the orange juice on the table. My mom sits down across from me.
"Go on, dig in," the Step-Douche tells us.
"No you first," I say confused at what he's playing at.
"I said dig in," he says in a stern voice.
I do what he says and take a small amount of eggs and a piece of bacon on my plate. I pour just about a quarter of the glass full of orange juice. I slowly start to eat and my mom does the same. The Step-Douche fills his plate with eggs and 5 pieces of bacon.
"Now look at that, were eating as a family," he says.
We eat in silence; the only noise is forks scraping plates. I finish and then ask, "I'm finish, may I got to school now?"
"Yes go on," he says and I get up and start to grab my plate, "leave your plate your mother will get it," I give my mother a sorry look before dropping the plate and walking out the door.
The chilly January air sends a chill down my back so I put on my jacket. It usually takes me 15 minutes to walk to school but thanks to Step-Douche I had 10 minutes to get to school. I pick up my pace trying to go fast but not slip on any ice patches.
When I arrive at school almost everyone was in school, a few stragglers like me where arriving. Right as I walk into the school the bell rings. I go to my locker and get my books for class and head to my first class, Government. I keep my head down in the hallways, hoping no one will bump into me. Every time someone does I wince but keep moving.
I sit down at an empty table in my Government class and hope that no one will sit next to me. Luckily no one does. The rest of the day goes by fast, keeping my head down and not talking to anyone. Faster than I knew it I found myself sitting in my fourth period, Independent Art. I love painting and that's what I got to do all period. Painting helps me get emotions out. Today I'm just throwing colors together, mostly dark colors like purple, black and blue like my bruises with bits of red.
The bell rings for lunch and I walk to the lunchroom and get my free lunch. I sit at a table by myself in the corner of the cafeteria. I don't really have friends. It's hard to keep friends when you have to hide secrets. Up until the ending of last year, my best friend had been Brady Fuller. Then he missed school for a few weeks and came back part of Sam Uley's gang.
Brady had known everything about me even about my step-dad. He had sworn up and down when I finally told him. He said one day he would rescue me from this hell-hole. After joining Sam's gang, he never talked to me. The one time I tried to talk to him, to find out what happened, all he did was stare at me, then with a pained face said," I'm sorry but we can't be friends anymore," then walked off.
Tears escape as I remember that day. As if on cue Brady and 4 others who were all apart of Sam's gang whose names I think were Seth, Collin, Embry, and Quil walked into the cafeteria. I look back down at my food not wanting to look at Brady and his new friends.
As soon as the bell rings, I dump my trash in the trashcan and scurry to my fifth period, Chemistry. I hope to get out of the hallway as soon as possible because my ribs were starting to really hurt. I arrive in Chemistry and hardly anyone was in there. I take a seat towards the back and keep my eyes on the desk.
The room fills up and the chair next to mine was the only one left open. I didn't look up to see who had sat next to me. Not really caring. Mr. Connor starts talking.
"Hello class, this semester I'm doing something new. Turn toward the other person sitting at your table and say hello to your new lab partner for the rest of the year," he says.
I look up to say a short hi to guy sitting next to me but it never comes out. I get trapped in his eyes. When I'm finally able to pull way I look him over and he is beautiful. He also is Embry Call. One of the main members of Sam's gang. Damn it!
Hope you guys liked it! Review and tell me what you thought
-Kels:)