Chapter 1

"You wuss! Where are you hiding?"

Kendall could hear the hatred dripping off the voice. His heart started to beat faster in his chest, threatening to explode. He brought his head up and looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. His emerald green eyes held flecks of fear and his dirty blond hair was a sweaty mess on the top of his head.

"You're such a coward!"

Kendall closed his eyes, a pulse quickening through his eyelids. Why could he be left in peace? Why?

"I'll never leave."

If only the voices were outside his head. If only the voices didn't sound like his abusive father.

"GO AWAY!" he screamed, his eyes flying open.

With lightening quick speed, Kendall grabbed up the razor that was on the bathroom sink. It would be so fast; an instant relief from the voice in his head. Without a second thought Kendall turned on the razor and brought it toward his arm for the fifth time that day.

Kendall made sure that he washed out all of the blood from the sink before pulling his shirt sleeve down over the cuts. There was no need to let anyone know his secret. Taking a deep breath and making sure that all the evidence was gone, he walked out of the bathroom.

"You fraud! Why even bother living? You're a worthless piece of trash!"

Kendall never realized until then that even when your father was dead, his words could still sting with a freshness. His father had said awful things to him and now they played themselves on replay in his head. He had no way of shutting them off.

"Hey Kendall!" hollered James from the living room couch. "You're missing the action!"

Kendall lumbered over to where Logan, Carlos, and James were lounging on the couch, checking out what they were watching on the television. He saw this boy running away in fear as this shadow started to consume his form.

"I'll always find you..." hissed the person as the boy on the tv screen screamed.

Kendall was staring at the screen while his mind caused him to see a flashback.

"Mom no. Don't leave me," whimpered Kendall.

He had his hands pressed against the window glass and watched as his mother backed out of the driveway.

"Get away from the window before you leave your nasty fingerprints all over it!"

Kendall felt someone grab him roughly by the shoulder and spin him around. He looked up terrified into the coal colored eyes of the monster; into the eyes of his father.

"Chore time!" said his father in a sing song voice. "Your first job can be washing the window."

"But..."

"No buts! You're eight! You're plenty old enough!" snapped his father.

"But I want to go play with James, Carlos, and Logan-"

"No!" stated his father.

Kendall watched horrified as his father reached up and undid his belt. His father held the belt tight in his hands, ready to use it.

"Don't make me whip you," threatened his father.

Kendall took a deep breath. He had submitted to his father alot in his lifetime. It was time he stood up for himself.

"Go ahead and whip me," said Kendall. "I'm not doing chores for you."

"Why you-"

A sharp smack hit Kendall's back so suddenly and with such force that tears of pain sprang out of his eyes. Kendall collapsed onto the floor and rolled into a ball.

"How dare you defy me-"

Another sting.

"-the very person that brought you into this world-"

Smack!

"-you worthless piece of crap!"

As the belt hit Kendall for the fourth time, he started to weep. He couldn't help it. He was afraid. Maybe this time his father wouldn't be able to hide the abuse he had made him suffer. Maybe this time his mom would know better. Kendall had never been brave enough to tell his mom before because he was threatened to be silenced if he did.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" spit out his father towering over Kendall, the belt raised above his head again.

"Stop..." whimpered Kendall, the pain engulfing him in fiery bursts. "Please..."

"Why look at you you coward! You're crying like a girl!" sneered his father.

Kendall turned his eyes upward at his father; his vision blurred by the tears.

"You probably want me to stop now, right?" asked his father.

Kendall didn't say anything; the pain wouldn't let him.

"Are you gonna do those chores then?" asked his father.

Kendall shook his head "yes". He was too afraid, and in too much pain, to refuse.

A malicious smile spread across his father's face.

"Good. I'm glad to see that you aren't that stupid! I'll stop for now but this isn't over. You will never be able to escape me. You will always be under my control. I don't care if you hide in one of the four corners of the world. I will always find you..."

Another bite by the leather belt made Kendall lose consciousness.

"Seriously? That's how they are gonna end it?" exclaimed James in disbelief as they watched the credits for the movie scroll up the screen.

"I know," said Logan. "They never even revealed if the boy ever got saved from the monster!"

"No," thought Kendall, shivering at the flashback he just had. "He never did."