Gleaming Crimson
"GET BACK HERE, COME BACK HERE YOU WITCH!!"
"Don't dad don't, don't, don't, don't, DON'T..." He was sobbing, his face a blur of horror, sadness, and raw, aching pain. Almost physical. Because his father was chasing his mom, because his father was holding a huge, gleaming knife. He kept screaming; "NOOOOOO!! Mommy!!"
Because his mommy was on the ground, because his mommy was bleeding. His mommy was hurt, she was thrashing and fighting, her own knife in her hand, useless. Her husband was pinning her arm down. Then he gave that gleaming knife one last shove. Why did mommy stop moving??
Suddenly, he didn't want to scream anymore. He couldn't speak. Couldn't get his jaw to stop trembling, though the tears wouldn't fall.
" Tired, son? Your throat all torn up? Such a shame."
The little boy trembled as his father approached him, almost calmly. His voice almost...tender. And then he jumped as his father knelt down beside him, grabbed his jaw firmly and asked in a sickening voice coated in mockery and sweetness, "Why...so...serious?" The knife was cold against his lips, and then suddenly it seemed to be burning as it slipped inside the corner of his mouth, to graze his cheek.
"Let's put a smile on that face, boy."
The pain was unbelievable, 'Am I dying, daddy? Are you killing me??' He thought in his head, writhing and squirming and heaving out breaths of animalistic fear as he felt his muscle tearing and the hot blood running down his cheeks. He took in a deep breath, and somehow found the will to scream.
"Don't Daddy! DON'T!" And then daddy cut deeper. Daddy watched him fade into the darkness. Daddy hurt him; and then daddy walked away.
XXXX
The kitchen window was open, but the breeze wouldn't bring him back into the realm of consciousness until it was cold out, until it was as dark as night. He would be found an hour or two later, sobbing, with blood and sweat caked on his face in a sickening mixture. He would look like a crimson-painted clown complete with a bloody, permanent smile. His cries on that night would haunt the EMT's that drove him to Gotham General, because this poor little boy was bleeding out, but he was still chanting, screeching,
"Don't dad! DADDY! Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't...don't."