"I told you already! It wasn't my fault!" I screamed, my voice hoarse, my words dry and brittle as I yelled over my tender throat. My eyes ached from the tears; my entire face it seemed was drenched completely by them.
I couldn't see her standing there, my mother-from my end of the table I could barely see anything. Whether it was because of my crying or if it was simply my imagination, either way, she seemed to be swaying, quaking. No, not mother, but me. I was quaking.
"Don't raise your voice at me Analeigh!" She howled back, the thick accent making her words lash violently over my skin. I'd heard it worse, no matter how loud she chose to shout, I'd heard worse. Dorian could be louder, no Transylvanian accent was more frightening than his.
"How could you do this?" She demanded, my mother storming around the side of the table to snatch a handful of my hair. "Mom, that's enough." My brother finally spoke up, pushing back in his chair at my yelp.
"You had such beautiful hair." My mother murmured, ignoring both James and my frantic tugs at her hand. "You think I did this to myself?" I cried, feeling the snap of a root wrenching from my scalp. The burning sensation crossed throughout my matted hair and, fear building up so strong in my stomach, I thought I would be sick.
"Then how Analeigh-" she yanked my head to the side "-did this happen?" Mother sounded like a wild animal, and the whimpers that evaded my control made no attempt to help.
I couldn't bring myself to say it. I couldn't force the words out, they knotted and twisted painfully in my throat. Gouging deeper and deeper into the already swollen tissue, as I fought to explain.
The girls, the girls at school I thought as more tears began to sear my eyes. Sweltering hot flames poured down my cheeks, falling down my trembling chin. "They-they held me down-" I choked "-and I-I…" I shook my head clawing my mother's hands with dull nails.
"They-" I coughed "-they st-started cutting it a-all off-there was nothing I could dooo!" The words came as uneasy spurts, current after current of illogical sputtering as I tried to untangle her fingers.
I gasped, my throat clogging up with my own saliva, hurtful hacks breaking my lips.
James' fist slammed down on the table, another whine shoving past the block in my throat. "Did Eliani do this?" He asked, the low bass of his voice drawing another yowl from me, as I fought against my mother's claws to nod. "Y-yes, E-E-Eliani and the others." I sobbed, my shoulders heaving as the kink in my throat shattered.
Finally, she let me go, my mother snarling furiously as she readied her palm. I winced, unable to stop my hands from flying up, flying up to cover my face. But I was too slow, I was always too slow.
Her hand was like stone, slashing across my face in one swift second. I'd had no time to steady myself, no time to catch myself as my chair fell at the force.
First it was my hands, my fingers twisting, snapping under my weight. My shoulder smacking against the hardwood, and then it was my face. My brain went swimming inside of my skull, bashing around in agony as my head cracked against the cold wood.
My jaw stung, my cheek bone had begun to pound, nearly as hard as my heart was. The ache ran throughout my face and straight down the right side of my body. Like live wires, my blood became electricity, scorching my skin, and cutting away at my bones.
A pool had begun to form around my face, tears wound through my hair, the dust of the floor floating into my eyes. My lips had started to tingle, a coppery taste filling the inside of my mouth, running over my tongue and staining the floor.
"I suppose that's what you deserve isn't it?" My mother hissed as I grimaced, swallowing the tears and blood and grime. The haggard flavour making my stomach heave, my eyes watering even more. "Maybe the Lord is finally punishing you for what you've done. Sleeping with The Devil Himself! Ugh! You disgust me!"
A shriek rung in my ears, the world around me started to spin. The hellish colours of my mother's fury written face had moulded together. The walls were closing; James was blurring and the floor-the floor!
It was pulling me in by my very skin, like knives ripping through my flesh, like claws tearing my being right out of my body. And the scream got louder and louder until I could barely think-could barely breathe.