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Chapter One: Abuse
The Mask
Do you see it?
Do you see the mask I wear?
I wear this mask everyday,
to fool people,
to fool myself.
I hide my emotions,
my tears,
my pain.
Just to keep the ones I love
happy in a fairy tale world
they pretend to live in.
I lie to myself everyday,
thinking it's right,
but deep down,
knowing it's not,
knowing that it's killing me from the inside.
This is my suicide,
my secret suicide.
Please,
break my mask.
A petite girl around the age of fourteen laid in a bed and stared at the plain white ceiling that was in her room. Her long sleeved shirt was rolled up to her elbows. Purple and blue circles seemed to be colored all over her arms and a part of a scar showed on her stomach as her shirt lifted as she moved. She sat up suddenly, as if hearing something that only the trained ear could hear. Her black layered hair, with tint of brown swished as sat up and patiently waited.
A clink of keys was heard and a person swearing could be heard from the kitchen on the first floor. A door was slammed upon, breaking of glass was heard, and then a pounding of footsteps on the stairs were steadily making their way toward the girl's room.
The girl took a deep breath and silently closed her eyes. With a great force, her door was thrust open and banged against the wall, where an indent waited for impact, obviously suffering from other times that the door was merciless upon it.
A woman in maybe her mid-thirties to mid-forties looked into the room and laid her furious brown eyes on the girl. The woman was in a tight mini-skirt and a glittering halter top that was way too much revealing. Her makeup was overdone, with her lips painted a bright red and her eyes covered with blue eye shadow.
"Marissa Ann Sherman!"
The woman screamed as she angrily stomped toward the girl on the bed. The girl, Marissa, open her startling eyes. Her greenish eyes void of any emotion, the same as her face. In a dull, monotone voice she responded.
"Yes mother."
It was statement, not a question. Marissa didn't ponder why her mother was mad, nor did she stand up for herself or make any move to comfort. She knew what was going to happen, for it was a daily occurrence.
Marissa's head snapped to the side as her mother slapped her. The sound seemed to echo through the room, but unfortunately the silence didn't last long.
"Bitch!"
Her hair was grabbed painful and she was thrown to the ground.
"You ungrateful child!"
Kicks to the stomach was received and more bruises accompanied the others.
"After all I've done for you!"
Another kick to the head rendered her dizzy for a few moments.
"You're the reason your father left!"
A couple more punches met with her face and stomach.
Her mother stopped, her breathing heavy and her once neat hair, messy and sweaty. She composed herself, and heatedly glared at the child on the ground. She turned her head and walked to the open door.
"Maybe this will finally be a lesson you learn."
And with that said, walked out and slammed the door closed.
Marissa laid on her floor. She could have defended herself, she knew that she was way stronger than her mother, then why didn't she do anything?
She sighed and finally stood up. Marissa walked to her adjoining bathroom; she knew she had to see the damage her mother did.
She flinched as she saw herself in the mirror and looked down at herself.
The bruises on her arms. She could hide as she always did.
The cuts on her stomach. She could deal with.
But the large bruise on her face. Oh boy...
She lifted her head to look into the mirror again and hesistantly touched her cheek and realized it was beginning to swell. Marissa sighed again and looked up to the ceiling, searching for an answer.
Softly, she spoke to herself.
"What am I going to tell Genkai?"
That's right. Genkai.
Author's Note: Yes this is a totally brand new revision of Peculiar Girl. I'm not satisfied with the other version, hence why I couldn't go on with it. So... hopefully this one will turn out ok!