Another moment,

Another lie.

Another life,

Another why.

Another time,

Another say.

Another place,

Another way.

Another chance,

Another mystery.

Another day,

Another misery.

"Bubbles! Get the fuck down here and make me some breakfast!" I groan softly as I wake to the sound of my father's voice. My ears ring a little from the noise, but I ignore it. I quickly toss on some clothes, not bothering to look nice, before heading downstairs to the kitchen. My father glares at me as I enter; I give him a small nod before starting his breakfast. I exchange glances with Blossom as she scrubs the dishes clean, carelessly immersing her hands in the burning water. It leaves her hands red and raw, but she doesn't seem to care. I start the eggs as Buttercup comes down the stairs, her frame looks weak and boney like she hadn't eaten in weeks. In fact…Had she eaten? I don't remember… Dad looks angrily at Buttercup,

"Clean the damn living room," he commands. Buttercup remains in her place, almost frozen.

"Get your fat ass in the living room and clean that damn mess!" he shouts at her, she clenches her fists, trying to keep it together, as she walks into the living room. I hope she's alright, she's very self-conscious about her weight…

I pour the now finished eggs onto a plate for my father. I set it in front of him at the dining room table. He smirks at his food before patting my arm in a way of thanks, the only problem is he pats hard. It feels more like he's slapping me and I'm displeased to find that it leaves a bruise.

"Bubbles! Buttercup! Come on, the bus will be here soon!" Blossom calls from the front door. I grab my dirty light blue back pack and join my sisters as we walk out the door and to the bus stop.

There is a shared sigh of relief as we walk ever farther away from the house, ever farther away from him. I rub my new bruise subconsciously as we wait in silence.

Finally the dull, yellow bus pulls up in front of us. We walk on slowly, sitting in the very front seats and letting the bus driver take us away, further still away from him.

High school is like a haven to me. No one knows about our dad, I doubt many people care. Here, we're just some other teenagers, famous life saving teenagers, but teenagers none the less. My sisters and I part ways with a simple, 'bye, see you at lunch.' I walk through the crowds with ease heading to Spanish five, my first hour.

"Hey, Bubbles!" My friend Dina greets me as I take my seat beside her. I give her a smile as I take my Spanish binder out of my backpack.

"Hey, Dina, what's up?" I ask casually.

She shrugs, "nothing much, what's up with you?" I sigh, subconsciously touching my bruise again.

"Nothing," I smile. The bell rings and we turn our attention to Mr. Henry as he starts today's lesson.

The bell rings again and Dina and I head to choir together. I walk quietly as Dina talks excitedly about something her family did last weekend. We arrive at the choir room a little early, but that's fine. I put my backpack under my chair and Dina does the same with hers. She starts another conversation and I pretend to be interested until class starts once again.

The teacher dismisses us for our open half, we head to the cafeteria while the other 10th grade choir fills the room.

I sit sullenly at the table with Dina, Tabby, Olivia, and Abby while they talk about seeing a movie this Friday. They invite me, but I decline, making up an excuse about being too busy. I glance at my bruise and they follow my eyes. Abby gasps loudly.

"Oh my gosh! Bubbles, where did you get that bruise?" she asks worriedly, I wave it off.

"I'm fine, it's doesn't hurt. I ran into the bookcase this morning is all," I lie. Olivia laughs.

"Better be more careful," she warns. I smile.

"Yeah," I whisper in agreement. I shut my eyes and grip my wrists while they move on to a different subject. I take a deep breath and try to control it, try to not feel like I need it… but I do.

The bell rings and I head to lunch, the other girls head to their next class as they have a different lunch than I do. I walk into the lunch room and grab a tray of unappetizing looking food. I take a seat at a table with my sisters, Blossom smiles at me while Buttercup gives me a small nod.

I whisper, "hey," before taking a bite of my grilled cheese. Blossom sips her soup slowly and Buttercup plays with her water bottle.

I finish my sandwich and take a few sips of my milk. I glance towards my stomach and the feeling accelerates. I look over at Blossom as she returns of dumping her tray,

"I have to use the washroom, I'll be right back," I tell her. She nods and Buttercup sighs,

"Whatever," she says hitting her near fill water bottle on the table again. I grab my backpack and head to the girl's restroom; I head into a stall and lock the door. I gently lift baby blue t-shirt up to wear I can clearly see my belly button and all the other scars…The scars that I made. I take a pair of scissors out of my backpack and press the blade to my skin. I get goose bumps at the cold metal on my pale skin. I swipe it across making sure it leaves a trail of red blood cells. I exhale in relief and despair. When did I start needing that so bad, since when did cutting myself help me get through the day? I force the tears to stay in my eyes as I put the scissors back in my back pack and slide my shirt down. I flush the toilet in case anyone else was in the washroom. I grab my backpack and walk to the sink to wash my hands.

I return to the lunch room, it doesn't look like Buttercup nor Blossom missed me. Buttercup's water bottle has a few more sips missing but her food remains untouched. I nod toward her and she grabs her tray as I grab mine. We head to the trash can together and throw our food away. We return to Blossom in silence. She sighs, checking her watch

"We have five minutes until we have to be at our next class, want to just go early?" she asks. I nod, my hand uneasily resting on my stomach.

"Sure," I state. Buttercup stands.

"Let's go," she says, grabing her back pack. I follow her as she leads the way to the girl's locker room, as we have gym together for third hour. We change before heading into the gym. My sisters and I take a seat on the bleachers as we wait for the class to start. I look toward Buttercup, seeing her in short shorts and a short t-shirt really makes me notice just how skinny she has gotten. I swear you could see every bone in her body... It's almost scary. She has a bruise here or there, but nothing major. Though she does have a scar on her cheek from when dad slapped her because she was 'too rebellious.' Blossom is a different story; she has more bruises than I ever noticed. Seeing her in a shorter shirt makes me notice the burns on her arms, from what? I don't know, but they're pretty bad. Though I'm sure I don't look much better. I have the bruise I got this morning, plus a couple on my legs, plus the few cuts I have on my writs…Those were my first cuts, people had asked me about them because they were in plain view. Soon after, I started cutting on my stomach, hiding them under my shirt. People generally ignore us in this class, I think for two reasons: One, we have super powers and beat everyone at everything, Two, like I said, I'm not sure exactly how 'healthy' we looked.

The class ends quickly and we change back to our normal clothes. The girls mock me in the locker room about how I refuse to take my shirt off in front of them. They think I'm self conscious…but I'm not really…I just…don't want to talk about my scars and cuts. My sisters and I part again, me heading toward Math. I get there a few seconds before the bell rings. Mr. K smiles and enthusiastically starts the class. I stare at the board and pretend to pay attention.

Finally school's over.

Don't get me wrong, as I said before school is a haven. It's nice, but it's the walk home from school that I really love. It's that one time of day where there's no one there. No dad to being awful to, no friends you're telling lies to, just my sisters and I, walking in peace, free to be who we really are. I find myself skipping this particular day, the sun is shining a bit brighter than normal and it makes me smile. Blossom smiles widely at me,

"Good to see you're in a good mood," she says happily. I laugh easily with her.

"Yup" I reply. Buttercup gives me a short smile.

"What's so good about today, than?" she asks, I shrug.

"I don't know, the sun's shining and it just gives me this good feeling, like something great is going to happen," I try to explain. Blossom nods slowly,

"Well, I do have some good news," she says as we turn the block heading toward our drive way.

"And what's that?" asks Buttercup. Blossom smiles, pointing to the empty drive way,

"Dad's not home."

We smile widely at each other, running to the door in joy. We step inside the house and lock the door behind us, happy to be without him for a moment. We head to out separate rooms to maybe finish our homework in silence for once. I open the door to my blue and blood stained room. Being in there gave me an iron taste in my mouth, I couldn't say I liked that, but I could probably say I needed it.

I pack away my science homework as I hear a car pull into our drive way. I hear someone get out and stomp their way to the front door. They bang on it loudly and wait a moment, I don't make a move to answer the door, nor do my sisters as he swears and fumbles around for his keys.

Finally the door opens and we are greeted by our father with the ever nice, "why the hell didn't you get the god damn door!"