Welcome to Chapter 2, those few people who are reading this story! I felt that people didn't like this story, so I decided that I wouldn't post any more chapters. But I am now, I guess. Enjoy the chapter!
I ran all the way to my house, but slowed when I got close to the front door.
After taking deep gulps of outside air and hoping that they wouldn't be my last, I walked inside to my own personal hell.
My house was smaller than all the houses around, so it felt like the walls were closing in on me. The floorboards were squeaky and dusty, as my parents never cleaned. It reeked of alcohol and cigarette smoke. Not a pleasant smell.
I tried to be quiet, but the stupid, creaky floorboard gave me away. The talking in the kitchen stopped abruptly. I gulped, scared of what was to await me. I heard a chair scrape on the kitchen floor, and my breath caught in my throat.
Run away, my conscience said, the fight-or-flight response kicking in. They can't hurt you if they can't catch you!
But I was stuck. My feet wouldn't move me.
I could see a shadow coming down the hall, and I cast a wild look at the stairs leading upstairs. Should I try it? No, they'd catch me.
There was a slamming noise, and I almost screamed. My mother had slammed the door leading to the basement. Suddenly, there was a hand on my throat. I couldn't breathe, and I was choking on the saliva that was in my mouth. The hand then left, and I crumpled to the floor. A leather shoe then kicked me in the arm while another hand lifted me off the ground by the hair. I almost cried out, but I knew that the punishment would only get worse if I made any noise. So I just stood there wanting the stupid beating to get over with.
"Look who it is," my mother's putrid breath attacked my face. "The pest."
I swallowed.
"Why are you late, honey?" My mom said in a baby voice. "Was the little baby afraid of the rain?"
She then dropped me and I fell again, my hand massaging my scalp.
Now it was my father's turn to hit me.
He picked me up by the scruff of my shirt and pushed me up against the wall. I immediately got nervous. Even though my mom hits me more, I was WAY more afraid of my father. He had a different way of punishing me.
A very, very bad and different way.
"Watch yourself, pest," He muttered in my ear. "Or else you know what will happen tonight."
My eyes stung. I didn't want that. I really didn't. He hasn't done that in about three months, and I definitely didn't miss it.
"Now… GO TO YOUR ROOM!" He screamed in my face. He dropped me, and I hit the ground with a thud. I scrambled up off the floor and ran to my room, shut the door, and released the breath that I didn't know I was holding onto. I then slid down to the floor and buried my face in my hands.
I'm sorry, God, my mind whispered, my eyes turning to the heavens. I'm truly, truly sorry for whatever I did.
The next day at school wasn't very good. I got yelled at by my homeroom teacher for looking out the window, and Asia and her friends whispered about me behind my back a lot. They called me ugly because of my black eye.
If they knew the whole story, they wouldn't be teasing me.
I was making my parents dinner last night, my hands shaking, and I dropped the pan from the stove. My mom then picked up the pan, which wasn't that heavy, and hit me in the face with it. I got a burn mark and black eye from the experience.
After a tortuous day, the last thing I wanted to do was go home.
I took the walk home really slow that day, not wanting to be home too quickly. There was another bark behind me, and I quickly wheeled around.
The same dog from yesterday came bounding towards me, it's tongue out and it's tail between its legs. I wanted to run away from it, but instead I kicked it with my shoe.
"Go away!" I cried. The dog's teeth sank into my tattered shoe, and ran away with it. I ran after it, running with all my might. I stepped on a few pebbled before I stepped on a big jagged rock, slicing open the bottom of my foot. Blood was seeping into my sock, but I kept running. I've felt worse pain. I ran all the way to the same house as yesterday, my desperation increasing. I didn't want to ring the bell and have that Charles man answer again. But I needed my shoe, and if I came home without it, my parents would beat me again. They probably would anyway, but maybe, just maybe, I could sneak up to my room tonight.
But, for the time being, I really needed my shoe.
Limping now, I walked up the porch steps. I rang the doorbell again, and a few seconds later, a person answered.
This time it wasn't Charles, it was a woman. She was about five foot six inches, looked like she was in her early to mid-twenties, with shoulder length straight brown hair and brown eyes with a thin face. Overall, she was very pretty.
"Hi…" I muttered, my eyes falling to the ground again.
"Hello," The woman said. "Can I help you with something?"
"Your dog has my shoe," I whispered. I could feel her eyes fall upon my now red with blood sock.
"I'm so sorry," She said. "I'll go get your shoe back,"
She looked behind her and called: "Mar-Mar, come here!"
Marley came bounding towards her. The woman crouched down and took the shoe out of the dog's mouth.
"Oh Marley, you silly dog. Here's your shoe ba— hey, are you bleeding?"
She crouched down and examined my sock.
"Oh my gosh, you're bleeding. Okay… come inside and I'll wash it and bandage it for you."
I couldn't come in her house! I was already late for home as it is, and if I was any later, my father might do something bad tonight.
"No," I said too quickly. I then slowed down my speech. "I can't come in. I… I have to get home."
She looked into my eyes. "What's your name?"
"Shiloh," I whispered. "Shiloh Monroe Carter."
"I'm Alli Trippy. It's nice to meet you, Shiloh. You're very pretty."
Yeah right, I thought to myself.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"You're very welcome. Please come inside, Shiloh. You need to wash out your cut or else it will get infected."
Should I trust her? I asked myself. Will she just hurt me if I came inside?
I decided to push my luck and take a chance.
"Okay," I finally gave in. She smiled, took my hand, and walked me inside. The inside of her house was very pretty. There were green walls in the entryway, red walls in the family room, and white walls in the kitchen. She led me to the kitchen table, sat me down, and got a wet cloth.
"Alli?" I heard a voice coming from a room next to the kitchen. "Who was at the door?"
Crap, it was Charles.
I froze, but then my flight-or-fight response kicked in, and I quickly got up. A cry bubbled in my throat as I put pressure on my cut foot.
"Shiloh?" Alli asked, concerned. "What's wrong?"
Without even thinking, I ran behind Alli and stayed there, away from Charles' view.
"Shiloh, what are you doing?" Alli asked, moving away from me. I was then in Charles' view. Terror stole me as Charles took a step closer to me. I immediately put my hands in front of me and turned away.
"I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!" I squeaked. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the blow.
"What are you talking about?" Charles asked, appalled. "Why in the world would I hurt you?"
I opened my eyes in confusion.
"You don't want to hurt me?" I asked. But… But all men wanted to hurt.
"Of course not! Why would I hurt a sweet and innocent nine year old?" Charles asked, sounding amazed that I would ever raise an accusation like that.
I didn't have an answer to that question, so I turned my eyes towards the ground and said nothing.
"Sit down please, Shiloh," Alli said. "I need to clean the cut on your foot."
I quickly sat down, not wanting to disobey Alli. Alli then got out a cold washcloth, took my foot in her hand, and began to clean the wound. It wasn't very deep, but when she then put soap on it, it still stung like a bee. It hurt, but I've felt worse pain. The stinging went down then as Alli gently put a bandage on my foot, trying her hardest not to cause me pain.
"There you go," She whispered, setting down my foot. She looked into my face, and I tried to smile. It came out as a confused frown. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you okay?" She asked. "You seem hurt."
"I'm fine," I lied. I was thinking about how bad I will be hit tonight if I come home any later. "I've got to go."
"Would you like to stay for dinner?" Charles asked from behind me. "We're having pizza."
This was strange. Why would you ask a random stranger to dinner? I literally just met them twenty minutes ago. However, my mouth watered at the sound of pizza. I've never had pizza in my entire life, and I probably wasn't going to eat any time soon…
But I can't.
My parents would kill me if they smelled any sort of food on my breath.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not allow— I mean, I have to get home." I said, wishing I could stay.
"Okay… Would you like me to drive you to your house?" Alli asked.
"NO!" I yelped. I then put a hand over my mouth. They were both staring at me.
"I have to leave, I'm sorry," I said quickly, putting on my ratty sneaker and standing up. "Thank you for helping me, Alli. And Charles… Thanks for… for not hurting me."
"No problem," Charles whispered, staring at me. Alli was biting her lip, looking anxious.
I quickly put on my backpack and walked briskly out of the house. As soon as my torn sneaker hit the pavement, however, I was off in a full on run.
And that is chapter two over and done with. I have more chapters, but I don't know when I'll post them.
Please review, because it makes me happy, and I hope you have an awesome day!
