Chapter 21
Though the bed was warm and comfortable, I came out of my slumber with a groggy uneasiness stirring in my chest. I was awake, yet my alarm hadn't gone off. I listened without opening my eyes. I held my breath for a moment and heard the faint sound of someone else's breathing beside me. I opened my eyes in shock, sitting up sharply to find someone towering over me in the dark. I scrambled backwards against the wall and looked up in terror at the angry face of Ray.
He reached out to grab a fistful of my hair and dragged me out of the bed. My scream pierced the night as the sharp pain heightened as he yanked on me. I desperately moved with his fist, toppling over the edge of the bed and onto the floor with a thud. Ray yanked me up and clamped a hand over my mouth as he jerked me and shoved me backward into the wall. There was a heavy stench of alcohol and vomit, and I choked on his hand and pushed at him frantically, my eyes watering.
"I noticed…that you weren't coming home as you usually did. I thought that you had found somewhere else to live, and I was happy about it," Ray slurred.
Shaking violently, I scrabbled at his hand and looked into his eyes narrowed with hate. I tried to speak against his hand, and the loud muffled sounds stopped when he slammed my head backward against the wall. Tears flooded my eyes as his voice continued to murmur through the darkness and the pounding pain in my skull.
"You don't belong here. Your mother and I live here, and you belong somewhere else. You keep coming back, like some kind of creature that I keep trying to get rid of."
I gasped for air against his hand, my lungs crying in desperation as the water in my eyes spilled over down my cheeks. I was shaking violently, and fear gripped me.
"We both can't live here, and I intend to be the one who stays. But no matter how many times I hit you, or threaten you, or tell you to go away, you keep…coming…back..."
He let go of me, and I gasped for air as I stumbled away, but I felt lightheaded and watched as the floor came up and clobbered me. I scrabbled around on the ground for something to hold onto, dizziness immobilizing me. I started to sob in terror, and Ray stepped past me to the door, kicked it shut, and locked it.
"Please…!" I sobbed frantically.
"Now I'm going to ensure you don't come back. I'm going to teach you a lesson that you won't easily disregard…"
He grabbed my shirt and yanked me off of the floor, making me cry out as he slammed me back against the wall. He raised his other fist in the air, and I cringed in terror, pleading frantically with him.
I felt as if I would faint after the third blow, but I didn't, not until he hoisted me up again and sent me flying into the opposite wall. There was an explosion in my head, and the blackness of the night rushed in, yanking my consciousness out from under me.
A final whispered cry escaped from my lips as I hit the floor, "Piero!"