"You're so fucking useless!" Lita yelled.
Shelbie tried holding back the tears. Her mother Lita saw and of course she continued her verbal abuse.
"Aw, are you gonna cry, Shelbie?" Lita mocked. "I swear to god I fucking hate you look so much like me with those green eyes and that red hair. Why do you think I dyed my hair brown? Because you're a fucking disgrace. I should have chosen to swallow instead that night you were created."
"I'm sorry," Shelbie said.
"You better be," Lita said. "I wouldn't even feed this to a dog."
Lita emptied the pot of food down into the sink. It hurt Shelbie to see hours of hard work going to waste. Lita had asked for this dish. Lita wanted chili, and Shelbie had worked hard on it. She knew there was no point. Lita would always denigrate her, but it was rare she worked herself up to a point where she wasted the food. Tonight was such a night.
"Now I have to waste money on ordering takeout," Lita said.
Lita walked towards Shelbie. Just as she passed her daughter, she pushed her. Shelbie didn't see it coming. She stumbled backwards and hit her back against the wall. She made a face of pain and let out a sound that made Lita smirk. Lita bent over Shelbie and grabbed her jaw in a tight grip.
"You're fucking lucky I don't throw you out of here. You wouldn't last a day on the street," Lita said. "Now go take care of the twins. At least your sister was worth it. She didn't turn out as bad as you. I actually love her. You could vanish and I wouldn't even notice. You're fucking useless."
Lita walked into the living room to get her phone. Shelbie stood up and walked towards the twins' room in the back. Her nephews, her sister's sons, her mother's grandchildren. She heard her mother and sister talk in the living room as she walked past. They were laughing together while disgussing what pizza to get. No one cared what Shelbie wanted. Not that she would get any. Pizza was too good for her. Knowing her mother well, Lita would probably tell her to go eat the chili in the sink.
She stepped into the twins' room and immediately stumbled over a jumping robe they had tied across the room. She sat up and held her knee. It hurt worse than her back. The twins laughed and ran out of the room. They were expecting her to chase them, and there would be a struggle like no other to get them to shower afterwards.
In that moment her limit had been reached. She finally had enough. She stood up, walked through the house and out of the front door without a word. She kept walking for as long as her knee allowed it. It was throbbing in pain and she knew she had to rest it.
She looked over bushes and fences as she continued forward a little longer. She finally noticed a hammock inside a garden. She knew it was wrong but she couldn't continue and she sure as hell wouldn't go back. Lita had said she wouldn't last a day on the street. She was determined to prove her mother wrong.
She pushed her way through the tight bushes, crossed the garden, and got into the hammock. She looked up at the night sky, watching the last rays of sunlight. The world was falling asleep around her.
She closed her eyes and felt weirdly at peace. If she didn't get to open her eyes ever again, that would be alright. She had finally made the important step of taking herself out of an abusive situation. She didn't care what would happen now. She just wanted to sleep.
