At first, all I could think about was that I was glad Serenity was
not there. The sick, twisted maniacal bastard would have surely broken her.
My father, no, not my father, it was a drooling, swearing drunkard who had
killed my father and assumed his identity, had come home, and I was
instantly ready for trouble.
"What the hell you staring at!" He shouted, slashing at my face with a short bladed kitchen knife. The force of the attack knocked me done, and I grumbled, trying to stand back up. He followed by slicing me across the chest and arm, my blood dripping on the already filthy carpet.
"Damn worthless boy!" He slashed again. His strikes were not deep, but I could feel my vision blurring. Everytime he came home like this, it felt like it would be the last night of my life. But somehow, the next morning, I was still alive. It still felt like I'd die, my father, in a drunken haze, would slash my neck or my wrists, and I'd bleed to death. I tried to move away, and was slashed across the back. I yelped, and in anger, he slashed the back of my legs. I fell to the ground.
"Weak, pathetic boy. You can't even get up!" He said, kicking me in the side. Then he took the knife and carved a line down my back, like an autopsy cut. I felt it burn, and yet I couldn't scream, screaming would make the knife go deeper, or the cut go longer.
Then I heard a gunshot. My first reaction was my father had grabbed the derringer from above the fireplace and drove the thing into my head, but now, that would have been too merciful for that demon.
"Get away from the boy, motherfucker!" Came a strangely familiar voice. It was loud and female, and very, very sexy. I tried to turn my head, but I was greeted by another blistering hot stab in my back.
"I said move, bitch!" Another gunshot, and I heard the clang of metal fall to the ground. Ms. Sexy must have shot my father's wrist, if she was the one shooting, and made him dropped the knife. There were no more stabs, thank whatever God was responsible for that, but I couldn't see, barely hear, and all I could feel was my blood oozing out of my wounds. I heard Ms. Sexy say something else, another gunshot, then a thud. I couldn't move, afraid to see if my father had wrestled the gun from Ms. Sexy and killed her. I heard footsteps, the heavy clacking of boots, come over towards me. My father had been wearing heavy boots, so I immediately feared the worst. Steeling myself, I tensed every muscle in my body, preparing myself for the searing kiss of Ms. Sexy's gunto be inserted to my temple and fired until nothing was left.
"Oh shit, you're in awful shape." Came a voice that wasn't my father. In fact, it was vaguely familiar. I tried to move.
"Quit moving, Joseph." She ordered. "I'll take care of you now." She said. Mai? Was it Mai? I would never have expected her to come help me, although she was badass enough to come into a house with a psychotic fuck like my dad with guns blazing. I felt her move me, and although I could barely see, I caught a whiff of Mai's perfume and I saw her golden hair dangling in front of my face.
"M...Mai?" I called out, desperate to believe this wasn't a dream and I wasn't still getting the shit kicked out of me.
"How about shutting up. Talking will make it worse." She responded. Yep, it was Mai. Her boisterous attitude was something that no dream could mimic. I felt her lay me down on something leather, and soon deduced it was her car. She drove for about 5 minutes in the fast, breakneck way that she drove in, and then brought the car to a slower stop, not wanting me to roll around. She picked me up again and walked through a few dimly lit hallways to her apartment. My vision had finally cleared, and it was similar to the one my father and I lived in: kitchen, two bedrooms, and a living room. She brought me into one of the bedrooms, and then left the room. She came back quickly afterwards with something in her hand
"Can you talk now?" She asked quietly.
"Barely." I tried to smile.
"Drink this, its just water." She ordered, handing me a grossly oversized novelty cup filled nearly to the brim. I downed it quickly, and it helped. My vision cleared, and I could make out where I was.
"I'll be right back." She said. I regarded my surroundings. I was laying on a large queen sized bed with the quilt disgustingly bathed in my blood. I tried to stand u, but the jarring pain in my legs forced me to sit down.
"Don't walk. Not yet." Mai returned holding a white first aid kit. She opened it and dabbed some peroxide on a cotton sponge like the ones Serenity used to apply her makeup.
"Shut your eyes." She commanded. I did so, and I immediately felt the sting of the peroxide on my open cuts, but it was nothing compared to those searing knife wounds I experienced a little while ago. She tossed the sponge, now completely red, into a small trashcan.
"Why are...you doing this?" I asked.
"Shut up." She ordered again, wiping my face again. She then applied some sterile bandages to my face. I hoped I didn't look pathetic to her; something I never wanted to do. I wanted her to see me as strong, but it was hard to be strong when you were bleeding everywhere.
As if sensing my mood, Mai spoke.
"I heard something really violent when I passed by your house, and when I saw the address, I had to run in. I shot your father twice." She said.
"I...that wasn't..." I said.
"I know how you feel about him." Mai said. "Lift up your arms." She ordered. I did, and then Mai grabbed my shirttails and pulled up, taking my shirt off. She treated my back, probably the worst area of my body, but I couldn't help but be a little nervous. I never really thought about dating and intimate things, you never really did when you had such a shitty home life, and yet here I was, getting treated by the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and she was even undressing me.
"Don't read into this." She said, rubbing my arms with peroxide.
"It's...hard not to." I said with a laugh.
"Well, you're acting like an idiot, so I'd say you're back to normal." She said. I looked at the trashcan, and there were a lot of blood soaked cotton wads. I didn't know I had so much in my body.
"Feeling any better." She asked.
"You know the answer." I said, laughing again.
"Can you move?" She asked. I nodded and flipped around, then she started treating my chest.
"God, what was he doing, an autopsy?"
"He was drunk, who knows." I replied absently.
"Take off your jeans." She ordered. Even though the pain on the back of my calves hurt like nobody's business, I was still initially nervous.
"I told you not to read into this. Don't worry, I'm not going to violate you or anything like that." Mai said as I finished. She treated my calves, and it felt really good, I lost any anxiety I had when she started treating me.
"Your boxers are free of blood, so I don't think you have any cuts under there." She noted. I was glad. Letting Mai see me naked was something I was not ready for, not by a long shot, even if she was just treating my wounds.
"Okay, now get some rest, don't worry about all the blood." She said. "You'll feel better in the morning."
It was difficult to fall asleep. Getting comfortable was the easy part, but whenever I shut my eyes, I felt the bang of the knife in my back, and my gaze turned red, imagining the blood. Eventually, fatigue caught up with me and I drifted off. When I awoke, it felt like I barely slept at all, but it felt infinitely better. But I needed some grub and a shower, then I could sleep for a week.
It was difficult to walk, but I was eventually able to do it with little problem. I was still wearing only my boxers, having no desire to put those blood stained clothes back on. Mai was cooking something in the kitchen in a skillet, and she smiled when she saw me. She laid down a plate of scrambled eggs before me, and I ate with such a haste she looked worried I would choke. In truth, they were pretty nasty; they had the aftertaste of hot sauce, but I scarfed down three plates of them.
"Go get cleaned up." She said. I nodded, and she showed me the bathroom. I stripped off my boxers and looked in the mirror. I wasn't bleeding anymore, but I still bore all of the scars. I took a cold shower, the water soothing the pain if even for a minute, and then toweled myself off. I put my boxers back on and went back to the bedroom, and fell asleep almost immediately.
When I woke up, it was the afternoon. Mai was in the living room, filing her nails.
"I went to your house. There's a crime scene there, so I couldn't get in. I was going to call your mother, but I figured you should." I agreed, and went to the phone.
Serenity picked up. "Wheeler house." She said.
"Serenity, it's me."
"Joey! Oh my god, are you alright?" She said. "Hold on, I'll get Mom." From the sound, Serenity dropped the phone and scampered away. A minute later, Mom picked up the phone.
"Where are you, when I heard that your father was..."
"I'm at a friend's house."
"Yugi's?"
"No, Mai. Serenity knows her."
"I'll come get you. Put Miss Mai on the phone." I handed the phone to Mai, who gave Mom directions.
"Better grab your clothes." Mai said as she hung the phone up with a wink. "Wouldn't want her to think anything happened.
Mom showed up fifteen minutes later with Serenity. I was happy to see her, even though we didn't get along. Serenity hugged me, and nearly opened up one of my back scars, while my Mom weeped with joy from a distance. That was the way she was. Mai explained what had happened, that she shot Dad. I don't think she killed him, and that made me both upset and relieved at the same time, although if I was relieved it sickened me.
"Well, I can't say you're diplomatic." Mom said. "But diplomacy was hardly the order of the day. Thank you. Joey, let's go, where are your clothes?" I held up the bloody rags that didn't do much to cover me up anyway. Mai handed me an extra blanket that I wrapped around myself.
"You're shaking." Serenity said as we drove away. Mai had insisted on coming so she could file some police reports with Mom once I was safe.
"I know." I said. I looked down at the floor, and then at Mai. She looked confidently ahead, at the setting sun. It must have been later then I thought. I got out of the car at Mom's and then stood with Mai as she watched the sunset for a minute. And it may have just been a trick with the light, but I could swear that a tear had trickled down her cheek.
"What the hell you staring at!" He shouted, slashing at my face with a short bladed kitchen knife. The force of the attack knocked me done, and I grumbled, trying to stand back up. He followed by slicing me across the chest and arm, my blood dripping on the already filthy carpet.
"Damn worthless boy!" He slashed again. His strikes were not deep, but I could feel my vision blurring. Everytime he came home like this, it felt like it would be the last night of my life. But somehow, the next morning, I was still alive. It still felt like I'd die, my father, in a drunken haze, would slash my neck or my wrists, and I'd bleed to death. I tried to move away, and was slashed across the back. I yelped, and in anger, he slashed the back of my legs. I fell to the ground.
"Weak, pathetic boy. You can't even get up!" He said, kicking me in the side. Then he took the knife and carved a line down my back, like an autopsy cut. I felt it burn, and yet I couldn't scream, screaming would make the knife go deeper, or the cut go longer.
Then I heard a gunshot. My first reaction was my father had grabbed the derringer from above the fireplace and drove the thing into my head, but now, that would have been too merciful for that demon.
"Get away from the boy, motherfucker!" Came a strangely familiar voice. It was loud and female, and very, very sexy. I tried to turn my head, but I was greeted by another blistering hot stab in my back.
"I said move, bitch!" Another gunshot, and I heard the clang of metal fall to the ground. Ms. Sexy must have shot my father's wrist, if she was the one shooting, and made him dropped the knife. There were no more stabs, thank whatever God was responsible for that, but I couldn't see, barely hear, and all I could feel was my blood oozing out of my wounds. I heard Ms. Sexy say something else, another gunshot, then a thud. I couldn't move, afraid to see if my father had wrestled the gun from Ms. Sexy and killed her. I heard footsteps, the heavy clacking of boots, come over towards me. My father had been wearing heavy boots, so I immediately feared the worst. Steeling myself, I tensed every muscle in my body, preparing myself for the searing kiss of Ms. Sexy's gunto be inserted to my temple and fired until nothing was left.
"Oh shit, you're in awful shape." Came a voice that wasn't my father. In fact, it was vaguely familiar. I tried to move.
"Quit moving, Joseph." She ordered. "I'll take care of you now." She said. Mai? Was it Mai? I would never have expected her to come help me, although she was badass enough to come into a house with a psychotic fuck like my dad with guns blazing. I felt her move me, and although I could barely see, I caught a whiff of Mai's perfume and I saw her golden hair dangling in front of my face.
"M...Mai?" I called out, desperate to believe this wasn't a dream and I wasn't still getting the shit kicked out of me.
"How about shutting up. Talking will make it worse." She responded. Yep, it was Mai. Her boisterous attitude was something that no dream could mimic. I felt her lay me down on something leather, and soon deduced it was her car. She drove for about 5 minutes in the fast, breakneck way that she drove in, and then brought the car to a slower stop, not wanting me to roll around. She picked me up again and walked through a few dimly lit hallways to her apartment. My vision had finally cleared, and it was similar to the one my father and I lived in: kitchen, two bedrooms, and a living room. She brought me into one of the bedrooms, and then left the room. She came back quickly afterwards with something in her hand
"Can you talk now?" She asked quietly.
"Barely." I tried to smile.
"Drink this, its just water." She ordered, handing me a grossly oversized novelty cup filled nearly to the brim. I downed it quickly, and it helped. My vision cleared, and I could make out where I was.
"I'll be right back." She said. I regarded my surroundings. I was laying on a large queen sized bed with the quilt disgustingly bathed in my blood. I tried to stand u, but the jarring pain in my legs forced me to sit down.
"Don't walk. Not yet." Mai returned holding a white first aid kit. She opened it and dabbed some peroxide on a cotton sponge like the ones Serenity used to apply her makeup.
"Shut your eyes." She commanded. I did so, and I immediately felt the sting of the peroxide on my open cuts, but it was nothing compared to those searing knife wounds I experienced a little while ago. She tossed the sponge, now completely red, into a small trashcan.
"Why are...you doing this?" I asked.
"Shut up." She ordered again, wiping my face again. She then applied some sterile bandages to my face. I hoped I didn't look pathetic to her; something I never wanted to do. I wanted her to see me as strong, but it was hard to be strong when you were bleeding everywhere.
As if sensing my mood, Mai spoke.
"I heard something really violent when I passed by your house, and when I saw the address, I had to run in. I shot your father twice." She said.
"I...that wasn't..." I said.
"I know how you feel about him." Mai said. "Lift up your arms." She ordered. I did, and then Mai grabbed my shirttails and pulled up, taking my shirt off. She treated my back, probably the worst area of my body, but I couldn't help but be a little nervous. I never really thought about dating and intimate things, you never really did when you had such a shitty home life, and yet here I was, getting treated by the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen, and she was even undressing me.
"Don't read into this." She said, rubbing my arms with peroxide.
"It's...hard not to." I said with a laugh.
"Well, you're acting like an idiot, so I'd say you're back to normal." She said. I looked at the trashcan, and there were a lot of blood soaked cotton wads. I didn't know I had so much in my body.
"Feeling any better." She asked.
"You know the answer." I said, laughing again.
"Can you move?" She asked. I nodded and flipped around, then she started treating my chest.
"God, what was he doing, an autopsy?"
"He was drunk, who knows." I replied absently.
"Take off your jeans." She ordered. Even though the pain on the back of my calves hurt like nobody's business, I was still initially nervous.
"I told you not to read into this. Don't worry, I'm not going to violate you or anything like that." Mai said as I finished. She treated my calves, and it felt really good, I lost any anxiety I had when she started treating me.
"Your boxers are free of blood, so I don't think you have any cuts under there." She noted. I was glad. Letting Mai see me naked was something I was not ready for, not by a long shot, even if she was just treating my wounds.
"Okay, now get some rest, don't worry about all the blood." She said. "You'll feel better in the morning."
It was difficult to fall asleep. Getting comfortable was the easy part, but whenever I shut my eyes, I felt the bang of the knife in my back, and my gaze turned red, imagining the blood. Eventually, fatigue caught up with me and I drifted off. When I awoke, it felt like I barely slept at all, but it felt infinitely better. But I needed some grub and a shower, then I could sleep for a week.
It was difficult to walk, but I was eventually able to do it with little problem. I was still wearing only my boxers, having no desire to put those blood stained clothes back on. Mai was cooking something in the kitchen in a skillet, and she smiled when she saw me. She laid down a plate of scrambled eggs before me, and I ate with such a haste she looked worried I would choke. In truth, they were pretty nasty; they had the aftertaste of hot sauce, but I scarfed down three plates of them.
"Go get cleaned up." She said. I nodded, and she showed me the bathroom. I stripped off my boxers and looked in the mirror. I wasn't bleeding anymore, but I still bore all of the scars. I took a cold shower, the water soothing the pain if even for a minute, and then toweled myself off. I put my boxers back on and went back to the bedroom, and fell asleep almost immediately.
When I woke up, it was the afternoon. Mai was in the living room, filing her nails.
"I went to your house. There's a crime scene there, so I couldn't get in. I was going to call your mother, but I figured you should." I agreed, and went to the phone.
Serenity picked up. "Wheeler house." She said.
"Serenity, it's me."
"Joey! Oh my god, are you alright?" She said. "Hold on, I'll get Mom." From the sound, Serenity dropped the phone and scampered away. A minute later, Mom picked up the phone.
"Where are you, when I heard that your father was..."
"I'm at a friend's house."
"Yugi's?"
"No, Mai. Serenity knows her."
"I'll come get you. Put Miss Mai on the phone." I handed the phone to Mai, who gave Mom directions.
"Better grab your clothes." Mai said as she hung the phone up with a wink. "Wouldn't want her to think anything happened.
Mom showed up fifteen minutes later with Serenity. I was happy to see her, even though we didn't get along. Serenity hugged me, and nearly opened up one of my back scars, while my Mom weeped with joy from a distance. That was the way she was. Mai explained what had happened, that she shot Dad. I don't think she killed him, and that made me both upset and relieved at the same time, although if I was relieved it sickened me.
"Well, I can't say you're diplomatic." Mom said. "But diplomacy was hardly the order of the day. Thank you. Joey, let's go, where are your clothes?" I held up the bloody rags that didn't do much to cover me up anyway. Mai handed me an extra blanket that I wrapped around myself.
"You're shaking." Serenity said as we drove away. Mai had insisted on coming so she could file some police reports with Mom once I was safe.
"I know." I said. I looked down at the floor, and then at Mai. She looked confidently ahead, at the setting sun. It must have been later then I thought. I got out of the car at Mom's and then stood with Mai as she watched the sunset for a minute. And it may have just been a trick with the light, but I could swear that a tear had trickled down her cheek.