Percy's POV

Tuesday, September 27th

2:00 P.M

The Jackson Apartment, Queensboro New York, New York.

As I walked home I contemplated telling Gabe that I had detention for the remainder of the week.

You see, you have to be careful around him, especially when he's drunk. If you don't watch what you say, the next thing you know you're on the ground; moaning in pain where he just kneed you in the gut. All these thoughts and millions more swirled around in my brain as I rode the elevator up to the small apartment I call home.

The door as usual was unlocked and opened slightly, I walked in and closed the door as quietly as I could. As I set my bookbag next to the door a very large hand clamped down on my shoulder. Gabe spun me around and shoved me against the wall. The disgusting pig of a man my mother married. Why do you ask did she marry someone like him?

Well, when I was nine years old, my dad died in a car accident and my mom Sally Jackson remarried two years later to my now drunk and abusive step-father Gabe. My life growing up back then was hard enough, but when Gabe came into the picture my whole life went to hell. The abuse first started when I was twelve, it was more so verbal than physical abuse. At age fourteen, I came home one day and that's when I nearly got the crap beat out of me. I didn't know why this continued to happen, and it wasn't until I turned the age of sixteen did I understand why he'd beat me so much. He was abusive as much as he was an alcoholic.

Even to this day, I have never been strong or fast enough to defend myself against him. For the record, I am seventeen and yet I barely know how to fight someone much less stick up for myself. I don't care what people call me, the emo who sits in the back of the class, the freak who can't read nor write. I've heard it all. And the sad part is, I'm used to it.

Back to the part where I first walked in...

As I was shoved against the wall, Gabe started shouting words of abuse at me." Are you gonna cry punk, if so, go cry to your daddy? Oh wait, that's right you don't have one. Stand up and fight instead of cyring like the retard you are.!" And he said some things that I can't and shouldn't repeat; so I won't.

Gabe tried to land a few punches on my face; but I ducked, I could tell that he was drunk for one thing. Beer bottle in his left hand, but the next time he swung at me I wasn't so lucky.

I felt a searing pain on the right side of my face as I fell to the ground and I could tell that I was bleeding from where he'd just punched me. I tried to( keyword tried) to cover my face with my hands and arms as blow after blow rained down on me. Gabe kicked me and punched me all over, and then suddenly it stopped. I looked up from where he was and he staggered over to the couch and passed out.

Now that the beating was over, I used the wall behind me to help myself stand up. Black spots danced across my line of sight, I knew that somewhere under my t-shirt my entire body was black and blue. I staggered down the hallway and to the bathroom, closing the door and locking it. I limped over to the mirror and looked at my face, which was bruised black and blue. One eye was swollen shut, I had a small cut on the left side of my forehead, both my lips were split and I had a small trail of blood leaking out of the top right corner of my mouth.

I can't do anything to fix my swollen eye except to put ice on it and possibly the nasty bruises on the underside of my ribs and back. I used toilet paper and band-aids to fix the cut on my forehead, my split lips, and wiped away the blood on my mouth. I took off my shirt with a lot of pain.

Yep, I was right. I had many bruises on mostly my stomach, ribs, and my arms as well. Just about every part of me ached and hurt with pain.

After several minutes of trying to take care of my many injuries, I walked or rather limped out of the bathroom, back into the living room where Gabe was still passed out. I walked into the small kitchenette and went to the refrigerator and pulled out several large ice packs. I put one on my forehead, one on my ribcage, and finally the other one on my back. I walked into my room closed the door and locked it, I didn't bother trying to finish my homework. So I went and crashed on my bed and fell asleep. I knew that I would be staying in detention with that Chase girl for the rest of the week, but she was the least of my worries. Right now, the only thing I wanted was hours of sleep.

And so before I closed my eyes, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

This is going to be a very long week.