"Kirika Chiba, I'm here to take you away." The creepy man walked closer to me as I started to back away from him.

The atmosphere started to get heavy and thick. He wasn't sane, he was something bad...really bad that I had the urge to run away. "Get away from me!" I took off running in a different direction. The adrenaline in my vein was scary. I was terrified for my life and what's to come after it. I ran into the woods to cut him off. All I could see were large trees, but I heard his heavy panting every step of the way.

"You can't outrun me! I've been waiting for this day ever since I laid my eyes on you." My stomach twisted in disgust. He sounded like a hungry wolf. I was his prey and he was my predator.

My lungs were burning from my irregular breathing. I had so many thoughts running through my brain as I started to feel regretful of my action for leaving the residency… but I made the choice to leave, so I'm the one to blame for getting myself into this situation. "Ack!" I yelled from tripping over a big root. His panting sounds were getting louder and louder, as I felt a twitching pain growing in my ankle. "Shit!" I knew I wouldn't be able to run at full speed because I sprained my ankle.

"I got you…" I yelped in pain as he pulled my black hair back. My scalp was on fire from his rough grabbing. "It was a foolish decision to run in the woods," he whispered into my ear before taking me away from the woods.

"Let go of me!" I swung my arms as he was trying to clip a chain around my non-sprained ankle. "I don't want to be here!" But from retaliation, I was smacked hard across the face. The feeling stung that I felt a tingling sensation.

"Shut up. There's no need for you to whine about your life. You chose to get yourself into this mess,"

I lifted my hand and touched the stinging pain, and it brought back memories from my household…

"How could you engage in adultery?! Am I not enough for you? Is our family not enough?" Mother's voice cracked as tears were swelling from her eyes.

I stood behind the ajar door, listening in to their conversation. I was confused on what they were arguing about, but mother was very mad at father.

"You can't give me any children! Throughout our marriage, you gave me one child—a daughter—out of the rest you lost. I wanted a son to pass our values and last name down, not a useless daughter who will be sent off to another family and forget about us." Father yelled at mother in hate and regret.

I stared in shock… My heart shattered into many pieces. Father never loved me, he was only there because mother was able to conceive me. He never wanted me…

"That gives you no reason to commit— AH!" Mother screamed from a hit to her face, and I bolted up from where I watched and ran over to her.

"Mother!" I hugged her in my arms to protect her from father's hits.

"Kirika…!"

"Oh? Someone's quiet now. Before you were so physical, and now you're not after one hit to the face?" he sneered at me, laughing at my distraught figure. I screamed at him, almost hitting him, but he caught my hands before it could land onto his face. "Just because you're a woman, I will hit you…. After all, you're mine. I can do whatever I want to you." He again slapped the same area of my face, and in response, I shrieked, spilling out small tears from my eyes. "You will learn how to be obedient under my house."

While he was trying to order me to do things in the house, my instinct was to stab him to death because there was no way out of here. I gripped the knife I was holding as I chopped vegetables for dinner. I couldn't afford to be treated like this. "Is this how you make someone love you? By abusing them," I turned around to stare at him reading a book at the table. I hid the knife behind my back, so when he peered closer to me, I'll stab him, but my mind was having two scenarios created: one is I kill him, or two is he caught onto me and hurt me again.

"I'm shaping you into a better wife. I will tame you, even if it means to break into your mind and crushing everything good in your life." Being riled up from his words, I dumbly charged at him. He knew it was coming so he pulled my long chain attached to my ankle, causing me to fall down in the process. I fell, loosening my grip of the knife. He walked over as my head was swirling and kicked the knife out of my hand. "Don't play like that," he shifted his hands to my neck and squeezed it tightly, cutting my supply of air.

I was gasping for air like a fish on dry land, in need of water, but for I needed oxygen. My fingers were trying to scratch his hands off from my neck as he stared deep into my eyes. "I'm very smart, Kirika Chiba. I will get what I want from you because I'm crazy in obsessed with you. I hate to see you in so much pain because someone can't listen… so that's why I'm going to have to discipline you!" my world turned upside down as I was getting beaten up.

I was screaming in agony as I couldn't form any words from my mouth. My body was aching and throbbing all over. Blood was seeping through my mouth and nose. I couldn't fight back due to him being stronger than me. He would punch me all over the face and body, telling me to repeat his words of obedience. But I couldn't say it, I couldn't let this abuser break my spirit. My mind said no, but I knew my body wanted to say yes so the beating could stop.

"It's not that hard to say!" he picked me up and threw me to the wall. I didn't have time to react as I was too focused on my pain. "Just say it and this lesson will be over!" he grabbed my face, forcing me to stare at him.

"Never!" I spat at his face which he threw me to the ground and started to beat me over and over again until I couldn't move.

Seconds felt like hours as I didn't know how long it took him to stop hurting me. I was on the brink of blacking out, or possibly death… but this was a sad way to die.

"You look like a wounded deer in its own pool of blood." I was breathing very slowly, feeling my chest and ribs aching. Each breath was agonizing. There was a sharp pain to my ribs, and I knew for sure he broke them. He had no words to say to me as he walked off, leaving me in a bloody state.

As much as my body was hurting, I was drawn into la-la land to save me from this reality I lived in, but la-la land only made it worse.

"Kirika…!" Father was in shock to see me protect mother.

"Don't hurt her!" I cried out. My emotions were swirling around, not knowing what to feel. "Get away from her!" I let out a piercing scream.

"Servants, take Kirika away!" Servants were trying to make me leave, but I didn't want to. I couldn't let him hurt mother. A man would never lay a hand on a woman.

"You're not a father or a man! You're an abuser!" I shouted in pure frustration and anger to him. "A father and a man would love their wife and children, but you can't love any because you were never fit for this role!" I kept taunting him, to the point where he came charging at me, but he was stopped by his servants from laying a hand on me. I saw in his eyes he wasn't my father anymore. He was a different person.

I woke up from my black out and stared at the ceiling above me. It was funny how I started to remember the memories that I blocked out from my head. My family was never perfect—it was broken when he committed adultery and ruined what a family should've been.