(new chapter! r&r please. Warning: this chapter contains child abuse and cursing... lots of each. )
the next morning I awoke with a start slowly remembering the previous nights events.
FLASHBACK
Just as I sneak in through my window I hear stomping up the stairs. "Catherine! Where the fuck are you?" This is how it always begins,first with the screaming and yelling to get inside my head, calling me names like bitch, slut, skank and whore. Next comes the the beatings. "Bam!" a punch to the face thats going to leave a mark. Glass cracks from being repeatedly slammed into. Bruises, covered in bruises everywhere. She grabs on to my arm with a deathly grip, never loosening. As she slams me into the ground I let out a slight sob. "Make another sound and I'll KILL you!"she screams at me, it may be the same threat over and over again but it shuts me up because I don't doubt that she will. I have no idea what she'll do when shes like this... as I try to sit up she pins me down and pulls out the tool, this time its the opening of a broken bottle, its times like these when I wish I was dead. i remember her ripping something and then things go a little fuzzy. She shoves the bottle into and laughs at my screams.
END OF FLASHBACK
I wake up looking over at the clock. Shit! I'm late! I grab my bag and climb out my window. This is the one thing I love, the one thing I'm good at. As I run in the door Tessa calls out, " Cat! You're late! Jen's covering for you but your up next." "thanks Tess!" I call as I run into the dressing room. I'm ready just as she slides off the pole. "you owe me." Jen whispers as she passes me. "i know." I strut on on the stage in time with the music, I take a deep breath and begin my dance slowly removing more and more clothes as I go. As I finish my final flip off the pole the crowd is whistling and cheering my name. "Cat! Cat! Cat!" Ive earned my name from how flexible I am. Its kind of funny, in here everyone knows me and most of them like me. Back in the dressing room I count up my tips from this past week and I realize that I actually have enough for the shoes I've been wanting...
As I climb back into my window I see shes waiting for me. "Catherine Willow! Where the fuck have you been? And what the hell is in your hair?" I guessing shes talking about the glitter still there. I suppose I should tell her that I've been dancing again... last time she found out that I was out of my room she nearly killed me."i was j-just s-sitting on the r-roof M-Mother." I stare at the ground not wanting to meet her piercing eyes. "Look at me your speaking to me whore." I guess I was lifting my head a little too slowly because she grasped on to my hair and yanks my head up. "i-i was j-just sitting on the r-roof." I repeated. "i swear to god, if you step foot out of your room one more time you wont make it to the Reapings..." She lets go of my head and storms out of my room slamming the door behind her.