Tris pov
"Hello Beatrice."
I cringe at the use of my real name and how it was said. I walk into the living room where my father is standing with rage written on his face.
"Where were you?" He yells at me.
"I-I was just at, um, Christina's. I left something there. I thought you weren't supposed to back until tonight?" I ask him, avoiding telling him the truth.
"Do not change the subject! Those are not your clothes! Where were you!?" Marcus yells at me again. I remember I am currently wearing Tobias' clothes.
"I was just out." I tell him as calmly as I can.
"Fine, if you are going to lie to me, you can face the punishment. Turn around." He commands me, and I obey. I hear his belt unbuckling and I cringe, knowing what comes next.
"This is for your own good."
PAGE BREAK
When I wake up the next morning, my back is throbbing and I am pretty sure I broke my wrist, all courtesy of the brutal beating I received last night.
Looking at my wrist, it is bruised and swollen and a dark purple in colour. I will have to go to the hospital. Knowing I can't drive myself, I text Christina. She says that she will be here in 10 minutes.
I walk down the stairs to check if Marcus is here. He isn't. I let out the breath I was holding. I grab a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt from the washing machine and throw it on, throwing my hair up in a bun because I am just going to the hospital. I know Christina will be mad at me but I don't care.
I hear the doorbell ring and open the door, grabbing my bag with my good hand. Christina opens the car door for me and I hop in, careful of my wrist. She gets in the driver's side and starts the car.
"So, you left the party really quick on Friday. What happened?" She asks as she starts to drive, shit, I forgot about that.
"Um, Peter happened." I tell her. She gasps. "He tried to rape me again, but Tobias saved the day and took me home with him. Nothing happened I swear." I blurt out quickly before she can ask.
"I'm so sorry, if I was there it wouldn't have happened." She says, her voice tight. I shake my head.
"No, don't apologize. You couldn't have been with me the entire night. It's fine, really." She nods and pulls into the hospital parking lot. We get out of the car and walk towards the main desk.
"Hello, what can I do for you today?" The lady at the desk asks us.
"Um, I think my wrist is broken." I tell her. She nods.
"What's your name?" She asks. I tell her. "Please, have a seat and a doctor will be with you in a few minutes."
I sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting room and Christina sits beside me.
"So, how did this happen?" She asks me. I think of a good lie.
"I tripped on a laundry basket at the top of the stairs and fell down them." I tell her, trying not to bite my cheek. I hope she believes me. "I always was a clumsy person." I add. She nods her head.
"Tris Prior?" A doctor in a white coat asks. I stand up.
"That's me." I tell him.
"I am Dr. Matthews." He motions for me to follow him. I do. He leads me to an examining room and I sit down on the bed. I hold out my wrist to him. He looks at it.
"Yep, that looks broken, but we will have to get an x-ray done to make sure." Dr. Matthews tells me, and then leads me to the x-ray room. I get the x-ray done and Dr. Matthews confirms that my wrist is broken. He puts a cast on it.
"Which colour would you like?" He asks me. I think.
"How about purple?" I tell him. He nods and gets busy. 20 minutes later I emerge from the room I was in with a purple cast on my left wrist. When Christina sees me she stands up.
"Damn girl, nice cast." She tells me. I laugh.
"Well thanks." I tell her.
"Ready to go?" She asks me. I nod and we walk back out to her car. She drives me home and I thank her. I notice that Marcus' car is not in the driveway and thank the good lord up above. A/N: This is what we have to say in school because I go to catholic school and my teacher doesn't like us saying thank god.
I open the door and walk in, checking the time. 6:15. I decide to clean the house up a bit and then finish my homework and go to bed.
PAGE BREAK
When I wake up in the morning, I feel refreshed. This weekend's events have been overwhelming for me. I hop in the shower, using the plastic bag Dr. Matthews gave me to caver my cast up. When I get out, I pick my outfit. Black skinny jeans, black Daughtry band tee, and my favourite pair of combat boots. I put it on and do my makeup, throwing my hair into a simple high ponytail. Christina will hate me for that.
I grab a muffin from the kitchen and eat it quickly. Getting in my car, I head off to school. When I get there, I start to head to my locker when Uriah and Marlene see me. They immediately rush over.
"What did you do to your arm?" Marlene asks me with a worried voice.
"Oh, I just tripped and fell down the stairs. I am a clumsy person." I tell them, using the same lie I told Christina. They believe it. Tobias walks over and asks the same question Marlene did. I tell him the same answer. I can see in his face that he doesn't believe me but he keeps it to himself.
"Well, need me to hold your books for you? I mean, I am in all of your classes." Tobias says to me and I accept his offer. We head off to get my books from my locker and then head to 1st period.
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I walk into my last class of the day, art. Everybody in our group has this class too. I sit down at a table with Christina, Marlene, Uriah, and Shauna and wait for Zeke, Will, and Tobias to get here. The bell rings and the 3 of them rush into the class, running to get into their seats before the teacher came in. Ms. Wu walked into the class only seconds after them. She saw the boys panting and laughed to herself.
"Hello class." Ms. Wu said to us.
"Hello Ms. Wu." We said back. She shook her head.
"How many times do I have to tell you, call me Tori." Ms. Wu, er, Tori, told us. We nodded.
"Ok, since this is the last class of the day and we all don't want to do actual work, all you have to do this class is draw what you would get if you got a tattoo and explain its meaning. I will be collecting the drawings and meaning at the beginning of tomorrow's class, so make sure it's done. Now, get to work." Tori told us.
I grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from my backpack and started to sketch something. My hand worked on its own, so when I looked at the finished piece of work, I was surprised. I had drawn a light sketch of a body, with a single black raven on the collarbone, flying away from my heart. I thought about what this meant to me and wrote it down. I read what I wrote after.
This tattoo symbolizes freedom to me. I am the raven and I am breaking free of things that contain me and following what I want to do. Nobody can stop me once I start flying.
I realize that the thing I am breaking free of is my father. Once I am gone he cannot stop me from doing anything anymore. I hand my assignment into Tori and she compliments me on my work, saying that I truly understood the meaning of the task. She says that I can leave the class for the rest of the period and I thank her.
Heading out of the class, I walk to my car to head home, because there is no reason for me staying. I text Christina telling her why I left and start my car up, driving the short length to my house. When I get there, I finish up my last bit of homework, clean up a little bit, and make myself a small dinner. I get under my covers of my bed and fall into a deep sleep.
PAGE BREAK
I am woken up by a sharp slap to my face. I gasp and look up at who did it.
Marcus.
He is standing above, drunk, with an evil glint in his eyes.
"Wake up bitch." He tells me. I get up, fixing my shirt and shorts that I sleep in. He punches me in the face and I fall back onto my bed. I cradle my face with my hands and stand back up, not showing any weakness.
"Take off your shirt." Marcus commands me.
"Why?" I question him.
"Just do it." He tells me again.
"No." I say, trying to be strong. He laughs.
"Do you think you're strong, Beatrice? Do you? You're just a weakling. A useless, pathetic excuse of a daughter. I give you everything you could ever need, and this is how you repay me? I am not afraid of you. Everything I have ever done to you is for your own good. It builds character." Marcus tells me. This time, I'm the one who laughs.
"Yeah, cause beating me until I'm black and blue really helps build character." I scoff.
"Do not talk back to me young lady!" Marcus yells then pushes me to the ground. He steps on my back hard so I can't get up.
"This is for your own good, Beatrice." He tells me, whipping me into unconsciousness.
PAGE BREAK
When I wake up the nest morning, I am sore to no belief. My back is bloody and shredded, and I know I can't go to school today; these bruises will not be covered up with makeup. Marcus has already left for work, so I go to make the call to the school, mustering up my best 'man' voice, trying to pass off as Marcus.
"Yes, hello, this is Marcus Eaton. Beatrice will not be coming into school this morning, as she fell sick. Thank you." I leave the message for the school and try to take care of my back.
I get in the shower and put the water on the mist setting, so not to disturb my back as much. The water still stings my back as it runs through my fresh cuts. I try to clean the cuts to my best ability, but every time I try to touch it, it throbs so I am not able to.
Accepting my defeat, I give up and get out of the shower. I dry myself off as gently as I can and wrap the towel around myself, heading to my room. I pull a pair of black fleece pajama pants and a white cotton t-shirt out of my drawer and pull them on. The t-shirt doesn't irritate my back, so that's good.
I pull my phone out of the charger and check my notifications. Sure enough, I have about 20 missed calls, all from Christina, and 30 missed texts, which range from Uriah, to Marlene, to Zeke, even Tobias. I feel my heart speed up a little bit as I read the text from Tobias.
Hey Trissy! Why aren't you in school today? It's really boring without you. Come back please! Uriah is too much to handle on my own!
I smile at this. Wait, why? He's just a friend. I don't like him, do I? Uhh, why must feelings be so hard?
I decide to send a group text to everybody to tell them that I'm fine.
Hey guys! Stop worrying! I'm fine, just sick, so I stayed home from school today. I'm sure you can deal with 1 day without my awesomeness. Don't miss me too much ;)
I send it, and then settle on the couch, popping in Frozen, the new Disney movie. You may not know this but I have a slight obsession with Disney movies. I grab a bag of chips and start the movie getting lost in it and singing my heart out.
Hey guys! Sorry about the wait, I have had so much to do these past weeks. I had to pick my courses for high school and I have basketball practices and dance and homework and, uh, I am sorry.
Big thanks to everybody who has reviewed and favourite and followed so far! I love you guys! If it weren't for you, you wouldn't be reading this right now.
-Kara