It was four weeks in and I had felt pretty distant to everyone, even Joy.
During that cold, foggy, Tuesday morning, my dad had called.
"Hello?"
"Patricia, you must come home! I haven't got enough money to send you to boarding school anymore!"
My world had stopped that morning.
And now here I am, standing outside my house, wishing I'd ran away. Although I'm not alone, I still feel very insecure and scared. My dad abused me the last time I saw him, so god knows what he's going to now he knows I ditched him to go to school, on that Saturday.
I'm not alone. I begged Eddie to come with me; it's so scary when you're alone. It's ok when it's in regular routine; it's when he invents new things. He wasn't with me, now. But he was sitting in the taxi.
I opened the door, and it revealed my dad.
"Come in Patricia." He said. I stepped into the house that I once called home. It now smelt smoky and had the musky smell of beer behind the air freshener. "I've been working; sorry it's such a mess. Now, I can understand this hard for you. Leaving everyone behind, friends, boyfriend...but I didn't choose your future, and I didn't choose mine either."
"You did. You stopped working because of mum. You got drunk every single day, and I don't blame you for being upset..." I spoke quietly, setting my suitcase on the floor. "But that doesn't give you the right to hurt people."
"It's always about you, isn't it?" He asked, his voice raising every syllable. "What have I just said? Maybe you're just deaf!"
His arm connected with my face. I felt my body fall to cold the floor with a thump and I let blood trickle down from my nose. I was trying to tell him that he had no right to hurt me, that it was in fact illegal and that I would call the police. Or give him some hint at least.
"You're a sick person!" I screamed, picking myself up and making a break for it. Before I could, he grabbed a hold of me and punched me in the face. "I was totally wrong...you're a monster!"
I hadn't fallen, so I composed myself. Then, I pulled out my phone and dialled Eddie's number. It rang, until he picked up.
"Eddie, I-" I began, but got stopped as a rock hit my phone a knocked it from my hand, also scratching my cheek. "My phone..." I choked.
"Now, you can go and unpack." He grunted, replicating Victor.
I slowly took the suitcase from ground, pulling up the handle and dragging it on its wheels, before taking it upstairs. Abandoning it in my bedroom, I went to the bathroom and looked at face. I touched the fresh scarlet wound, stinging pain inflicted on my cheek as I reached for some toilet roll.
I as in fact trapped inside my own house, with a monster that could not be tamed.