Disclaimer: See last chapter

~ Chapter Two ~

~ "Nobody knows what she's holding back." ~

Concrete Angel

Sonny sat up in bed as tears ran down her pale face, she shook her head and put her hands over her ears as she rocked back and forth,

"Please stop." She whispered to herself, closing her eyes and trying to forget about the screaming of her mother in the next room. She bit down hard on her lip as more and more tears continued to fall down her face,

"Leave her alone." She croaked out, knowing that nobody could hear her, she wished someone could. She found herself thinking about what the neighbours were doing right now, why didn't they help her?

Her whole body shook as she moved back into the wall, banging her head slightly but not feeling any pain as she tried to focus on happy thoughts, ignoring the thoughts about her mother being punched and kicked over and over again in the next room. She wanted to pretend that she had never heard the screams from her heartbroken mother, the shouts from her angry father and the cries from her fragile self. She wanted to pretend like it had never happened, this was all just one huge nightmare that had gone on every single day of her short, seven year life.

She screamed when she felt a hard yank on her arms and opened her eyes to see the eyes of the angry man she was supposed to call daddy, the man who was supposed to protect her from the monsters in the dark but not her daddy, her daddy was the monster in the dark. He would never protect her from himself, he didn't care how much he hurt them. He ignored all their tears and their cries for help. He didn't love them.

She looked at her mummy as she lay there on the cold kitchen floor before she was chucked onto the carpet in the living room. She heard her mum cry out for her but then he kicked her hard in the ribs and everything else was a distant memory that she blanked out, ignoring everything around her – it was the only way she could block out the excruciating pain before she passed out. She looked at her mummy before her eyes closed when he punched her hard in the face.

She looked around her bedroom when she woke up the next morning and sighed, she slowly got out of bed, wondering when she would get used to the pain. She shook her head as her eyes watered, her whole body shaking as she tried to get up and see her mummy, she had to make sure she was okay.

She cried out in pain when her feet hit the floor, a loud crack could be heard and she fell down quickly, tears dripping onto the floor as she bit down on her lip and tried to stop the scream that was bubbling in her throat.

She inhaled quickly and then tried getting back up, holding onto her side as she took it one step at a time until she reached her bedroom door, gripping the handle until her knuckles turned white. She listened to the other side for a while,

"I am so sorry baby, it won't happen again." Sonny scoffed, she knew her mother would fall for it, but she never did. Even at seven she knew that everything he said was a lie. He promised them over and over again that it would never happen, he would buy them presents and smile at them, he would try and act like he had done nothing wrong.

"I know honey." Sonny gripped the doorknob even harder when she heard her mum's voice, she hated her sometimes, no matter how hard she tried Sonny could never understand how her mum would just let this man hit the both of them. Sonny was scared, she was only seven and that was why she didn't tell. She knew that if nobody believed her then he would kill her and her mummy, but if mum told then the police would get involved and they could go away from all of it.

She opened the door slowly and looked at her mum in her dad's arms, smiling at each other as they told the other that they loved them. Sonny hated the mornings just as much as she hated the nights, the nights were filled with the truth but the morning was just one huge lie which allowed them to pretend like everything was alright for a few hours. Sonny was sick of pretending like nothing was wrong though, she was tired of looking into her mum's distant eyes and telling her that she loved her, because Sonny knew that no matter how much they focused on the mornings, the nights would always come.

"Hey darling." Sonny looked up at her dad and tried to smile, her arms wrapped around her waist as she tried to stop herself from breaking another rib, she knew that both her parents could see the pain on her face, she knew that the lie would come next,

"Oh darling, did you fall out of bed again?" Her dad ran up to her, wrapping his strong arms around her just like any other dad would, ignoring when Sonny tensed up and nearly pulled away, looking at her mum when she shook her head and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"It hurts." She whimpered, the tears falling down her face as she looked at her mum,

"Maybe we should get barriers around your bed little lady." Her dad joked, kissing her lightly on the cheek as he got back up and walked over to the kitchen. Sonny looked at him, seeing the guilt in his eyes but she didn't care about him, she hated him.

"Mummy." She whispered, standing there when she realized she couldn't move anymore,

"Oh darling, I don't think you should go to school today." Sonny nodded, relaxing in her mothers arms as she closed her eyes and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Let's run you a nice, warm bath." Sonny nodded and winced when her mother lifted her up, not saying anything because those times in her arms was the only times she felt safe.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes mummy." Sonny lied because lying was all she knew how to do in this house, lying was what everyone around her did. Lies were all this family did, pretending that everything was fine when it never was. Pretending that they weren't hurting and they didn't need help. Lies were something that needed to be perfected when you lived like this. Lies came easily when you were used to it.