Chapter two
I lay curled up on the floor of my room, shivering under the tattered blanket. The window was stuck open again and the freezing wind was blowing in, along with the icy rain. "Mew!" I heard from outside my window and then the next thing I knew a soaked little grey tiger-striped kitten was huddling under my blanket with me. "Hi Shadow." I grinned, petting the kitty. I found him roaming around the house a few months ago and called him Shadow because he followed me around like one, and when he did leave it wasn't for any longer than a day. I wasn't sure where he went but I guessed it was to see his mommy and friends. I'd seen his mommy a few times, giving him a bath or just watching him play with his brothers and sisters. She was a pretty orange kitty with long fur and golden yellow stripes. She reminded me of Garfield! I decided to name her Gardenia after a while, since it almost sounded like a female version of the name Garfield.
Shadow 'mewed' and crawled up onto my chest, licking my nose. I giggled and scratched him behind the ear, making him purr loudly. Shadow was very small, I think he was only about two or three months old but he only looked like he was about seven weeks old. Maybe he was the runt of the litter or something, kinda like me. I was the smallest of all the kids on my street and if I were to go to school I'm sure I'd be shorter than anyone else there too.
The kitty got up and wiggled his little wet paws one at time and then started to lick himself clean. I crawled over to my closet and took out a small towel that had been my blanket at one point and brought it over to my furry friend, wrapping it around him and rubbing his fur until it was dry (and puffy) I laid down again and Shadow joined me, cuddling up to my chest.
TWILIGHT-TWILIGHT
I woke up to Shadow nudging my nose with his paw, his face inches from mine. "Morning Shadow." I whispered so that daddy couldn't hear me. He didn't know about Shadow and I was sure daddy would make me get rid of him if he found out. Shadow responded by tilting his head forward and licking my cheek. Giggling, I sat up and gently stroked his long puffy fur, content for the moment.
"EDWARD! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE!"
I gulped and shakily rose to my feet, still in pain from last nights beating, "Wish me luck." I muttered to Shadow as I walked past him, making my way down the hall and to the living room. I slowed to a stop at the door of the living room where my daddy stood, fuming, "Y-yes sir?" I gulped, voice quivering. He stomped towards me, madder than I'd ever seen him before. He wasn't even this angry after mommy died. Daddy ground his teeth together and shot his arm out, slapping me across the face harder than usual. I whimpered and stumbled back a few steps, clutching my stinging cheek. Daddy grabbed me by the back of my shirt collar and pushed me over to the black leather couch, shoving me against the hard wooden arm with one hand. With the other, he grabbed a fistful of the back of my shirt and lifted it, exposing my back while he unbuckled his belt, "Why the hell did I just get a call from the Newtons saying that you punched their kid yesterday?" Huh? I never even left the house! I never do unless daddy says I can or if I have outdoor chores and none of those things have happened in almost a week. I attempted to look at daddy from over my shoulder, "I don't know daddy, I-I swear, I was in the house all day yesterday!" I whimpered, trembling. "Don't you lie to me!" he growled and cracked his belt down on my back like a whip. I cried out, tears already snaking down my face before I could stop them as sobs wracked me. I could feel the blood dripping down my back and staining the top of my ragged and baggy jeans.
Daddy whipped me four more times, each harder than the earlier. I wanted to collapse from the pain but daddy held me up by my shirt. He'd done a lot of things to me, whether it was beating me, cutting me, starving me, burning me, overworking me, depriving me of sleep, but never, EVER had he whipped me before. This hurt worse than anything else, and trust me, I've been through a lot of things but this, this was terrible. It had me sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, made me beg him to stop.
Daddy held his belt up again as if to strike me but he never brought it down, "I'm going to ask you again. And don't even think about fucking lying to me," he hissed, pushing me harder against the armrest, "Did you punch the Newton brat?" It didn't matter if I told the truth and said no or lied and said yes, he was going to whip me bad either way. The only thing was I didn't know if one would make him whip me harder than the other or if he would whip me just as bad either way. I wanted to lie, hoping that maybe if I said what he wanted than he would go a little easier but that wasn't how it worked with daddy. Plus I wasn't much of a liar. I could lie but never did it unless I absolutely had to, "N-n-no s-s-s-si-sir. I-I sw- ea- swear-r-r, I didn't AHHH!" daddy started whipping me with all his strength before I could even finish. Most landed on my back but quite a few landed on my behind and that eventually became his target once my back was a shredded, bloody mess, "YES YOU DID! THE BRAT HAS A FUCKING BLACK EYE AND HE TOLD HIS PARENTS THAT IT WAS YOU THAT GAVE IT TO HIM! NOW THANKS TO YOU I WON'T GET THE JOB! You ungrateful little bastard!" Daddy yelled, whipping my sit spots, "OHH! OWW!" I sobbed harder than before. My backside wasn't bleeding because daddy left my pants up but I knew that my bum would be black and blue by the time I checked it. I most definitely wasn't going to be sitting for a while. I choked on my spit as I cried, my nose stuffed and my eyes red and puffy. Daddy worked on my sit-spots longer than any other part of my backside, making sure that every time I sat down for the next week I would be reminded of this incident. I'd never gotten spanked before. It hurt. But I guess it was better than some of the other stuff.
After what felt like an eternity daddy whipped my sit-spots twice, both more painful than all the others, and did the same to my bum, then my already mangled back before he finally stopped. I was still sobbing and tears still spilled from my eyes when I felt daddy lift me up so that I was bent over the arm of the couch, my feet inches off the ground. My head was to the side and facing the window where I saw Mike Newton outside, looking at me with big tears running down his face and I immediately noticed the black, blue and dark purple stuff running down the left side of his face, starting at his eye. Make-up. Mike had used make-up to make it look like he had a black eye and blamed me so I would get in trouble! He probably thought I would only get yelled at or spanked. Well, he was half right but I don't think he expected me to get it that bad.
It wasn't until daddy shoved the back of my jeans and boxers down enough to expose my tortured backside that Mike made a face that showed he was sobbing and ran away. I tensed and sobbed more when the rough texture of my jeans slid against my burning bottom and thought that daddy was going to whip me bare now but he only smacked my bum hard with his hand once and then pulled my jeans back up. I'd never been in so humiliated.
I was picked up by the back of my shirt and carried upstairs like that and then thrown in my room. Daddy slammed the door closed and stomped away much to my relief. I managed to compose myself after a few minutes and slowly got on my hands and knees, a small hiss of pain escaping me. Struggling to my feet I slowly went over to my mirror and turned around, gingerly pulling up the black of my shirt. The whip marks were crisscrossed all over my entire back, no longer bleeding thankfully, but still hurt to no end. I checked my backside and found that I was right earlier, it was still red but it was clearly starting to bruise. Sniffling, I fixed my pants and stumbled over to my closet, taking out my dark blue backpack and shoving the very few possessions I had in it. I couldn't stay here, I couldn't handle the pain, I would go insane! I didn't own very much so I only needed the one bag to pack everything, including some food that I would need to sneak from downstairs. Just as I was about to zip my bag closed my little fuzzy friend jumped in it, looking up at me and meowing. I smiled weakly and petted at his head, "Does that mean you wanna come with me?" I whispered. He laid down on my clothes and got comfy so I took that as a yes.
I peaked my head out of my door and looked down the hallway to daddy's room. I could hear him snoring loudly which meant that he had gotten drunk again and passed out in his bed. Again. Tip-toeing out of my room I went to the kitchen and made myself a few sandwiches to at least last me the week, a couple of granola bars, some apples and grapes, a bag of chips, and poured some soda into an empty water bottle and then took another full water bottle from the fridge. All of this was stuffed into the lunch box that mommy had bought when we thought that I was going to an actual school. I stood still for a few seconds, listening to see if daddy was still asleep. I could hear him snoring, even from down here. I let out a sigh of relief and bent down, wincing when I stretched the wounds on my back, and lifted up one of the loose floor boards. After I found Shadow and mommy found out about him she bought a bag of kitty food and hid it under one of the floorboards in the kitchen. Taking the bag and lunchbox I quickly but quietly went back to my room, resisting the urge to cry out as each of my injuries stung from the movement. I was able to fit the kitty food and lunchbox in my bag though it was a bit of a tight squeeze, but I was sure that nothing would get squished.
I pulled on the hoodie that I had to use has a jacket, wrapped a blanket around myself, and grabbed my backpack and Shadow. Ignoring the pain it caused me I ran down to the front door and away from my nightmare of a home.
TWILIGHT-TWILIGHT
Ok, I know I said I was going to wait until I finished Little Problem but I'm a little hooked on this story XD And if some of you have read my TMNT fics and are waiting for updates, I'm really sorry for the long waits but I'm still working on the next chap to 'Chances'. I know I said I would have it up this week but it took me a while to combine most of the ideas my readers gave me. As of now the 4th chap of Changes is just a little less than halfway finished. Please keep on reading! And reviewing, don't forget to review! Go on, click the review button down there, it won't bite.
