Adabelle

One

I slid my bruised legs to my chest and leaned against the cold concrete wall.

"It could be worse." I whisper to myself, "People have it worse. Everything will be better tomorrow." My eyes flutter closed as tears drop continuously. It seems as though I never get a break.

Mom's helpful advice always seems to get me through my long days. 

-Flashback-

Mommy kneels down in front of me taking hold of  my head in her shaky hands. I rest my hands on top of hers as I wondered what she was crying about. 

"Cupcake, you are so strong, I know you are. Your going to grow up to be such a beautiful, unique woman. You are going to be a loving, forgiving, genuine girl." She paused and closed her eyes until my small thumbs wiped her tears from her cheeks. She cried harder then and I got worried immensely on what was happening that made her so sad.

"But, don't forget that your human. It's okay to have a melt down. Just don't unpack and live there. Cry it out then refocus on where your heading." I listen to every word she's saying carefully. "

"Promise me to stay strong." she cried. 

"I promise mommy!" I giggled and wrapped my short arms around her neck. She kissed my neck, then my cheeks and forehead making me laugh. She smiled a sad smile one last time before she was pulled away from me.

A pang of worry washes through me. Tears fill my eyes making my vision blurry, what was going on? 

"MOMMY!" I cried as I reached my arms our for her, hoping that I would bring her back. Before I could even blink she was gone and my father was pulling me away from her. 

-flashback ends-

I sob, wanting her to be with me again.

"Get your fucking ass off of my floor!" My father makes an exaggerating entrance as he throws the door of the basement open and lets it hit the wall with a loud bang. I cower and do my best not to look at him as I make an attempt to stand up.

"God, it really is sad. Seeing you so pathetic like this." He lets out a devious chuckle, letting me know that he is within just a few feet from me by now. He then without warning connects his fist to my cheek causing my body to go tumbling back to the ground with a thud.

He sighs and runs his fingers along his nearly bald head, "just get out of my sight Adabelle."

I try to lift myself with my arms but with the lack of food and the amount of injuries I have, it is taking longer than it should.

"I SAID LEAVE! I DON'T WANT TO LOOK AT YOU!" He kicks my ribs. I cry out in pain while falling on my side. 

I assume he figured I couldn't get up after that so he left the room himself, leaving me to take as much time as needed to get myself up. 

~The next day~

I groan and open my eyes, seeing that I was on the floor of my bedroom. How had I gotten here? Knowing that I couldn't have gotten up by myself yesterday, Father must have sobered up and taken me to my room. It was still dark outside, so I looked over to the red numbers on my clock seeing that it was 6:37 A.M. 

I pull myself up with the help of my dresser and drag myself to the bathroom. When I turn the water on in the shower, I immediately get in, not wanting to look at myself knowing I don't look like the girl under all of the cuts and bruises.

Not wanting to upset Father about the expensive water bill, my shower was short lived and while I didn't want to look at myself, I knew I had to see what kind of coverage I needed to hide the damage. 

My body shook with fear as I touched the blue and purple bruise the size of a baseball on my ribs. My eyes traveled to the small blue bruises on my lower stomach and then to my face where I saw the cuts from Father's rings from when he hit me.

I did my best to try and cover up the bruises and cuts upon my face with my foundation but they were still a little visible, making me wonder if I should skip school altogether. I decided against it, knowing that if I don't suck it up and go to school then I will never be able to get out of this house. 

I slipped on the most comforting clothes consisting of leggings, a sweatshirt and my vans, thankful that it was winter. Summer was the hardest time of the year to stay hidden behind my clothes. I slipped my backpack over my shoulder, popping my hood over my head before creeping down the stairs.

Before leaving, I set out eggs and toast on the table for him like he had instructed me to do every morning before I leave the house since I was able to reach the counter, then I rush out the door before he could wake up. 

Before I knew it, I was walking onto school campus and making my way to my locker, taking out the books necessary for my first period class.

"Hey Ada!" Bonnie leans her back against the locker next to mine, showing off her perfectly aligned teeth.

"What's up?" I smile softly, closing my locker door.

"Oh, nothing." She grins even wider and I nudge her with my shoulder and smile, knowing shes about to tell me news about her crush, Josh. "Ugh you already know! He is just so, so-" 

"Cute?" I laugh shaking my head. 

"Yes!" She groans and throws her head back, "I just can't get enough of him."

"You really just need to ask him out yourself. He doesn't have the balls to ask out someone as pretty as you Bon." 

"Yeah I just- hey, what happened to your face Adabelle?"

"What? Oh nothing!" I nervously laugh as I attempt to cover my face with my hair. "Just ran into a pole while I was running, I'm getting really clumsy lately."

"That doesn't look like you ran into something Ada." She continues to pest. 

"Bonnie drop it." I roll my eyes. "I'm fine, it was just an honest accident!" 

I take my seat in class before she could say anything more and I couldn't help but feel my stomach churn the whole class period, wondering how on earth I could get out of this conversation this time.