opportunity |H.S|

• sixteen •

"What the hell was that Dorothea? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?" Father yells once he pushes his way inside, the doors from the backyard shutting behind us.

"Are you trying to embarrass me? Huh?" His grip tightens around arm, shaking me slightly for a response as I keep my mouth shut.

I keep my head low not looking him in the eye, Xavier stayed outside with Harry rather than following us in. I guess he just wanted to see my own actions catch up to me. He knew just as well as I did that Father wouldn't handle this well and that seemed to put a sick smile on his face.

Father pulled me inside with a tight grip keeping me close to him but a passive smile remained on his face so that no one would suspect there was anything wrong, the look dropping as soon as the doors shut behind us.

Leaving me alone with Father, with no one to bear witness.

"Look at me when I speak to you!" He yells, his face getting closer to mine as I can feel his breath hit my skin. The alcohol reeks from his tongue and I know he's drunk. It's always worse when he's intoxicated because that means the one ounce of self control he would have sober is nowhere to be seen.

The night's still young, the party only truly getting started so I know he's not completely out of it yet. Still refusing to meet his eyes he begins to drag me up stairs, his grip on my upper arm starting to shoot pains up and down my arm telling me this will leave a bruise.

I hold back a whimper of pain wanting to escape my lips once we make it up the stairs and he takes a harsh turn to go down the hall towards my room. I squeeze my eyes tight as my feet get dragged with every step he takes not wanting to let any reaction out in front of him.

Once we make it to the door that leads to my room, he swings it open at full force before shoving me in harshly inside and to the ground. Even now I refuse to look up at him as I wince, falling to my knees with my palms catching my upper body. I keep my eyes on the floor where I am, mentally preparing myself for whatever he's planning on doing or saying.

"I don't fucking have time for this." he mutters under his breath. "I'll deal with you later." I can hear as he reaches into his back pocket pulling out his set of keys he always keeps on him and slamming the door shut, locking it from the outside.

The party goes on as if nothing ever happened and he goes back out to enjoy his time.

While I stay here.

Waiting.

-

The events from earlier tonight replay in my head over, and over, and over again.

Harry is the last thing on my mind at the moment as all I can think about is Father. When he's going to come back and deal with me, what my punishment will be, and if it will be worse than last time.

I knew what I was doing when I chose not to dance with Xavier, I asked for this.

The party is over, it's well past midnight, bordering two in the morning and leading us into the new day. I'm sure everyone has gone to bed by now, resting from a night of drinking and catching up, but I can't sleep. Not when my nerves are at such a high.

Father said he'll "deal with me later" and that can come at any given moment throughout the night so I need to be prepared. Mentally at least.

It's always worse when I'm woken up to Fathers drunken rage, my foggy mind not understanding what's happening, why he's hitting me or why he's yelling at me.

It's better for me to stay awake.

I haven't left my room all night, not that I could even if I wanted to. There's two locks on my door, one from the inside and one on the outside. Locking it from the outside prevents me from leaving and can only be opened using Fathers key. One of the ladies here also has a spare key to let me out if Father ever forgets to do it himself after a day or so.