Everything And Nothing All At Once

•|Chapter Two|•

     The painting stood on the counter top. It leaned against the wall so we could see it from where we sat at the table made of glass.

     We used every color that was given to us. There was no white left by the time we were done. The painting had more red than any other color. The sun was in the middle of the canvas. The painting calmed us.

     We ate our morning meal already. It consisted of bologna and bread. We ate at the table and stared at the painting. Our heart yearns for another canvas to paint on.

     Now, we wash ourself using the water from the sink. We scrub our skin, leaving red trails behind. We sink our head beneath the faucet and allow it to soak.

     We turn off the water and shake our head, water droplets spewing around. We catch a glimpse of ourselves in the mirror. We do not look like what we thought we did. We squinted at the mirror to find any resemblance.

     This can't be us? Is it?

     We shake our head and turn away quickly. We cover our ears with our hands. No, no, that isn't us.

     We leave the room with the toilet and search for a different shirt. We put on the same sweatpants we wore before as we had no other. We had two more shirts. We chose the one with the holes down the sleeves.

     We sit on the bed and close our eyes. A headache was forming.

     We wait for the headache to go away. We think of blue, yellow, and red dragons. We think of a prince and a princess falling in love. We think of snow falling from the blue sky.

     A sharp searing pain shot through our already throbbing skull. I scream through gritted teeth and fall on my side, on the bed. I caress my head with my hands, softly pressing on the area that hurt the most.

     It hurts, it hurts, make it stop, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

     We see slaughtered blue, yellow, and red dragons. We see a prince killing a princess. We see fireballs falling from a black sky. We see pain.

     We rock ourselves slowly. Back and forth, back and forth.

     After a while the headache subsided followed by a feeling of numbness. We stare at the wall. Holes the size of fists stood out from the white.

     How did those get there?

     We don't remember.

     We realize that we have gotten the sheet wet from our hair. We stand from the bed and study the holes some more.

     "Could I have done this?"

     We shake our head anger flaring in our insides. "We did not do such a thing!" We huffed and strode to the room with the stove. "Sir probably did."

     We sit at the table and cross our arms. Today was not going to be a good day. We do not feel tolerable with ourselves.

     We stare out the window. We wonder what is outside of the window. We wonder if it is better than in here.

     The blackness compels us. When we close our eyes to sleep we see black. Following the blackness we experience dreams. We love dreams. Will we experience dreams if we leave?

     We can't leave.

     My lips tremble. "I want to."

     Sir has trapped us.

     I tense my shoulder and slam my hand down onto the table. "No he didn't! You're a liar!" Liar, liar.

     We didn't respond. "Did you hear me! You're a liar!" I cry, yearning for a response.

     We don't say anything. We fall back into the numbness. Our eyes study the window and the blackness beyond. We wring our hands and imagine walking through a field of grass under sunlight.

     We sat and stare at the window for what had to be hours, as the alarm signalling that it was time to go to sleep startled us out of our trance.

     We are not tired.

     We go to the room with the bed anyways. We lay down and realize that the sheet was still damp. We cringe from it touching our skin. It was cold.

     We lay on our back and gaze up at the ceiling. We follow the cracks until we eventually fall asleep.

     We awake to the sound of the door rattling. We sit up quickly and wipe our eyes. We get off the bed, fold the sheet, and set it down at the end of the bed.

     We fix the collar of our shirt and situated our pants to fit right. We stand straight and wait for Sir to come.

     I wonder what made him mad this time

     He appears at the doorway with a grimace on his face. His deep, brown eyes seemed as cold as ice. The cigarette held between his lips was short.

     "Selena rejected my proposal," he stated. He curled his hands into fists, his face turning a dark red.

     I shake as I wait.

     He squeezes his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. "Selena said she had something to tell me." He took a step toward me.

     I stay in place, my whole body jerking. My heart races and tears fill my eyes.

     A fist came into contact with my jaw. My head jerks from the force, a whimper escapes my mouth. I clasp my hands behind my back to keep myself from shielding my face.

     "She said she was seeing someone else!" He shouted, shoving me backwards.

     I stumble but quickly regain my balance.

     He began to beat me until all his anger left him. It only took a few more hits to get me on the ground. After, I received all the punches and kicks his heart desired to my ribs.

     We watch him leave the room. A minute later we hear running water.

     We scratch above our top lip and discover red liquid covered our hand. Blood? We're bleeding? We're bleeding!

     Sir returns with one of our shirts soaked in water. He kneeled before us and wiped our face.

     We watch the cloth leave our face, stained with red. We stare with wide eyes. Our hand starts to travel towards our nose.

     Sir bats our hand away. "Don't."

     He wipes our face a few more times. "Here just take this and keep it against your nose," he muttered impatiently.

     We take it and hold it were he told us to. We watch him stand and turn to leave. He stops. "I'll be back with a few things."

     He leaves us, the sound of the door banging behind him tells us that.

     We stand, our ribs scream in pain. We gasp and clutch the bones protecting our organs.

     We look up to see the wall littered with holes. We see red. Our fists connect with the walls, we ignore the pain in our knuckles.

     We didn't hear Sir come in, we didn't notice him trying to stop us either until he grabbed me by the hair.

|Unedited|