Deck of Cards

Day 52-Sally

Four of clubs- working in the field for 7hrs

Sally's POV

Ignoring people in your life is hard, my parents being the hardest to completely shut out. Every night I would search jobs and houses online, in hopes of just escaping the hell I was in. Berated, insulted, shouted at were many of the things I was subjected to; with no one to turn to I had to take the pain.

I would block out their voices, the things they would say; I didn't want to listen. The illness had changed my father and in turn that had changed my mother, they weren't sweet or kind in any sense.

"Wake up," my mother shouted from my door and I bolted up, the loud sound damaging my eardrums. Rubbing my eyes, I was disappointed to see that I was still stuck in my room- still stuck in a place that I wanted to run from.

Throwing on some random clothes, I stumbled down the stairs; my head was woozy from both tiredness and from the five bottles of beer I had ended up consuming the night before. A raging headache and nagging parents wasn't a good fit. Sure enough as I sat down at the table, the first thing my father said to me was 'you look like shit'. Lovely man.

I saw my mother sigh out of the corner of my eye, I couldn't tell whether it was directed at my father's crude words or my attire. Probably both.

"Sally, Jesus. You need to go out," my father slammed his fist on the table which made the plates and glasses erupt into a clattering chorus, "You look dreadful and all you do is mope around the house. Its so depressing, I wish that I had a daughter who would actually achieve something in her life but instead I'm stuck with this lazy, idle good for nothing bitch."

His words stung but not as much as his face did when my mother slapped him across the cheek. At first he looked shocked and then the rest of his face matched the colour of the place that had been slapped. He became a bright red beast.

"HOW DARE YOU HIT ME, WOMAN!" he boomed, his voice echoing around the small space. I expected my mother to fall to his feet and beg for forgiveness but instead she spat in his face with a devilish smirk on her face.

"Speak woman or I swear to god I will beat you to a pulp," his face was now purple and I could see an angry vein popping out the side of his neck.

"Shall I get your suitcase?" She said calmly and his face that was contorted with anger suddenly looked confused.

"Whatever do you mean?" He said in a slightly quieter voice.

"Well you are leaving right now. Get out of my house," my mother, for once, sounded confident. It was a side I had never seen.

"Jules, you can't kick me out. This is my house as well," he almost sounded pathetic. Like a needy leech that was desperately trying to hold onto something that didn't want him.

"You didn't pay a penny for this house," her words stunned him, his previous confidence had been lost. He was now pale instead of bright red.

"I'm sick," he tried to play that card but mum was having none of it.

"Go to the goddamn hospital then," she ran upstairs leaving me with the beast. He glared at me with a look that could kill, thankfully mum came down lugging a suitcase.

"Julie you can't just kick me out," his voice broke, almost as if he was about to cry.

"Oh but I can," was the last thing she said to the weasel before physically pushing him out of the door.

"Mum!" I cried as I ran over to her, I was so proud of how strong she had been. Embracing me, I saw the old mother I had known; the one that would tell me stories till I fell asleep and hold me until the monsters vanished. I felt her hot tears on my forehead and I held her in the hallway till she broke away smiling.

"I had been waiting to do that for years," she choked out, and with one swift motion she threw her wedding ring into the the bin. Cackling like a madwoman she walked up the stairs, tipsy on happiness, and slammed the door to her bedroom shut. Almost two seconds later I heard her deep snores and I smiled to myself. The monster had gone.

Walking up the stairs myself, I went back to my bedroom and flung myself down on the bed. The absence of noise in the house was unnerving but oddly relaxing and I felt my muscles undo the knots that had formed in them. Rustling round in my bedside drawer, I found what I was looking for. Ava had not been the only to take the deck of cards from the game, she was the only one to have the ridiculous idea to leave them in places however.

Grabbing at the thin sheet on card with black ink covering it, I held it to my chest. It was the last card. The four meant little to me, I had never had to do it in the game and therefore its presence wasn't so ominous. I had no bad memories following it.

Grabbing a lighter that I had kept by me, I watched as the flame flickered in front of me. I had burnt the other cards, day by day, each one erasing the memories of the game. The flames attacked the evil that the card held, the things its represented, and slowly ate it up. Closing my eyes, I let my mind wander over the past 52 days. How everything had been tipped on its head, how the most sinister thing in the world had somehow found me in a world of billions. But not only did I see the negatives but the positives. I had found four girls to share the biggest learning experience one could ever live through.

I learnt that I was strong.

I learnt that I was unstoppable.

I felt the flame lick my finger and I recoiled when I realised that the card was burnt leaving ash to litter my bed.

The cards were all gone. The game was over.