The Voice (Luke Hemmings)

2. Magic Superpowers

The River by Good Charlotte was blaring through the speakers of my phone, indicating I had to get up. That's the thing about having songs as an alarm. If you do a nice song, you'll want to listen to the whole song and while listening to the song you slowly wake up. I hummed along to the song while laying sprawled out over the mattress with my eyes still closed. I moved to lay on my side and winced. I forgot my father had punched me there last night... I stood up and grabbed the wall when I felt light headed. I hate that feeling, I have it every morning. I walked to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. There was a bruise on my cheek, and some on my neck. And when I lifted my shirt up a bit, you could see that my ribs were purple and blue. Because I always shower at night, I can sleep longer because I won't have to shower in the morning. I combed my hair and let it down. It was straight and brown, so it was just normal. I'd really like to dye it another colour, like dark red, but too many people know me, you know? I think they'll all look at me different. So I told myself I was going to dye it when I graduated High School. Because there will be new people. I put a lot of foundation on, to cover the bruises. Normally I hate foundation, but this time it was necessary. After that I put mascara, eyeliner and lipgloss on. After I was done I walked to my closet. I put on my black ripped skinny jeans and a light blue Sleeping With Sirens shirt. I walked to my shoe collection, which consisted 80% Vans, all in different colours. I grabbed light blue with black ones and put them on. I took one last glance into the mirror and nodded. I grabbed my backpack and walked downstairs. My backpack was really light because vacation starts in two weeks and we don't have much lessons now. I only have History, Math and Music today. Music was my favorite subject. Even though I was too shy to sing, music was just something I could always go to. I helped me getting better. I stopped cutting because of it. Oh, I can play piano though. I've been following lessons since I was 7. But the last few months I didn't really play. I walked to the kitchen and was surprised to find my mom there. "Don't you have work?" I asked her. "Oh, honey you're okay!" She said while hugging me tight. "Um... Why wouldn't I be?" I asked. "Oh god, you probably lost your memory, haven't you? Oh, He should've never la-" I cut her off. "Mom, I know everything." She shook her head. "No, no. Do you remember last night?" She said while looking at me concerned. "Um, yes?" I answered. She looked at me to tell her what happened last night. "I came home from the police station and father beat me and then I went to bed." I said to her while biting into my apple. "No, honey. You were unconscious. You could have a concussion!" She panicked. "Oh, that. No I was just pretending I was unconscious, so he'd stop." I said casually. My mom looked at me weirdly. After that she shook her head. "I'm so sorry this is happening to you, I really am." She said. "I don't know mom, you can do something about it. You just let him boss you around. You're his wife! You should be equals. He treats you like shit and you know it." I said. She didn't say anything. I tossed my apple in the garbage can and walked to the garage, slamming the door behind me. I knew what she was gonna say "But I love him". She always says that. Ugh. Can't she see this is not healthy? Can't she see that the bruises on both our bodies aren't a sign of love? I walked down the long driveway and walked to school.

I walked to my locker and grabbed my history and math books. We didn't have books for music class. I walked towards the classroom and bumped into somebody. "Sorry." We both said at the same time. And I walked further. Luckily it wasn't like those cliche movies where a bully 'accidentally' bumps into the nerd and all her stuff will fall. Nope. I might be a loner, but I'm also invincible. So that's a good thing. The classroom was open and I sat at the back. I didn't like sitting in the front, then I couldn't see the whole class. Nobody could throw things at me. And if they did, I would know who it was. They never did that though. The teacher walked in and the maths lesson started. I was kind of nervous, because we had a test last week, and the teacher should know the grades by now. And if it wasn't a B or higher, my father would kill me. Okay, not literally kill me, but the beating will be worse than yesterday. "Okay guys, I have your tests right here. I'll give them back to you, to learn from your mistakes." Yea sure. nobody looks at what they've done wrong. They only look at the grade, and then they'll throw it away. The teacher walked around randomly and gave the students their tests back. He walked towards me and handed me the test. It was a C-. Fuck.