Faded

Broken Mirrors

"Why would you do this?!" I shoot up up from my light slumber. My head hurts, and my ears are sore and unbelievably numb. I'm on the floor again, I must've had quite a bad dream. I hear muffled screaming from the living room again. I don't know if I should head down, but I have to get ready for school.

"Gary!!!" My mother is enraged, the earsplitting sound of her screams sinks through the thin walls of my room. Gary and my mom always fight, I mean really fight. They constantly go back and forth at each other like cats and dogs.

"Carrie! Shut the fu-ck up-p and get over here and fi-i-x it!" He said in a low raspy voice. Gary is drunk again, I can hear him slurring his speech.

"IT WASN'T ME!!!" My mom is screaming at the top of her lungs now, but this is normal to my brother Leo and I. Speaking of Leo, where is he? I thought frantically. I stood up like a zombie and clomped into the hallway over to his room. I felt a draft and I slightly kicked the door open with my numb toes. Nothing. As soon as I opened the door a what felt like a wall of cold air hit me. His blue curtains were flapping in the crisp, morning air. He must've heard Gary and Mom fighting again. He probably went to Aiden's. I wasn't worried about Leo, he's definetly street smart, and extremely persuasive. I keep begging him to become a salesperson.

Crash! It was the sound of glass shattering and I immediately flinch.

As I approach the top of the staircase I rush through all of the possible scenarios that could happen. A verbal lecture, things thrown at me, or worse, a beating. I then look down at my dry, bruised hands. They were rose red with crusty dry blood on my fingers. Ouch, this must've happened last night. I drearily thought. I've come up with a coping skill of mentally brainwashing myself to forget about the spine tingling physical encounters with my parents

I then draw my attention back to the barrage of glass beer bottles hitting the walls, and cracked tile floors.

"Gary! I beg you! I didn't do it!" She pleads. I can hear the tentativeness in her voice she's trembling. Gary blankly stares at her as slowly he picks up an empty bottle of Jack Daniels off the oak coffee table.

"No! Please! I beg you!" My mom's tone is desperate now. But it doesn't work, he already swung his arm back like a baseball player to chuck it at her head. She tried to duck but it was no use. The bottle shattered against her core as salty tears dripped down her cheeks. It was the loudest scream I've ever heard, It rattled the broken mirror on the ground, it shook me to my core. Then she turned, she looked at me, her bloody hands trembling in the air, her bleeding torso crooked.

"You. Look what you did to me." She was about to snap, her pupils growing larger and larger as she looked at me. I was vibrating, shaking so much I felt like I might explode. I tried to run, but it was useless. She already had a hold of me, death gripping her bloody fingers into my wrist.

"Do you want to know how it feels Kacy? Huh? Do you want to go to school with a black eye? Red face?"

"N-N-o" I choked.

"Well too bad." She squeezed as hard as she possibly could, my wrist turning purple from the lack of blood flow.

"St-oo-o-p!!!" I yelped, I slammed my knees into the ground, only to be held to the floor. The floor was bitter cold, and my mother was holding my arms back with no mercy.

"Kacy! You deserve this, you don't deserve anything that we give you. YOU ARE A WORTHLESS. PIECE. OF. SHIT!!" She shrilled.

The intensity of her eyes burned into my skin. I was hysterically crying now, I couldn't do this, this was impossible. I closed my eyes so tight I saw stars. This is it she's going to kill me. I thought. Everything went in slow motion, I looked back and saw my mother clenching her fist at her side, dots were speckling the walls, everything was blurring. And then I felt it. The blow to my cheek. My jaw was hit so hard it felt like it flew back into my throat. I tasted sour blood in my mouth, I coughed, hard. Blood splattered all over the off white walls.

"Plea-a-se don't hurt me-e anym-o-re" I mumbled. I was stuttering, I couldn't feel my mouth or wrist anymore. And that's when everything stopped. It went completely dark and I fell into a quiet, deep, dark abyss.

I groggily opened my eyes only to wake up in a pile of my own crimson puddle of dried blood. I was upstairs in the middle of the hallway. I was freezing. I tried to yawn but excruciating pain along with a click was the only result. I tried to hush myself from bellowing so my mom and Gary wouldn't hear me. All I could think about was the overwhelming pain in my jaw. I got to all fours and crawled into my room. I was far too weak to try and stand up. I hurled my hand onto my nightstand to pull myself up. My wrist throbbed with pain. Bruises tattered my forearms along with bright red rings around my wrist. I plopped on my bed and focused my eyes to the red, blocky letters on my alarm clock.

"Mmmm-mh" I moaned. It was 4:00 p.m. I was unconscious for 9 hours. I didn't even go to school. I pressed my head into my pillow, but a paper slid under my door. I crawled over to my door and hesitantly picked up the paper. It read:

Pack up some clothes for 2 nights. Then meet me at my window. I'm taking you to Aunt Sarah's.

-Leonardo

I couldn't believe it I was going to run away with my brother. I felt a sudden sense of relief but my conscience made me feel so dirty. It made me feel so guilty. Like it was my fault. I don't even know what I did wrong, but somehow I still felt responsible for everything that happened. I felt worthless, used, faded. I clenched my closet door knob and stared at my empty wardrobe. I grabbed my 3 favorite shirts and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. I shoved them in my bag forcefully. I slipped a hoodie over my cold, brittle body, then laced my sneakers.

In the bathroom I gazed into the mirror gawking at all my bruises and cuts. The swelling in my jaw was very noticeable. I coated my cuts and bruises with foundation and powder to make it seem as if I was just a clumsy 13 year old who hurt herself a lot. But as I stared longer and longer in the mirror all I could see was that I was worthless, and it was my fault for causing this nightmare. Is there a way out of this? Is Sarah really going to make this all better? I reflected. I didn't know if this was false hope or a sense of realism coming out of my brain at this point.

When I got to Leo's window I knew actually getting out was going to be a challenge. Being as fatigued as I was, Being silent wasn't very easy. I grunted as I landed onto the muddy ground. Leo said he would be here at 7:30, so where is he? Then, a dark figure with a blinding flashlight stood before me.

"Leo-o!" I choked out before I went into a heart wrenching sob.

"Wow, I never thought my little sister would be so emotional to see me! But enough of that we need to get out of here." Leonardo then cradled me like a helpless child and brought me around to the front of the house. At the curb, a white sedan waited humming with a familiar melody. I cautiously shut the car door behind me so I wouldn't cause a stir.

"Kacy, Honey we're going to get you somewhere safe alright." My aunt Sarah's soothing voice tuned out the blaring music.

"We're going to head to my house first alright? Oh sweetums you must be traumatized." She quickly changed the subject and asked if I was alright. She saw all the aftermath of the malicious beating my mother gave me and gave me a concerned looked. She whipped her head around to the front and hit the accelerator.

AN: I hope you guys like my story so far, it is my first one so try not to judge too hard! 😂
Thanks again! And I will try to update as much as possible!

-Kelsey <3