Divergent: The Unknown Girl

Chapter 2: A Selfless Act

        Girl POV

Swish, slap, scream.

Swish, slap, scream.

That is all I can hear. The screams of my brother. The boy that doesn't even know that I exist. The boy that is beaten by his father just like I am beaten by him. I hate how my father treats him, I couldn't care less how my father treats me, I am not allowed out the house. No one sees me, I don't have to hide and lie about my pain and scars like my brother is bound to have to do. Me though, I am not allowed out from the basement that I have lived in my whole life.

The basement was like an apartment, it has its own bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom. The bathroom has a bath and a shower, the kitchen is small but has all of the essentials; fridge freezer, washing machine, cooker, microwave. The living room only has a sofa, there is no television, no books, nothing to keep me entertained, most of the time I am bored out of my mind.  The bedroom is the only room with a window, the smallest and thinnest window at the top of the wall. Most of the time I just sit and watch the world go by.

No one knows about this apartment except me and him; my father, Marcus. The entrance of this place must be hidden because no one has ever asked what was down here. I always listen upstairs to see if anyone asks about a basement about my cries or screams but no one does.

I live in this basement, so that I will not be heard, so that no one will see me, that no one will ask any questions. What's my name? I hear you all asking, I don't have one, my father never gave me one, my mother wasn't allowed to give me one, my father threatened her, I may have been a baby but I remember everything, the way my father beat her.

When I was three, my father murdered her, right in front of me.  I remember the words he spoke to me whilst he was covered in her blood.

"You will do everything I say when I say it, or you will end up like your whore of a mother." He spoke then walked over to the kitchen sink, washing his hands, which were covered in blood. He washed the knife that he used to stab my mother to death.

That was when we both heard the front door open, he looked at his watch. "Tobias is early from school." He spoke, he must have seen the tiniest hope in my eyes because he chuckled, "He is not your brother, nor will he ever be, he will never know you exist, no one will know that you exist, girl. Now, take the body and dump it!" He typed a code in a blank wall and a secret door opened. "If you are not back here in half an hour, Tobias will get your beating too. Got it?"

I just nod, I grabbed my mother's arm and pulled then above her head to drag her across the floor. I was so tired; my mother was heavy. I felt like I had been pulling her forever when I finally saw a bright light. Was this the outside? I pulled my mother along with me. I knelt beside and sobbed for a few minutes. I kissed her forehead, then pulled her to a forest, and left her there. I ran back 'home' I didn't want my brother getting hurt. I made it just in time. My father tapped his foot at the door, "Look at the mess you have made!" he spoke in a scarily angry voice, but it was low and quiet, that was when I knew that Tobias was still home. My father pointed to the blood on the floor, "Clean it up now!" he spoke, then walked up the stairs and shut the door. He didn't lock it, he never did, he assumed I wouldn't be stupid enough to try and leave.

He was right, I was too scared to walk up those stairs. I grabbed a cloth, moved to my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor.

I am snapped back to reality when I hear the screams again. I try to ignore it, like I try to every week, but it doesn't work. Nothing ever works, it is impossible. How can anyone ignore the sound of tortured screams? How can a father continue beating when his son is screaming in pain? Why doesn't he believe that Tobias finishes school early on a Tuesday? I hear him say it every week, I hear his voice tremble every time he says it, and he knows what is coming. Just like I know when it is coming to me.