Monday
I'm going through the motions. I can't move or get up without flinching at the amount of pain I'm feeling. My legs are swollen, my face is swollen. Every part of me feels numb.
I'm off school this week. My Dad called the principal and told him I had a bike accident and won't be coming to school for at least a week or two. He is a respectable man in the community, He is never questioned.
I'm home alone. Phila made me breakfast before rushing off to school. She feels bad for me. My parents didn't bother checking up on me. I expected this behavior from my father not My mother. I expected her to show concern, to worry about her bruised child.
I don't get why she surrenders to my father so much. She never questions him or stand up to him. She follows his strict suffocating rules like a woman born in the sixties. She doesn't understand that things have changed. Women have a voice now.
I limped all the way to the TV area with a bowl of cereal. I sat down and watched all the repeat shows. I can't chew without my jaw reminding me of last night's nightmare. The hate and anger in my Father's eyes hunted me in my dreams last night. I have been replaying the assault over and over. Feeling each strike all over again. Tears blinding me, I remember sobbing and shaking uncontrollably before finally drifting off to sleep.
I woke up an hour before my parents. I stayed quiet and kept my ears open. I listened to them talk about how awful it is to drive to work on a Monday morning. They were bickering about insignificant things. The didn't even mention my name. To them last night was a normal night. Nothing out of the ordinary. They did what they had to do.
Maybe all of this is for the best. I mean let's face it, why would a successful, handsome guy like Shane go for a basic girl like me?
*****
Tuesday
Six missed calls from Shane and a message from Zoe.
Where the hell are you? I'll come see you today. I have lots and lots of gossip!
I smiled after reading the text message. If there's anyone who can make me laugh right now, its Zoe. She has a crazy sense of humour and always has the right...wrong thing to say.
I don't know if my Father will allow her to visit me. He knows that Zoe is my best friend and that I will tell her what really happened to me. I never keep things from her. She knows all there is to know about me and I know a lot about her too. She's like a sister to me.
I watched movies on my Brother's old laptop.
Later on Phila came back with Zoe.
"Look who I found" Phila gushed. Zoe walked in. She immediately stopped walking when she saw my face. "Omg Christian" she walked up to me and embraced me in her arms.
"I'll give you guys some space" Phila left the room.
"What happened?"
"My Father...he...he hit me" I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. "What? Why?" She half shouted.
"I came home late"
"That's it?"
"I have s curfew, Zoe. I was supposed to be home way before my parents but my stupid self had to stay out late"
"This is wrong. You need to do something about this"
"Oh yea? Something like what?"I asked Nonchalantly.
"Go to the police, talk to social workers. Just don't sit around and take this abusive behaviour" she shouted.
"You know I can't do that. He is my father for goodness sake. I can't have him arrested"
