A new reality (Sayonika)

Natsuki

Reading manga before he comes home is something I do regularly. I flick through all the pages, ready to slide it under my mattress when I hear him open the door. Hopefully he won't search my room again like he did last time, that really hurt. I'm giggling at one page in particular, a feeling of danger and adrenaline rushing through me. I love my manga but I know that he will definitely beat the shit out of me if he ever finds it. I'm always careful and I listen but my hearing sometimes isn't the best. I'm halfway through when the door suddenly bursts open. HE is visible in the doorway. My heartbeat quickens as he strides in, face filled with rage. I feel even more nervous as he glances from the book to me, his piercing grey eyes burning into my soul. That's when I remembered that I was still wearing the stupid pink tutu he makes me wear, the one he usually likes to look up whenever I'm sitting down. I hoped it wasn't showing too much. I made a useless attempt at pulling it down slightly. After about a minute of silence, he starts screaming abuse at me. I've learnt how to block it all out, after all, this does happen frequently. I was breathing so fast that I was sure I would suffocate. Tears fell from my eyes as he continued hurling insults at me. I knew he was drunk again, he was just managing to string sentences together and his voice was slurred. I look down at the floor, trying to avoid eye contact with him. That's when he slapped me hard in the face. I fell to the side, disorientated, my face stinging. I could taste the blood which was spilling from the new cut in my lip. Whack! Another blow sucked the air out of me. I lay defenseless on the floor, desperately trying to stop my lip from bleeding. He seized the manga out of my hands, scratching my skin as he clumsily snatched it from me.

"How dare you read this bullshit!" he shouted in my ear.

I held back my sobs and just let the tears pour from my eyes. He would be even more mad if I made a big scene. Suddenly, he grabs the key to my room and slams the door shut. A small click indicated that he had locked it. I knew what this meant... no dinner for me. I raced towards the door and hit it with my fists, begging him to let me out. He didn't respond. I listened to him walk down the stairs, probably to guzzle more booze. I sank onto the floor, curling up into a tiny ball. My stomach rumbled as the smell of his cooking drifted up the stairs. I would have to scavenge for left overs tomorrow but for now I had nothing. This is why I'm so small. Every time I make him mad, which is a lot of them time, he locks me in my room, leaving me starving. Crying doesn't help, shouting doesn't help, fighting back doesn't help. He always over powers me. There are particular nights when he's really drunk where he comes into my room and... it's never pleasant and it always hurts in the morning. I cry as quietly as I can, I don't want him to come back up. I weakly pull my self up and slide into bed, closing my eyes and hoping that he won't come in tonight. That's when I hear my phone ping. I look at the screen and see that Monika has messaged me. I open the message and read it.

'Hey Natsuki, I have a little favour to ask of you. I remember you telling me that you like to bake cupcakes, right? Well, Sayori may be bringing a new member tomorrow so to make them feel more welcome, could you please bring in some cupcakes? If you can't that's alright but I feel like your cupcakes would do the trick. Thank you.'

I smile to myself. I love making and decorating cupcakes. Baking is my specialty and even if it means getting up earlier in the morning then I would gladly make some cupcakes for tomorrow. I message her back.

'Sure, I'll make some cupcakes for tomorrow but if that new member doesn't come then Sayori won't hear the end of it.'

I place my phone down on my bedside table and settle down to get some rest, I need to be awake early if I want them to be done before school.

(AN: Okay so in my story Natsuki does suffer sexual abuse at the hands of her father (an absolute prick) but I understand that going into that kind of subject matter (and I know, it's Doki Doki but sexual abuse is never implied in the game) is a little bit deep. If it makes people uncomfortable then I can remove those parts about the specific type of abuse, I do care about my readers experience. Just let me know in the comments.)