The Real Me

Hell is different for everyone

"Why did you get a B but she got an A+!? When will you get better!?" Mom yelled at me while Dad was standing and enjoying the scene.

"I'll try harder mom, p-please don't put me in the store room...." I was shaking as her glare became more intense.

"Try harder? You've been saying that for ages now, when will you actually get better!? Huh!!?" Mom yelled and pushed me against the wall, I felt a sharp pain on my shoulder, looks like it got dislocated.

"AHH- M-Mom please don't hit me, I swear I'll get...I'll get b-better, please..." I looked at her face but the vision became blurry and my legs became weak, I heard some mumblings in the background and lost my consciousness.

I've been going through this hell for 3 years now. My parents are rich and successful so they want their kids to be the same. Nathan, my older brother, is the son everyone wanted. Perfect grades, his knowledge of music flows in his performances. And then there's me, average at everything. I've been telling them that I'll get better, but no matter how much I tried, I never did.

My parents were fed up with it. They started hitting me, leaving bruises and cuts all over my body except my face, no food for months and locked me in the store room whenever I got lower than an A. I was fine with all of this but they didn't stop there.

They started the mental torture. They started saying that they love me a lot and are doing this for my own good. I loved Nat but they threatened me that they will put me in a boarding school. Nat is the reason why I was still alive. He gave me hope that my good days will come too. He was the only sane person in that whole mansion, who wasn't my father's slave.

"Ben! Ben! Wake up!!" I heard Nat's voice as he shook me.

"Nathan....what are you doing here?" I said with as much energy as possible although the pain in my shoulders was killing me.

"I brought some food, after you finish eating let's run away and go to the police."

"No Nathan, you can't run away, mom and dad will be angry." I stood up from the floor and realized that I was in the store room, I guess they locked me here again.

"I can't watch you like this, I don't care if they get angry, you're more important right now." Nathan said as he forwarded a spoonful of rice towards me and I ate it.

"But-"

"No buts, we are running away as soon as you finish your food." I couldn't argue back, I've been living in this hell that I'll do anything to escape. Anything.

"Okay, where are mom and dad?" I said as I took another bite.

"They are in a meeting right now, so we are safe. I've taken our passports, some money, clothes, so we should be fine."

"Where are we going though?"

"If the police here take our parents side, we're flying overseas to our aunt."

I nodded and as soon as I finished my food, we got dressed and hopped on Nathan's motorcycle, he was 18 so he had his driving license. The only thing we needed was to escape from my parent's ass lickers and we could be free forever. We went to our nearest police station.

"So you two are the son of Mr and Mrs Harrison?" The policeman asked.

"Yes." We answered together.

"Your parents have given a missing report on you two and they're coming to pick you up."

"WHAT!?" Nathan shouted, "WHY WOULD YOU CALL THEM WITHOUT EVEN HEARING WHAT WE HAVE TO SAY!?"

"Because the money they're offering for you two is tremendous. Also what good of a reason can two spoiled brats have to run away from their rich parents?"

We argued a lot against them but they were blinded by money. Our parents came and took us with them, the car ride was the calm before the storm and we knew it.

"Why did you do that Ben? How dare you manipulate Nathan to go with you? You will pay for this." Dad didn't even let me explain and dragged me to the store room with him. He locked the door from inside and started smoking.

"Nathan is the best child we could ever get, and then you, the black sheep of the family who struggles with grades and other curricular activities." He bent down to make eye contact with me.

"It would've been so much better if you were never born. All you've done is bring failure to the family." He exhaled the smoke on me and I coughed really hard. Then he grabbed my hair and pulled it to raise my head and slowly brought the cigarette close to my hand.

"If you don't stop being a failure, I'll disown you. So what is your answer?" It felt like, if he didn't like my answer, he was going to burn my hand.

"I will get better, I promise I won't disa- aghhhh-" I groaned as he pulled my hair with more strength, "disappoint you-"

He put the cigarette on my hand and waited for 10 seconds for it to burn my skin. Looks like he didn't like my answer. I screamed so much that my voice started cracking up but still he didn't stop. I passed out after not being able to keep up with the pain and woke up when dad threw a bucket of water at me. "Wake up, we need to go to your grandparents."

He untied me but I couldn't stand up for some reason. I looked at my numb hand and the sight was dreadful. I was speechless and still for a few seconds, there were black dots all over my left hand, the skin was completely pale and numb.

"Get dressed and take care of that hand, we're leaving in 1 hour." Mom said and I ran to the bathroom to treat my hand. I washed it and put antiseptic all over it. Thank god it was numb.

But who knew that that was the least of the pain I'd get today.