I blink. Seriously? This sick fuck is getting bold.
“Have forensics tag all the shit. Don’t move the bodies. I want to see what the hell I have over there. I’ve got one burnt up car and an overly crisp body here. Fuck.”
He hangs up on me. Shaking my head, I walk around the perimeter of the fence and the front yard. Nothing seems disturbed.
“Another dead end,” I whisper.
My best friendKnave’s house is a block and a half away from the club. It’s quite easy to make my way there undetected. I take the back alley and slip past the hospital that’s being renovated. It’s nothing fancy, but he lets me come and go through his home when I need to make a quick getaway from my family.
Taking my time, I pull my clothes off and take my makeup off. I stare at the mirror, looking at the jagged scar that crosses from my right temple, passes along the top of my nose, and under my left eye. My hands shake the longer I look, so I turn away quickly. I wash the blood off my hands and my blade.
After I put on the clothes I was wearing at school, I stuff my outfit and other items into the backpack I left here earlier. I take a deep breath and walk into the kitchen. Sitting down at the bar, I take the cereal that’s on the counter and eat straight out of the box. My cell phone goes off and my body tenses.
“Where the hell are you? You worthless tramp. The sun is down, and you’re supposed to be in your room.”
I swallow down the bile and anger. “Hi Father. You know I tutor on Wednesdays and Fridays.”
“Don’t you fucking talk back to me.”
“I’ll be home in twenty.”
“I didn’t ask what time. Get home now or I will have your brother come get you.”
That’s even worse. “Yes Sir. I’ll be there shortly.” If there’s one thing I don’t want, it’s having my brother Donnie pick me up. My father hangs up the phone and I know the clock is ticking. Grabbing my backpack from the couch, I sling it around my right shoulder, turn off the living room light, and walk out the door without locking it.
It’s five blocks to my community, and I have to pass through Mr. Jenkin’s yard. His dog is a purebred Malamute; he loves me but he also loves to bark. I’ve learned to give him treats so he will be quiet and not wake my family. It won’t work tonight, though. My father is on the porch looking ready to murder me. I shiver. I hate my family.
Before I can make it even three steps into our yard, my father is in my face. “I told you to get straight home.” His words are slurring, and his eyes are glassy. He’s been drinking again. I take a deep breath and square my shoulders.
“I got here as fast as I could.”
He slaps me across the face, knocking me to my knees. I clench my fists. If I could kill him without making a scene all over the place, I would. I’m still working on a way to get out from under his hand.
I stand up and look at him. “Don’t hit me, Father,” I spit his name like it’s a poisonous bite of food.
“Shut your whore mouth up. Get your ass in the house and get to cleaning.”
“No.”
He rears back like he’s going to punch me, but my brother Donnie comes running out.
“Pops, that’s enough, alright? The neighbors may see.” My brother didn’t save me from my father. No. He just wants to move it into the house so they can tag team me. It’s what they’ve done for the last three years. Every night, I come home, and they belittle me or whip me until I can’t see straight. It’s worse if I’m not home when they get home from work.
“Well golly, Donnie, that’s so nice of you.”
“Maddie, don’t push it,” he warns and I want to push it. I want to make their lives as miserable as they’ve made mine. I don’t know why I don’t just kill them already. Maybe it’s my atonement for what I do in secret. I’m not sure. But the day is coming. I’m going to kill them, and they are going to pay for everything they’ve put me through.
We walk into the house, and before the door is even shut and locked, Donnie has me on the ground. My eyes close as he rips off my backpack and sits on me. The air leaves my lungs as he yanks my hair and forces me to look at him.
“You know, sis, if you’re going to keep being a disrespectful little whore, I can show you how to bemygood little whore.”
I bite my tongue. When he makes a threat to teach me a lesson, I am sure to get in line quickly. The last time he taught me a lesson I wasn’t able to walk for a week. The idea of my father or brother doing that kind of thing to me makes me sick. It’s the one thing that keeps me in line for now. His cruel chuckle resonates through me as my father comes over with the belt.
“Get up Donnie, she’s going to be good now.”
My father is right. I am. I don’t want them touching me more than they already do. Donnie gets up and I can breathe. My father puts the belt around my throat and squeezes, forcing me to look at him.
“For your rudeness, you know you’ll get punished. But first, come kiss my feet. Show me you didn’t mean to be a bad girl.”
