Like I Don't Know What Hurt Is.

A Chapter by Mickey Hyde

"Seth? Where are you boy!" Forty-three year old Mark Gorrin yelled for his sixteen year old son, Seth.

Mark barged through the swinging front door of their home and immediately walked up stairs to his son's room, skipping two or three steps at a time to get ahead faster.

The only thought that was going through his head while he all but flew to Seth's room was this : 'This boy is gonna get it..."

Upstairs, Seth was scrambling around, unsure of what to do. He knew that his dad was coming, he knew he was drunk again, and he knew that his father was coming up here for one thing, that one thing that he comes for everyday.

He was coming to beat him.

Quickly running to his door, Seth locked the handle and grabbed his book bag as he slipped his shoes on. He ran to the window and began to fumble with the lock, trying to open it as he heard his dad coming near to his room.

"Come on, hurry up!" he yelled at himself as he began a sweat.

"Seth!" Mark yelled as he approached the door and started to try to open it.

Seth began trying to open the window faster, knowing that at any minute now his dad could be in there with him.

For two years this has been going on, nearly every single night ever since Mark's wife committed suicide. She had only been thirty seven at the time, and she was recovering from the death of her brother, who had been in a car accident three weeks before. She grew depressed then and when she had learned that her two nephews didn't make it either, she hung herself in the bathroom on the day of her son's birthday.

She was found by Mark that day, and that very day, he changed.

He grew aggressive and began leaning towards alcohol, going to a bar every night and returning home to Seth, who then learned he had to take care of his own father afterwords.

The first time Mark had laid a hand on him was four months after his wifes death. Seth had been out with his cousins that day and when he had gotten home later, his father was upset that he couldn't find his wallet. Thinking that Seth took it, Mark punched him, kicked him, and nearly killed him. Little did Mark know that he had left his wallet in his truck earlier that day.

Ever since, Mark uses Seth as a human punching bag.

"Oh come on!" Seth yelled loudly as he jiggled the lock free, and he felt a slight weight picked off his shoulders.

'I'm free,' he thought as he placed one foot on the edge of the window, preparing to climb out, but just then his dad came in.

Trying to jump, Seth was only brought back by Mark who was pulling him by the shirt.

Bracing himself, Seth prepared for the first hit , which came straight down to his face........