[Prolouge]

Please no. Not again. Not again...

 

The first thing she had ever learned was to keep your eyes shut and to stay within the shadows of the home. Then you were less likely to get hurt.

 

Thats how she started things tonight: sitting in a dark room in the corner, hugging her knees close to her chest. She lowered her head and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the noise of breaking glass and booming voices. As long as she didn't make a sound, perhaps they'd forget she was there.

 

There was a loud bang from the kitchen, and her legs shook with fear.

 

"No--stop it! Aurguy, let me go!"

 

Another loud clattering, and the sound of coughing followed.

She could hear footsteps darting across the wooden floors, and the sounds of violent screaming.

 

"Aurguy, please listen to me!"

"NO!"

 

There was another loud crash, and then the sound of furniture toppling over.

 

She clamped her legs together tight and held on for dear life.

 

"Aurguy stop it! Aurguy, please!!"

 

The hopeful pleading seemed to fall on deaf ears as the sound of glass shattering followed screaming and hurried footsteps.

 

This never lasts long, she told herself. Just a bit longer, and it'll be over.

 

"Koda!! Call the police!!"

 

She winced. Her name was spoken, which meant he'd remember she was here. There was another loud noise, and a blood-curtling scream that came from her mother.

 

"Be quiet, Danielle!" a loud voice shouted.

Her father.

 

Koda moved farther into the corner, too scared to do what her mother had asked.

 

"Koda, if you dare touch that phone--!!" her father screamed after her, bursting the door wide open and coming inside.

 

Koda gasped, and she truly saw the severity of the situation. Her father had her mother in a chokehold. Her mother, Danielle, was already swollen near the eyes and bruises dotted her arms and legs. Blood was rushing from under her nose, and her father's tie was undone. Koda only looked up at her father in dismay as he threw Danielle against the wall. "Don't you dare call anyone, Koda. You hear me?!" he screamed, dragging her closer by her hair. She began to cry out, but swallowed the scream and only nodded.

 

He jerked her head back.

"I SAID DO YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Yes Father!!"

 

He tossed her back into her corner, and tears were already spilling out of her eyes as she crawled back to the only place she felt safe.

 

Danielle staggered to the back, trying to avoid her husband's furious grabs. "Aurguy, please, I beg you! Go to bed, try to calm down! You're scaring Koda!" she shouted, but in the meekest voice possible. Her father's eyes were aglow in anger as he put Danielle in another chokehold. "I don't care if I'm scaring that mistake of ours!" he shouted, dragging Danielle back to the kitchen admist her screams and pleads for him not too.

 

Koda sat back, shaking and trying desperately not to sob. If she did, her father would focus his attention on her, and her body wouldn't be able to take it.

 

She was only seven.

 

A loud, ear piercing scream came from the kitchen, causing Koda to nearly jump out of her skin. Her palms began to sweat, and her eyes began to dart around the room. What should she do? Should she try to call the police? Or should she wait it out like she had so man times before?

 

She didnt have time to think for long.

 

Danielle came staggering back into the room, her arm a black bubbling mass of heat. She fell to the floor, screaming and crying at the same time. Her skin was burnt bad, and Koda knew that if she didn't do something, she'd be next.

 

Aurguy came in and coldly glanced down at Danielle, who was obviously terrified. He focused his gaze on his daughter, who was now standing, too scared to do anything but pray quietly to herself.

 

"You...." he whispered in a throaty growl.

Koda gasped for breath.

 

His rough hands gripped her throat and began to squeeze the life out of her. She clawed at his hands, begging him in the loudest voice she could to stop.

 

Her father must have been too tired to deal with her the way he had Danielle, because he simply sighed and threw her against the wall. "I'm going to bed, and if either of you disturbs me it'll be ten times worse than this!" he shouted before slamming the door on them.

 

Koda stood up, her back aching and her legs nearly refusing to keep her upright. Quietly, she walked over to Danielle, who was now swallowing her screams but sobbing uncontrollably. She knelt down, carressing her mother's hair. "Mama...." she whispered, trying to ease her mother's pain. Danielle looked up at her, a grim look coming over her. "K-K-Koda...oh Koda, my precious baby..." she mumbled, attempting to reach towards her daughter. The pain on her arm was too much, and she returned to clasping her wound tight.

 

"Mama..."

"Get me some ointment, dear..."

"Mama...thats bad. You need to see the doctor--"

"No doctor," Danielle winced, trying to smile. "Just ointment."

 

Koda stood up solemnly, turning towards the door and made her way to the bathroom, where all the medicines were, only to discover that Aurguy had scattered the pills all over the bathroom during his fit of rage. She searched desperately for the ointment, but it was nowhere to be found.

 

She made her way to the dining room next, which seemed to have taken the most damage. The table was broken in half, the chairs were halfway across the room, and the windows were broken. As Koda got closer she could see that the stove was lit.

 

He hurt Mama there.

 

Koda turned towards the glass-drizzled counter and grabbed a handful of paper towels. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do.

 

She tiptoed back to the room and knelt beside Danielle, who wasn't moving anymore.

 

"Mama?"

 

Nothing.

 

"Mama, look, I got these for you."

 

Nothing.

 

Koda shivered, then silently pressed them on her mother's arm, which was now just faintly sizzling. Danielle moved a bit, to Koda's relief.

 

"My baby..." she mumbled as he took Koda's hand.

Koda blushed.

 

"Mama...?"

 

Danielle looked up at her daughter, with eyes that said "I just can't do it anymore". "I...I'm going to sleep now. Tell me, baby..." she said, stroking her cheek.

 

"When I open my eyes, will you be the first thing I see?"

Author's Note

I hope you cried.

Reviews

[K.]

I feel kind of heartless. It just...didn't really move me, yeah it's horrible and all, but I just didn't feel anything while reading this
:/
awh. well.

[Keevan]

Mama noooooooo!

That's it. Lucy's gon' make dat man die. *c***s gun*

[Alexis]

Wow... This did make me cry. What a horrible way to live. I was so angry with Aurguy, I just couldn't stand it. You did such an amazing job with all of your descriptions. Just thinking about how terrifying and sad that would be makes me even more upset. :(
Great job on this.

[Angie Diane♥&hea..]

Awe, I have tears in my eyes...this is really sad. I feel so bad for Koda....her daddy is a no good mothereffing son of a gun that deeserves to die a slow painful death!!! I want to kill him!!! He's a rotten scumy scum scum crdep! He's so lucky I am not in the story!!! I would have killed him myself. The last line was so sad...I wanna cry even more now. You did a really nice job on this. It evoked emotion in me. I hate abusive parents. Thanks for sharing.