Never Again

July 1st, 2007

On a night such as this, when the moon cast a luminous glow upon this part of the earth and the wolves would lift their voices to the heavens, the night seemed more eerie and unwanted than on most occasions. On this particular night, though, across the city in a small apartment death lingered with every waking moment the seventeen year old girl spent. Fear mixing with the scent of booze and blood and made it impossible for any animal to stay there, and so she sat alone each night after her three or four hour sessions with her father's furious fists with a razor blade in one hand and her heart in the other.The moon had not yet risen to it's highest peak, and by the time the dawn began to grace the filthy city, she would have blood on her hands....

She hid. Like a rat in a large closed in room. She hid from him. She knew by now that it would come, but it always seemed to calm her if she showed him just how weak and how low she was willing to sink for him. Before he came home, the lights of the house were off, the darkness seemed to soothe her more than anything since she had no one else to confide in, but when the door slung open and the overwhelming scent of hard liquer mixed with numerous amounts of strong womens' perfume she knew he was home. Again, on this particular night, she changed her normal routine of hiding and sat in the darkness on a couch facing in the direction of the door.

Silence blessed apartment as it did most of the day, there was no computer to hum softly throughout the house. There was no phone to ring obnoxiously loud and disturb her. There was no....nothing. Nothing but the small and fragile form of a seventeen year old girl who never spoke to anyone, never took off the face of an emotionless doll. She sat and looked out the window, deep brown eyes full of nothingness gazed through the window pane and out at the shadows that flickered across the street. Her hands folded neatly in her lap, her back straight, and her dark hair lying limp and motionless over her shoulders and down her back. This posture never mood, not even when his footsteps could be heard almost rumbling the ground like the steps of an elephant slowly trudging it's way across an African savanna. Patiently she waited. As expected, the door swung open, light from hall outside quickly gripped the darkness lingering near the door and replaced it with the soft yellow glow which outlined his large shadowy figure as he flipped on the light switch.

"I don't understand why you don't leave the lights on like everybody else." He slurred in a muffled tone as he slammed the door behind him with a loud BANG! she was sure people all way down on the first floor could hear. He asked no question, so she did not answer. Only kept silent and watched him with careful eyes as he fell over on another couch, passing out almost instantly. She felt a sigh of relief escape her mouth, allowing her lungs to release the breath of air they had been subconsciously holding. On silent feet she carefully maneuvered herself to her room, being sure to make no noise. On nights like this, when he was so drunk he could barely walk, he was more violent and unpredictable. Since he lay unconscious in living room, she took this opportunity to sleep herself, but she knew it wouldn't last long. And it didn't.

Through a dreamless sleep she heard him again, his loud heavy footsteps quickly advancing towards her bedroom door and finally resting outside it. From a crack between the door and the floor the light bent to his form as she rose to a sitting position and awaited him. The door flung open and the callused palm of his left hand slammed against the light switch. "What are you doing?!" He bellowed to her in a loud booming voice. Nothing does she reply, her soft thin lips pressed against each other to form a frown on the once pretty face. "I asked you a question! Now answer me!" He had demanded. Something was different tonight. Something she hadn't sensed all the other nights before. "I was resting." She replied in a voice so soft, the sound almost fades as it reached his ears. "Get up." His command is harsh, and yet, she found no energy to move her battered body. "Get up!" With long strides he advanced again, picking her up by the shoulders and slamming her against the wall. It starts. Her feet dangle an inch or two off the ground, but that doesn't stop him. Though she feared him, she dared not let him see this as his fist came in contact with her pale face creating the first bruise of tonight's round. Again and again he strikes with no remorse, no mercy or pity for this victim of his assault. She didn't cry out, she never did, even though this time the strikes were much harder since he'd had more to drink. This passed for several hours until the pain became unbearable. She had decided, she would put an end to this.

By this time he had dragged her around the house and back but now she lay on the living room carpet as he stood over her with a grin of a drunk who's soul purpose was to make the world around him a little more like Hell to the only one who still lived under his roof. Though limp she seemed, he knew she wasn't dead yet, so he picked her up again for another hit. But this was delayed as she slightly tugged on collar of her dress. His large stubby fingers released her as a puzzled looked replaced the smile of a devil, and she stepped back a step or two from him. "No more." She manages to say through her body's pain. "What?" He says in a voice too low for his usual tone, "what did you say to me?" Slowly, he stalked toward her, like a leopard stalking it's prey, but she knows what's coming and meant what she said. "I said no more." She repeated even softer than before. A quick lunge from his part and she grabbed an unused lamp that stood as a silent observer, and with all of the strength her small body could muster; the lamp came crashing down on the top of his head. Glass littered the floor as his body hit the soft lush carpet with a soft and muffled thud. The girl looks to see his limp and lifeless form lying at her feet. Bloody shards of the broken lamp litter the floor and blood splats paint the room in red. But she has saved herself at last from the pain and the misery of her life. With nothing in her grasps, she walks to the door. Slowly it opens and she walks out into the well lit hall. She turns to smile back at what remains of her father's torment,"good night father." She says in a mocking way as she shuts the door. A smile playing on her face as the door clicks softly behind her.

Reviews

[Tiffany]

Wow, she so devilish at the end. Self defense with a bit of murderer. I like it.