A Light in the Dark

Chapter 3 - Faeries?

A Light in the Dark - Chapter 3: Faeries?

Currently, I am on my knees of the second floor of the house. I am holding a small, wet washcloth, and there was a bowl of cold water next to me. These are for washing the floor. I mentally sigh.

Just yesterday my father had beat and burned me from those chains.

I hold the washcloth with my right arm, holds it down to the floor, and starts sweeping my arm in a back and forth motion to wash it. Left, Ri--before I can even finish the first round of left and right, pain quickly shoots up my right arm, making me gasp.

The burn mark was still there, and it wasn't fully healed yet. I look down at my scarred, ragged body. There was no hope for me--there never was.

I continue to work. Left, Right. Left, Right. Pain shoots up more frequently now, seeing as I wouldn't let my poor arm take a break. But that wasn't really why. It was my father. He wouldn't let me stop cleaning just to heal my burned arm--or any other body part for that matter.

Left, Right. Left, Right. I'll never see the outside of this house, and I'll always be chained here, forced to be enslaved and tortured by the man who calls himself my father. . .

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I had just finished washing the floors of every single room and hallway on the second floor of the house. My whole body had felt like there were electric shocks running up and down it, but not anymore. Now I just feel numb. Numb and weak.

I had just started to work on the first floor when the door that connected the hallway I was in to the outside world slammed open.

Guess who walked in? I'm sure it's obvious. My father.

From where he was standing, I can see behind him the outside world--and it was beautiful. It was sunny outside, and everything was green. Trees surrounded the house, and from what I heard, I inferred that we were in the middle of a forest. Plants, birds, and animals jumped around the glorious world outside of the dark and horrid house I was in, making me envious of them.

But then I realized something. Sure, the outside world might be beautiful, but it was only an illusion. Maybe to trick people to go outside so then the true beauty of it can reveal itself, setting itself to prey on its small, weak victims.

So I decided to never let it trick me into going out there.

"Oh! My wonderful daughter!" a sickly sweet voice said in the direction I was staring at, bringing my eyes to shift towards the bad man standing in front of the doorway to the outside world.

The man staggered towards the living room, moving sluggishly. "Comeeeeeee hereee, lovee" he slurred. He bumped into the wall, and got enraged, making him punch the wall. "Stupiddd daughterrr" he slurred. "Get yurr asss ova herrre."

Oh no. He was drunk. If he's drunk, it means that something happened to piss him off, and now he's going to take his anger out on me. Fortunately, when he's drunk, he doesn't have good hand-eye coordination, so if he throws something at me, he misses. If he tries to punch me or hit me with something, it's weaker than his usual hits.

This is why I like his drunk days better.

But back to the matter at hand. Since I didn't want to piss him off any more--drunk people can get angry pretty easily--I followed him into the living room, and watched while he paced back and forth next to the fireplace.

"Stupid man. Can't he just have--I dunno--stupid--idiot--fuck--" I only caught some of his muttered drunk talk, so I couldn't make any sense of what he had said. Grateful that he hasn't start beating me yet, I listen more.