A CAST OF PAIN (Closed For Editing)

Chapter Three

"....You will never be useful for anything," she continued. She had now flung the stick she was using to hit her to a side and was now bent low spitting insults at the young girl whose cries sounded more like purrs than actual crying.

KORE'S POV

I stood like a log of wood watching the scene. Unable to do anything, unable to move a muscle. But, I felt it. The twinges of pain as she hurled harsh words at me non stop. It just felt so frustrating that I could do nothing but stand there and watch.

Tears flowed down our faces, hot tears that seemed to mirror the depth of pain we felt inside. The pain inflicted on us by this strange woman's words.

Who was she by the way ? What did she have to do with me that warranted her frequent appearances in my dreams ? Why can't I seem to remember a thing about her, if at all she was a part of a memory I couldn't place ?

And even as I asked all these questions I couldn't help but wonder if we were the only ones in the house. Wasn't there anyone else who could come to our aid ?

"Help!" I screamed. The plea erupting from deep within me, but no one came. "Help somebody, please help!" I screamed again, my plea coming out very desperate this time. But still there was no response from anywhere.

I screamed again, again, again, and again, hoping, praying that my persistent cry will be heard but all I got in return were echoes of my cries bouncing off the walls and returning back to me with a silence so steady I could swear I thought I had entered an unspoken pact with solitude.

"You're utterly worthless!" she spat, her voice dripping with contempt. "Do you have the slightest idea how much those plates are worth? Huh, do you? More than you! You're nothing but a useless waste of space," she sneered, her finger jabbing toward me as if to emphasize each biting word. The idea of being overshadowed, of those inanimate objects holding more value than me, gnawed at my thoughts. And why it mattered to me so much that words like these came out from this strange woman's mouth was what I didn't understand.

I could practically sense her intent to puncture my very eyes with that accusatory digit. "They mean more than you ever could!" Her declaration reverberated, her eyes ablaze with an intense, seething anger.

"You can never amount to anything in life you useless imbecile. She said, keeping on with her barrage of verbally abusive words. "She was jabbing her finger once again at my face as if trying to engrave her disdain into my very being.

I yearned to stop the pain, to put an end to the almost torturous episode that her maltreatment was putting me through I didn't think I could take it anymore. So I lifted my head to the ceiling.

"Father, please, help me," I cried. " I don't think I can stand it anymore. Please, save me, I begged. And like a dream come true, amid the tumult in my dream, I heard a familiar voice pull me back to reality.

"Kore, Kore," the voice echoed faintly.

Jojo's POV

I placed my Bible on my bed side drawer, got up, and left my room, stepping into our dimly lit hallway. I counted five steps and I was in front of my sister's door, gently rapping my fingers against the door before walking in.

Slamming the door behind me, I walked towards her bed and eased myself down to sit on the base of her bed and watched. It was almost always like this. Walking into her room to find her grappling again with the demons in her dreams.

I studied her face as it contracted under the soft illumination of the dim bed side lamp and wished I could reach into her dreams, to go experience it with her, to see the phantoms that haunted her nights and offer a comforting presence amidst the shadows that threatened her peace, even if I knew the Holy Spirit could do much more and better. He was probably the one who led me here.