Reminded

Chapter Two

"You know, you're just like your mum." My half-awake and drunk dad informed me. "Weak and deceiving. Perhaps one of the most pathetic things in the world."

I was now cornered on the far edge of my bed. Well, more like a matress with a tablecloth over it. My dad wasn't exactly stable, even on the rare occassions where he was sober. I knew it was going to get violent soon, and I knew I wasn't going to get through tonight without a couple new marks.

"Daddy... I need to go." I mumble.

"That Niall boy, huh?" He hardly got through his name. "You have him wrapped around your finger. Just like your mum had me..." How dare he spoke of her. I never met mum because of him.

"Too bad you won't be seeing that much longer. And it's all your fault!" He snickered.

I trembled now, fearing every move he made. "Ah, c'mon! Since when can you not take a joke!" He screamed, knocking over everything on the shelf next to him, including the only photo I have of her.

He crawled onto the bed, putting his face right next to mine. "But I," he said, with his liquor drenched breath, "I can make it all better."

He pinned me down to the bed by my shoulders, and leaned in. I screamed at the top of my lungs, desperate for any of our neighbors to hear. My dad threw a punch, and I heard a loud crack as my vision blurred.

"Shut the hell up, you stupid bitch!" he screamed.

I felt the warmth of blood gush down my face from my nose.

I started crying, as he laughed at me. "Shh. Shh..." he chuckled. "You'll wake the-"

I kicked him back right on the chest. He tumbled off my bed, landing in the pile of shattered glass from the picture frame.

"Shit!"

I got up from the bed instantly. "Daddy, I need to leave!" I scream, and book it out of my room.

My bare feet step into the glass. I shriek but I keep moving. He chases me, shouting my name. I ran down the stairs, and thankfully, he was too drunk to comprehend how to use them, so he fell. I ran out the door into the cold night, hearing him mumbling something about all us women being the same.

I ran to the tree house, the only place I truly felt safe. When I climb up there, I'm disappointed because Niall isn't there. Why would he be here at three in the morning, anyway? I run over to the pile of blankets and crash into them.

"Ow! What are you doing, man!?" He screams. Then, when he sees it's me, his face drops.

"Oh my god, Madeline. What happened?"

I shook my head, as I felt the tears fall down my face. Niall sits up and holds me tight.

"Niall, what are you doing here?" I ask. "I mean, I'm glad to see you..."

"I, uh... had a nightmare... And I knew you needed someone, me. And you always said never to come to your house, so I came here. I knew you'd eventually end up... here." He said. Niall seemed a little embarassed.

"Don't worry." I said after awhile. "I don't think you're weird."

He smiled lightly, stood up, and opened the latch, revealing the beautiful stars that were strung about Mullingar tonight. He sat back down, laying my head just over his thigh.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Niall asked, stroking the side of my face.

I shook my head. "I'm scared..." The fact that he still didn't know was also starting to get to me.