Before It's Dawn

Chapter 1

Everything is mute as I watch my parents argue for the tenth time this week but I might be wrong since I stopped counting. My mother throws her hands up in the air in frustration as she inaudibly screams no. Unbothered, my father takes his briefcase and begins to walk away.

I don't know when it happened. When the love that glowed between them dwindled and died. They were high school sweethearts who got married after graduation and had me. Eventually, the love began to die and my mother found out that my dad wasn't at work late at night. Things never stayed the same.

Before I had a chance to analyse her next move, she grabbed the vase off the counter and sent it flying across the room. I close my eyes and try to fill my mind with memories of the two when they once showed love to each other, but no matter how I tried, it was still futile.

"Catherine I don't care what you do or say, she is going to the hospital!" The man boomed before wiping the streak of blood from his cheek. He turned on the ball of his feet and continued to exit the room. I waited for the slam of the bedroom door and watched as my mother jogged up the stairs, obviously not finished with their conversation.

The pound of her fist filled the house, the only barrier that seemed to be the one thing that protected the pair from ripping each other apart. Every knock my father's muffled voice protested the matter.

I don't remember a time when my house wasn't a minefield of arguments and fights between the two. I don't remember when my parents slept in the same bed or when we would sit at the dinner table as a family. We never went to the park when I was a little girl.

I slowly stand up from the barstool and walk across the room where the shattered pieces of colored glass decorated the floors. Every step closer is heavier than the last. It felt as though I was walking into a pool of water, the waves pushing me to face the reality of life.

I kneel and gather the pieces of glass, trying to piece them back together, thinking maybe just this time that the quarrels would disappear and we would all be as happy as the perfect family that hung on our walls. It does not work.

He's trying to kill you! I hear the raspy voice mumble.

No, he's not. Don't listen to him. They only want you to seek help. So you can be- An angelic soft voice tries to defend before it is cut off.

They're both lying to you. You're just too much of a pathetic daughter so they would rather send you away. They want to get rid of the worthless mistake they both regretted. A teenage girl that I recognize as my best friend taunts me.

Don't listen to them.

They want you dead!

She's just a pathetic loser!

"STOP!" I scream, closing my eyes shut. I cover my ears, trying my best to muffle the voices. I shout again but this time I am wrapped in a pair of fragile arms that I have become familiar with. It is my mother.

"It's okay, baby. It's okay." She cooed while stroking my red hair. I don't release that I am crying until I feel her fingers sweep across my cheeks, wiping away the tears.

"Did you cut yourself again?" She sighs, prying my hand away from my ears. "I told you before that you don't have to clean up after me. I'm here to take care of you, remember." She scoffs, removing the glass from my hand.

I look blankly at the wall. Eventually, the cream colour turns into a little clear-dyed red puddle that I can see my reflection in. I don't speak, I only watch as the water becomes darker until it disappears when the view is blocked by a silhouette.

She stoops to my level and steadily holds my hand. She takes the wet cloth and gently cleans my open wound. I bite my lip as I wince in pain.

"You won't be gone for long. I know that you're scared but it's okay to be." She says reassuringly. She wants to believe that this all will be okay by the morning. But the truth is that it's just a lie she tells herself to feel better about checking her daughter into a psychiatric hospital.