can't change what you don't know

dad...

TW: mentions of abuse
*the next Friday*

                  Tatum walked through the door after school and put her bag down by the door, "I'm home!" She called out.  Last weekend she saw her dad and like usual they had so much fun but now she's back home and everything's boring and dull again, the good thing is, tomorrow she's back with her dad and it will all be okay again. She walked into the living room to see her mother and Peter asleep with each other, probably fallen asleep from watching TV. She scoffed to herself and walked away before running upstairs and watching Netflix before dinner later on.

At around 6:30pm she was called downstairs for dinner so she put and oversized hoodie over her tank top and shorts and ran down the stairs before joining the adults at the dinner table. They began eating the food, making minimal conversation as they ploughed through the lasagne but other than that it was quiet. Peter must've been in a rather irritable mood since every little thing was getting to his head, "can you stop eating so loud?" He looked at Tatum and banged his cutlery on the table. Both girls jumped as Tatum looked up at him, "sorry..." she looked down and began eating slower and more quieter this time. A few more minutes passed before Tatum accidentally knocked her fork onto the floor, cassie just nodded for her to pick it up but Peter huffed.

Before Tatum even had the chance to sit back up Peter kicked her off the chair, "do you have to make everything a problem?" He stood up and flicked his empty plate onto the floor. Tatum flinched as the plate shattered on the floor. Cassie stood up and looked down at what Peter had done, "Pete..." she tried to calm him down but he wasn't having any of it. Peter stood next to Tatum who was still curled up on the floor, trying to block it all out, "no Cassie, this thing, this huge mistake right here, is making our lives a living hell. All she does is ruing things, can't you see that?" He yelled and booted his foot against the kids frail body.

Tatum groaned as the impact hit her like a knife, "just admit it, you don't want her, no one does" he yelled again and began repeatedly began kicking the kid. Cassie watched as her daughter took hit after hit, "mom..." Tatum cried out for her to help but the woman stood there holding her arms, tears strolling down her face. Tatum was sobbing her heart out, everything hurt, the only place he didn't hit was her face, probably so people wouldn't notice anything had happened. Peter groaned and caught his breath back, "get out of my sight" he scoffed at the body on the floor.

Tatum pulled herself up with all her might and stumbled her way over to the stairs, "clean this up" Peter spoke to Cassie more calmly and walked over to the couch, not seeming to care that he just fatally injured his girlfriends child. Cassie wiped her tears away and watched Tatum hobble up the stairs before crouching down to clean up the mess.

Tatum ran into the bathroom and collapsed on the floor, she let the tap run to drown out her cries as she laid on the floor. She stayed there for a while before getting up and looking at herself in the mirror, how the hell is she gonna hide this from her dad tomorrow? She looked down at her legs to see that they were practically smothered in bruises, then she viewed her stomach and back, then her arms, they were all the same. Everything hurt like hell so she looked in the draws for any pain killers and found some paracetamol before taking two without water. Luckily she didn't bleed or anything so she didn't have to clean anything up. She wandered into her bedroom and fell straight onto the bed before dozing off, ready to scale this hell hole tomorrow.

                   She woke up bright and early the next morning, her body aching from her shoulders downwards, but got up and threw on some suitable clothes for hiding this mess.  The threw a hoodie on, some long leggings and her high top converse trainers to cover her ankles, she was sure her dad would pick up on her style change but she just hopped she wouldn't have to take her hoodie off.  She took another paracetamol before grabbing her bag which was packed and running downstairs where her mother was waiting for her.  They said nothing, Cassie was embarrassed about not helping her kid but Tatum was confused as to why she just stood by and let it all go down without even trying to stop the man...