Diamonds Dancing

SOS / An Intervention

"To think this is what I have to deal with!" There was a short menacing laugh, it was haunting enough to put fear in him. "A mouthy piece of fucking shit."

Mouthy. He wanted to laugh at the awful description of him, he was hardly mouthy. If anything, he was trying to stick up for what was right.

But of course, when his father was angry, there was no stopping him.

The older man grabbed the teenage boy by his arms and lifted him, meeting eye level. "I told you to quit being such a fucking smart ass, but you don't like to listen, huh?" He growled slowly, letting the unspoken threats drip from the single sentence.

He knew that when the beating was over then he was going to have more bruises on his arms, but they wouldn't be distinguished from the previous one.

It's not like anyone would care to mend them, he mused in his mind. His heavy eyes wandered over to the side where he spotted his beloved mother. She was passed out on the couch with a bottle of god-knows-what in her hands.

He didn't remember the last time she had even spoken to him, she could barely hold a coherent sentence.

The thirteen-year-old boy let out a throaty chuckle, the fuzzy feeling numbing his brain altogether.

Lash after lash met his back, a metal buckle occasionally colliding with the back of his head, and yet he was relentless.

There was no point in reacting anymore, knowing that the less he moved the quicker this would be over with.

After several more minutes of excruciating pain, his father just threw him back on the hardwood floor with a loud thump and walked away from the almost unconscious child, still muttering angrily.

Ah. Poor Father.

Clearly, he had worked up a sweat somewhere in between the rounds of brutal abuse.

He tried to catch his breath, dropping to the floor beside him.

It was then he focused his attention on the occasional sniffles and choppy breaths.

A small girl hid her entire face into her knees behind the crack of the sofa as she shook back and forth.

"Vera, you can open your eyes now. He's gone." He barely recognised his voice, it was raw and so sore.

Her head of blonde hair jerked up at the strong tone in his voice. He saw her eyes soften a bit and he muttered more gently, "Rypka." He motioned for her to come to the front of the living room, to which she did. "Eto ya, starshiy brat. Ne boyat'sya."

Crawling out from her hidden spot, she dragged the torn up doll alongside her.

He grasped her chin with gentle fingers and lifted her head. She avoided his piercing eyes as he studied the small bruises that covered most of her face.

Fuck. He had already done the harsh damage before the boy had found them and stepped in.

Slater finally lifted himself off the ground, gathering together some of his energy.

Trying to stagger to his feet, he was left limping as he moved closer to the shaken girl.

Vera's innocent eyes shone with emotion, picking her head up as her bottom lip quivered. "Slate... I'm sorry..."

She felt horrible that he had taken her blows for her, after all, she was the one that had awoken the beast.

Her older brother shrugged, wiping under his chin as fresh blood stained his entire face. "Don't worry about it. You wanna go and buy a new doll?"