Changed

Chapter 1: The Daffodil

Before my parents got married my mother, Adeline Cadell Stokes, was Abject. My father, Dolion Stokes, was considered a revolutionary for marrying an Abject. It happened in rare cases but not often and many disliked the idea. Adeline was a smart woman, but as an Abject she didn't have the opportunity to get an education. Not only was she smart but she was beautiful. Her eyes were the brightest shade of lapis. Her hair was like dark golden honey. She always kept it long ,so she could feel the wind blow through it. She had the body of a model in an old magazine. 

Dolion never loved her as long as I can remember, but she's always claimed he did once. He's always working, never at home. My mother works as a teacher at The Sagacious School for the Gifted. My father is a businessman who works directly for Mara Nishay. He's gotten more cruel since he's been working for her, though he's always been cruel. Since my sister went missing when I was 3, he's been abusing my mother. Everyday when I came home from school my father was gone and my mother bruised and bleeding. At 10, when I began to be able to read well, I went to the library and taught myself to stitch wounds and reduce the pain of bruises. After the government changed there were no more pills and medicine. I taught myself to garden and planted herbs and plants that gave natural remedies. I came to find out I enjoyed gardening and began to grow flowers not only for remedies but for their looks. 

Eventually my mother realized what I had been doing. She got upset at first, but then began to thank me.  I was just like my mother really. Kind, smart, compassionate. I just hadn't been broken by the world yet. As years went on my father treated her worse and worse. One day when I was 13, he came home and my mother was in my room. I was showing her my book of flowers. I had more than one because I had grown so many. I had recipes and all sorts of things in there. She was so excited, until my father walked in. He came in angry. He looked terrifying. He grabbed me by the hair first. 

"You are so much like her. So beautiful, yet so weak. You care too much." he spit in my face. His breath reeked of alcohol and smoke. He then slammed me against the wall and dropped me. My mother tried running to me which was a big mistake. 

"You bastard. Look what you've done to your own child. Your own blood.", She screamed in his face. He grabbed her arm and began to twist it. I remember her screaming for help. I was too weak I couldn't move let alone fight him off. She screamed when her arm broke in half. He smiled. He looked at me before leaving the room. 

"Remember this from now on." 

My voice was gone but after a minute I managed to get myself up and walk to her. She was crying. Trying so hard to be quiet. I'm not sure how she was even that quiet. Her arm was shattered in multiple places. She was dripping blood from the ripped-out stitches. I quickly ran and mixed Valerian root and White Willow bark. This mix would knock her out and relieve some pain. While she knocked out I made sure my father was gone and ran to our neighbor. Her name was Annabelle. She was several years younger than my mother but just as kind. She was a doctor. I told her what had happened and took her to my mother. She helped me put her into bed and set the wound. This one would take time to heal. After that day Annabelle helped teach me more and took care of my mother. I was glad. 

After months of healing my mother could finally use her arm some. My father had been less brutal on her for a while and began to take his anger out on me. I had bruises all over and constantly getting bloody noses. My father was always angry when he got home, so it was always either step up and protect mother or let her suffer and possibly die. Every night around 8:00, I prepared myself for the screaming and yelling and then the blows that would follow.