Battered&Bruised

Chapter Two: Clouded Summer

Haii. Second chapter done. I'm currently writing chapter 3 so ill release once its finished and edited. This chapter is slightly shorter than I originally wanted but I couldn't stretch it out more as it would affect the chapter flow. There is a TW for abuse and SH in this chapter. It gets a little... yeah so just be warned!

Callum's POV:

The sound of her limbs crashing against the stairs echoed through the house. Her body, still, laying at the bottom of the steps. She stayed completely still. My eyes made contact with my father and he lunged at me. I remember the pain but also the numbness that took hold of my body afterwards. I sat at the top of the stairs as the blue and red lights illuminated the doorway as the paramedics came to assess my mothers injuries. My father had given them a sob story about something that was highly untrue but they believed it anyway. Idiots.

That was the last time I saw my mom alive. They lifted her battered and bruised body into the back of the funeral car before driving off. I hate that that's the last image of her I'll have in my mind. Her lying at the bottom of the stairs, eyes open and empty, cuts and bruises covering ninety percent of her body from my fathers actions. I hated him more from that day on.

Now that my father is technically my legal guardian, even though I hate him, he was incharge of me. I would rather not have any parents than be stuck with him. He hates me but I hate him so much.

No one tells you that looking into the eyes of someone who has died is a horrible idea. Especially if that person is a relative or friend. It imprints an image into your brain. Constantly there so all you can do is reply it over and over again like a movie without a pause button. The worst thing about it was that it was my mom and I hated that. It was the last memory of her trying to save me from my father. I should have listened to him and stayed where I was positioned but I couldn't watch him beat her again.

He reminded me of how powerless I was against him. Every day. For the following year. My fourteenth birthday was non-existent and I don't really remember the year after my mothers death except the depression that I spiralled into and the pain my father forced upon me. Without my mother to protect me from my father he never held back when hurting me. I sustained many broken bones and dislocated limbs from him over the year. Some healed the way they were supposed to but others didn't. Because of this I was pretty crap at sports. I couldn't run to save my life, which I found quite funny.

The first year of high school was pretty shit. I wasn't able to make any friends and most of the students pretended I didn't exist. Which in a way was easier to get through the school day but it was also hard when I wasn't in classes. Some of the classes were easy but I struggled in ninety percent of the classes in general. I definitely am not academically smart so I struggle to understand the classes. I also struggle with the homework as well which doesn't help me understand. The only class that I really enjoy and I feel I'm good at is english. Most of the reason I love English is because reading is a hobby of mine. To me that is a very good way to spend my time. There are a few things I love about reading in general. It's a world I can just get lost in, escape to. It's not real which makes it the perfect place to calm my thoughts. Having a lot of books to escape from reality has definitely saved my life. Multiple times.

I went through a very large rough patch in May. After my mom died I felt like I had no one. School was getting really hard and I was failing the basic classes. Which in return made my father angry at me. The school sent a letter home saying they were concerned about my progress so he found out I was failing.

I started feeling like a failure. It wasn't just school that was making me feel like that, it was my father as well. I tried to make myself feel better and when that didnt work I threw myself into all different types of books. There were a few book series I liked that I would just re-read over and over again. They were easy to read and even easier to get lost in. I would list them but then you would know a side of me that I like hiding so, sorry. Not that confident yet.