Devouring Her Soul

Part 8

I slowly walked inside, and my father was still sitting in his chair.

I was about to close the door, but he said something, catching my attention.

"I lost my job today, Viv."

He's never called me that. Not since Mother died a few years ago.

"I-I'm sorry.. about that."

He got frustrated.

"I don't need your god damned sympathy, Vivian. Now, where's my beer?"

I froze, and my throat closed up. I could barely breathe, and my hands started shaking.

"I-I didn't... I didn't get it."

He didn't move, and it seemed like the air stopped flowing. Time stopped moving at that moment, and everything was silent.

His tone ran cold and dark as he stood up from his chair.

"Repeat that, Vivian."

I gulped, trying to get the words out before he got too angry, but not too quick as to make him think I wasn't sorry.

"..I couldn't get it. The man kicked me out."

He turned and looked at me.

His stubble and messy hair, the way it always was. His usually cold eyes were just full of nothing.

It was clouded over with something I didn't recognize. The unknown, when it came to him, was scarier than Satan himself.

He slowly stalked towards me.

"I gave you one job, Vivian. If you can't even do that, you're completely useless to me."

He grabbed a fist full of my hair and threw me onto the ground.

I wanted to scream out as I finally saw the look he had behind those eyes, and it was nothing but death.

He might just kill me!

He sent a hard kick into my abdomen, strong enough for me to cough up blood instantly.

He got down to his knee and punched my face over and over, giving me an unforgiving black eye, my nose bleeding immensely.

He stood up and started stomping on my stomach, and I continued to cough up blood. He knocked the wind out of me, but he still didn't stop.

I couldn't speak. I needed help. I couldn't call out. My body wouldn't let me. The fear of yelling out that my father had driven into me years ago kept me from calling out to someone. Anyone.

All of a sudden, a memory popped into my head.

It was my mother.

When I was a baby.

She was singing to me.

"Blackbirds fading in the dead of night.."

She looks just like me.

"Take these broken wings and learn to fly..."

I remember she used to tell me about where her last name came from.

"All your life..."

Brave female warriors who saved their village from terrorists.

"You've only been waiting for this moment to arrive."

Andrew's voice rang in my head.

"Your last name is Zhu. Did you forget?"

I slowly turned my head to look at the door.