Emerson

Chapter 18.

Valencia's POV

Life sucked. 

I wasn't able to go to school today because of my parents. They came last night after going to the casino. They ended up losing every cent they walked in with and came home to take it out on me. 

My dad had ended up bruising my eye pretty badly so I wasn't able to see out of it so I couldn't go to school. I stayed hidden in my room like usual when I had to stay home. Staying home was a curse and a blessing. 

It allowed me to get healed up, but the chances of getting more hurt were always around. At school, people tended to avoid me as I didn't talk much with anyone. Markus was the only person I talked to he was also the only person who knew about the abuse. 

Markus and I've been friends since kindergarten, he only found out one day when he saw a bruise I didn't cover up. 

I've felt bad not being able to go to school to work on my project but I can't go with bruises covering every inch of my skin. 

"Freak get down here!" My mom yelled from downstairs. I sat up on the bed and made my way downstairs dreading every second of it. 

I don't remember a time when my parents didn't hate me. I don't know when they decided to hate the child they created but it has always been this way. They hate me and I accept it. I could always leave they couldn't care, but I have nowhere to go. 

Markus has no space at his house, and I have no other friends or family around to help me. 

"You forgot to do the dishes bitch!" A harsh grip on my hair brings me back to my shitty reality. I look up at my dad to see his droopy gaze stuck on me. 

I don't bother defending that I did do the dishes he just added more to it. He throws me to the ground. I wince as my face and ribs crack against the floor. He proceeds to kick me 5 times in the ribs. I can hear his heavy breathing as he does it. He's so out-of-shape he can't even beat me without being winded. 

He sends another kick towards my face, covering it in blood. I left my glasses upstairs to avoid glass in my eyes. I can see somewhat good. The last time I wore them during a beating he broke them and I had to work the entire summer to buy another pair for school. 

"You dumb bitch. Can't do anything right, can you?" He grabs my hair and brings me up tearing out pieces of hair. I look up at him as my eyes start to close. 

"What she do now?" My mom comes out of some room sounding disappointed. 

"She didn't do the dishes." My dad sneers at her. My mom walks out not caring what happened to me after that. Dad throws me down on the ground making my back crash into the couch. 

My back makes a thumping noise as it makes contact. I bite my lip to keep the whimper from leaving. 

My dad continues to kick at my stomach, he kicks until I can't keep track. He eventually gets tired enough that he can't lift his leg anymore. He drops down into his recliner chair and pops open another beer acting like he didn't just beat me. 

"Get out of here bitch. I'm tired of looking at your whore ass." He tells me without looking at me. 

I pull myself up onto my hands and knees. I breathe out feeling my ribs protest against the movement. I push myself up and make my way to the stairs. I use my hand to guide myself up the stairs. I push myself up to my room.

I push open the door and lean back on it reaching over my side to lock it. I walk over to my bed and drop down onto my side groaning as I land wrong. I lay there for a while breathing out until I caught my breath. 

It takes a minute until I can breathe fine. I get up and make my way to the corner of my room where a mirror and first aid kit are always at the ready. I make quick work of cleaning the cut I got on my face. I put some cream on my bruises trying to even out the color quicker. 

The bruises are the usual dark purple color already and I can tell by the throbbing pain will be here for a while. 

I collapse back on my bed closing my eyes trying to lessen the pain by sleeping. I'm gonna have to go to school tomorrow. Hopefully, Emerson isn't too pissed about me being gone. Not like he would tell me.