Somniphobia

Chapter 1. Somniphobia

Aria POV
The sound of loud rain and lightning striking outside made me cry as I covered my head desperately to comfort myself from having a panic attack from the loud lighting strikes.

I hugged my stuffed panda tightly in my arms as tears rushed down my cheeks. Another loud lightning struck causing me to jump out of my bed in dead.

I walked out of my bedroom rushing towards my parent's bedroom. I opened their bedroom door slowly tip toeing inside their dark bedroom quietly.

"M-mommy." I cried for her tapping her shoulder lightly to wake her up. "M-mom." I cried even more as the loud thunder roared throughout the entire house.

"What?" My mother Elizabeth yelled making me flinch from how stern and angry her voice sounded. "I-I'm s-scared m-mommy." I cried to her.  She turned on her side facing me staring at me angrily.

"Get out of my bedroom and quit acting like a child it's just thunder get over yourself." She smacked me in the face causing me to cry even more. "Get out before you wake your father up." She whisper shouted angrily to me.

I rushed out of her bedroom crying softly as I walked back into my bedroom. I crawled back into my bed covering my head under the blanket tightly while keeping my eyes wide open so I wouldn't fall asleep.

Not only was I scared of the thunder but I was scared of falling asleep. I had terrible nightmares that constantly kept me up at night scaring me from sleeping at all.

I refused to sleep no matter how tired, exhausted, and weak I was. I physically and mentally could not handle falling asleep on my own. My parents hated me for not being able to sleep they didn't even try to help me sleep.

I tried to sleep sometimes but I would wake up screaming or having a panic attack that I had to mainly calm down from on my own because my parents refused to help me with anything.

Since I was a little girl they never bothered to help me with anything. I was told to suck it up or threatened to be put back in the basement which happened a lot.

They would lock me in the basement for days, and weeks depending on how annoyed they were with me. They wouldn't feed and if they did they threw it at me like I was a dog.

I hated being in that basement it was so scary down there and so dark and it was so cold in there. They never gave me a blanket or anything I was forced to sleep on the cold cement floor as punishment for getting on their nerves.

Or for embarrassing them with my speech. They hated cause I stuttered but I was born this way I couldn't help it. I tried to fix my speech as much as I could but it was no use.

I uncovered myself from under my blanket looking over at my window noticing that it had stopped raining and that it was daylight outside now.

I got up from my bed walking into my small bathroom to brush my teeth. I grabbed my tooth brush and toothpaste, brushing my teeth slowly. I noticed I had very dark circles under my eyes. I looked so tired I could barely recognize myself.

I finished up brushing my teeth washing out my mouth quickly so I could get dressed and start making breakfast before my dad woke up and noticed I hadn't started making breakfast yet.

I opened my drawer to pick out an outfit for myself. I hated my clothes they were all stained, ripped up, or looked like something an old woman would wear.

I grabbed my favorite dress that had a few holes in it here and there due to me wearing it so much and it being so old. I changed into the dress quickly before brushing out my long brown hair.

My hair was very long reaching to the back of my knees. I never cut it since I was born I never cut it. My mother threatened me a few times that she would shave my head bald because she knew how much I loved my hair.

I hated her and my father for being so cruel towards me. I tried my best to keep up with taking care of my hair but it gets hard for me to brush it out because my hands get tired quickly.

I think because I don't sleep at all like a normal person my body tends to get tired more quickly than usual.

My parents refused to buy me clothes that were for my age, they chose to make me wear old granny clothing or dirty ripped clothes. I grabbed my favorite dress that had a few holes here and there because of how much a I wore it

And it was very old as well. I put it on quickly so I could go downstairs. I walked out into the hall making my way down the stairs quickly. I made my way into the kitchen grabbing my apron to put on so I could start cooking breakfast.

"Aria!" My mother yelled angrily. I looked over at her quietly. "I need you to go to the store you have an hour max to go there get everything I need and to come back home am I understood?" She instructed me.

"Y-yes m-ma'am." I stammered nervously as she handed me a long list and her card. "We have guest coming over don't embarrass us." She warned me. "Go what are you waiting on!" She yelled causing me to rush away from her.

I ran towards the front door quickly putting on my shoes in a rush. I was gonna have to walk all the way to the store because they didn't allow me to drive their fancy cars.

She could go to the store on her own but she always made me walk there because she claimed I was too fat and needed to keep myself fit. I walked along the side of the road towards the store.

I prayed silently that I made it on time to the store otherwise she would lock me in the basement or beat me for taking so long. She literally timed me for every task she made me do.

I wondered who was coming over to the house that she rushed me out of the house instead of making breakfast like every morning. I hope my dad doesn't get angry with me about not making breakfast.

When my father got angry with me he beat me until I blacked out my mom was no different from him tho they both used me as their punching bad.

I started running towards the store grabbing a cart on my way inside the store. I looked at the list checking off each item on the list each time I placed it into my cart.

I went through each isle quickly grabbing everything she wrote on the list to buy it. Once I grabbed the last item of food she told me to get I put it in the cart and made my way towards the register to pay for everything.

I took everything out of my cart so they could scan it quickly. I looked at the time on the clock on the wall of the store noticing I already wasted about twenty minutes in the store meaning I only had fifteen minutes left to make it home.

I paid for everything grabbing all the bags quickly rushing out of the store to make it back home on time before I got myself into trouble. I carried the heavy bags with all my strength while speed walking to get back him on time.

She purposely added things we already had in the house so the bags were heavier for me to carry back home. I hated her I didn't understand why she always wanted to make things hard on me.

I was sweating my butt off in this heat and my head was pounding with a raging headache cause I didn't eat anything or drink anything since I came downstairs from my bedroom.

I was used to having nightmares because i didn't sleep enough so of course I was going to have headaches. Although sometimes my headaches became too much for me to handle and I ended up having to take medication for it.

I walked into my neighborhood walking faster to get home quickly. I noticed two blacked out cars in our driveway. My heart began to pound against my chest as I realized I came home late.

To be continued...

Authors note.
I am trying my best to remember how I wrote out each chapter. I am making it a little different because I cannot remember everything that happened or that was written out. But hopefully you guys will still enjoy it just as much as the original before it was taken down.