Once In A Life Time

{8}I Promise

*TRIGGER WARNING ABUSE CONTENT*

"Where have you been?"

He asked.

"School."

I respond. Technically, I'm not lying. But even then, I should've known better.

"School got out over 3 hours ago."

My eyes pace the room.

"I know sir."

"So where have you been?"

"I told you I was at the school."

He walks closer to me. With each step he takes, I feel a new goosebumps appear on my skin.

"Don't lie to me Carmen."

"Sir I was at school."

I say as I look at the floor, not wanting to look at his eyes.

"Liar!"

He yells, and I feel a belt hit my rib. And I scream to the pain and fall on the floor.

"I'm not lying!"

I yell as the tears come out of my eyes.

"Who you think you're yelling at!"

He hits me again and again. After a while, I lose track of the hits as I can only hear my own screams echo through my head.

"Stop!"

Mi Madre yells out. I feel her next to me, and she helps me sit up.

Everything hurts.

My eyes are closed. I try to open them, but it hurts a lot.

"I need you to take this."

My mom slips something in my hand, and my eyes ignore the pain as they open. I look down and see it's her phone.

"I need you to pack whatever you can and leave. Never come back. Go far away."

She whispers to me.

I shake my head no as my tears fall.

"Listen to me. This isn't goodbye I promise I will find you okay?"

She says with her hands on my shoulders.

"Mamá I can't leave you."

I say sobbing. She hugs me, and I squeeze her as tightly as possible.She pushes me back and looks at me in my eyes.

"Hurry. And get far away from this house."

She says sternly and stands up. She walks over to my window, pulls out a key, and unlocks it.

"I'll buy you some time. But you need to move Rápido."

She left my room and closed the door. Once the door was closed, I found strength in my legs and stood up. I grabbed a trash bag in my room and put everything I could in it. I started with the clothes underneath my bed. I put on Emily's clothes, which she had once given me.As I hear footsteps approaching, I go to the window and open it. I throw the bag out and jump out. Once my feet touch the ground, I grab the bag, throwing it over my shoulders. I run and run until my legs can't go anymore.

As I approach a park, I fall on the grass as my legs give out. I roll over and lay on my back. Pulling out my mom's phone, I see it's only 9:00 p.m. The battery is charged, so that's good. Since I don't have a charger, I put the phone in low-power mode to save the battery as much as possible.