Ghost (Second Edition)

Chapter Eleven--Tethered to the Dark

Luis

For the first time, he was happy beyond measure. He had a boyfriend who he was going to prom with. Nathan would be dropping by now and again, and he was getting better grades...

However, his joyous mood quickly evaporated once he stepped through the old, half-rotten front door of his home. His mother. A bony woman with brittle brown hair, sharp brown eyes, and an ugly sharp face—was standing in the hallway, bony hands on her bony hips, glaring at him.

Luis knew she hated him because he resembled his father. He had once seen a photo of the man in the trash can once. His father had a round face, and the same messy black hair, and green eyes as Luis. He'd looked very happy in that photo. Of course, Luis had gotten a beating for looking at the photo, but at least he'd known what his father had looked like.

"Hello Mother..." Luis said quietly.

"Late!" His mother hissed. "Ten hundred dollars grants you an extra hour, not three!"

Luis swallowed. "I'm sorry mother. I lost track of time..."

His mother showed him the wooden spoon she held in her right hand. Before he could move, she grabbed him. She forced him against the dirty, mouldy wall. The spoon cracked against his body. Luis cried out and tried to squirm away, but she had him pinned firmly.

"Stop!" Luis screamed, "Please stop! I'm sorry!"

She did stop. Slowly and fearfully, Luis turned around. He was met with a slap to the face. Her bony hand met the soft flesh of his cheek. He screamed.

"You useless piece of shit!" His mother spat as she slapped him again, sending him to the floor. "You should never have been born! Room! Now! No dinner!"

Luis scrambled to his feet; tears streamed down his face as he stumbled to his room. No sooner than he stepped through his door it was slammed locked. That wave of darkness and depression threatened to fall over him, so, trembling, Luis headed to his desk.

The desk drawer was a little stiff, but Luis managed to open it. He looked at the contents inside. A sharp knife with a thin layer of blood on the tip, two unused cigarettes, an ashtray full of dirty grey ash, and a rust-red lighter.

Luis set the ashtray on the desk, grabbed a cigarette, and then the lighter. His hands were steady as he lit the cigarette, the room filling with the bitter scent of tobacco. He set the lighter down and pushed his right jumper sleeve up to the elbow, revealing his skin covered in scars. Long scars, short scars, round scars... Feeling no emotion other than the withering, screaming desire for release, he set the burning tip to his skin.

The pain was glorious.

Luis sighed in relief, arching into the pain as the dark wave was pushed back just a little bit further. He would make it another day.

He squished the tip of the cigarette into the ashtray before putting everything back into the drawer. He looked at the angry red welt on his skin, it stood out starkly against his pale skin and the other scars. He pulled his sleeve down to hide the injury before heading to bed climbing onto the mattress and wrapping the thin, moth-eaten blanket around himself and falling asleep.

***

When Luis woke up the next morning he was horrified to remember that today was a public holiday. That meant a whole day without seeing Nathan. A whole day of being yelled at and made to clean the house on an empty stomach. Luis stood up and turned the old, brass handle of his door.

Locked.

He frowned. His mother would have woken up an hour ago. She should have unlocked the door. Maybe she's dead. Luis thought, almost in glee. He tried the handle again. Still locked. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked over his shoulder at the empty bowl. Even empty, it wasn't big enough to hold a full morning pee.

"Mother!" He called, "Can I come out?"

"No!" His mother yelled back. "You can stay in there and go hungry! This is what you get when you stay out late and make me go hungry!"

"But I need the bathroom! Please!" Luis begged. There was no response.

Luis slumped. He shifted his weight and looked towards the window, maybe he could out there? He shuffled over and opened the window. A sudden yelp made him jump and look down. Mat snarled up at him. Luis snickered and decided to just go out the window. This resulted in Mat getting drenched. Luis didn't care, he hated the dog, and the dog hated him. That was probably why he was stationed there in the first place. Not that Luis was going to leave regardless. He liked his bones intact.

With a sigh, he flopped down onto his bed. With nothing to do, he looked up at his cracked, leaky, and mouldy ceiling. He listened to his stomach rumble and longed for the stale slice of bread he would've had for breakfast.

He rolled over, wishing Nathan was here to help fight off the darkness. He moved his right sleeve up and ran his finger over the new burn on his arm. Should he do more?

I could... It would be so easy... But I shouldn't, this one still hurts. But... No, not today. Maybe tomorrow.

At the sound of his door being unlocked. He sat up, hopeful. His door opened and She was there. A beating stick in her hand. A snarl to match the wild look in her eye. She was having another episode. Luis knew that all she saw before her was the man she hated. The man who abandoned her when she was pregnant with a child she didn't want. A man she wanted dead.

Luis raised his arms against the first blow. He knew that this was only the start.