When A Part of You Family is Missing

Chapter 1 Taken but not Wanted

Mary P.O.V.

I wonder what kind of punishment I will get today. I am a slave to my family. I have to cook and clean the whole house. If I miss any of my chores. I get punished. As I turn over on my mattress on the floor. I let a sound of my pain through. You see I was beaten with a belt because there was a dirty dish in the sink. As I am walking down the stairs, I accidentally bumped into my mom Kali. She gave me a mean look, then a smirk. Plus she was sober today. Her being sober is a big let down for me. When she is drunk, she does not hit me as hard. When this happens I quickly look down at the floor. Because if I look up into her eyes, I am punished more.

My mother is not the only one who abuses me. My two older sisters Marie is 16, and Nicole is 15. My father Blake also abuses me. I quickly walk passed her to head to the kitchen. I must have breakfast done and on the table by 6 am. If not I am again punished. I hate having to cook for my family. One reason is I am not allowed to eat what I cook. I am only allowed to eat when they say, and what they say. So it's probably some stale bread or left overs that are starting to go bad. I am also not allowed to go to school like my older sisters can. I am also not allowed to go outside. Plus if my sisters, or parents have friends come over. I must hide in the attic. I also heard my parents talking to my grandparents about a family reunion. I know that I will be locked in the attic for about a week. With barely any water or food. The good thing is I will get a break from all the chores, and beatings. Since no one knows about me except my parents and sisters. How can parents treat their children like they do me. Then give their other children the world.

The family reunion will be in a few days. I wonder if I would have a better life if I just ran away from home. But I am only ten years old. So it scares me being alone, then the punishments actually do. I decide in going to sneak out when the family reunion is going on. But only for a few hours a day. When we moved here I noticed we had woods behind our house. So maybe I will go exploring there when I sneak out.

When my mom hangs up the call, she sees that I stopped my chores. Plus I'm not paying attention. She tells my father to smack me crossed the face to get my attention. When he does I am thrown to the floor by the force of his hot. Then my parents and sisters use that exact time to kick me multiple times in my back, stomach, and ribs. I'm not allowed to make a sound even when they hurt me. I cannot remember the last time I heard my own voice. When they finish I am told to get up and go to my room. So I slowly get up, I'm in so much pain. Then I basically almost have to crawl upstairs to the attic. I know I will have to be back in a few hours to start lunch.

As I am resting as best as I can from the new beating I just received. My dad hollars up to me. To tell me to stay in the attic because they are all going out to dinner, then see a movie. Then I hear a lock turn for the attic door. I know I am locked in here until they unlock the door. Them going out without me used to hurt me. But instead I look at it as a break from my evil family. I then decide to take a quick nap, because I am exhausted from the chores and my punishments.

Mary's Dream

The only time I get to escape my dreadful life is when I am sent to my dream world. I love the dream I am in now. My family is in my dream. My parents treat me like my sisters. We are all sitting in the family room. It's Christmas time, and we all are opening presents. I look like a completely different child. I have no bruises and I have a smile on my face. My parents are looking at me with love in their eyes. Not deciding my next punishments. I even can talk in my dream. We all are so happy that I never want my dream to end. Why can't I have a normal family life. One I get to go to school, have friends, and just be happy.

I wake up to the lock on the attic door unlocking. Then I see my father with a psycho look on his face. I then am told to get down stairs and make breakfast. I must have been able to sleep all night instead of doing anything last night. As I walk by him, he decides to give me a push. I am not able to hold on to the railing. Then I find myself falling down the attic stairs. As I'm falling I see my dreadful life pass through my thoughts. When I hit the bottom stairs, everything in my body is in pain. In fact it hurts so bad I end up blacking out.

I don't know how long I was out for. But I am woken up to my dad's brother who is a doctor giving me a check up. I hate when my uncle Roy gives me a check up. I know he is a doctor, but when he is done I feel sick to my stomach each time. I am only ten years old and I know his touch is wrong. He tells my parents that my right arm is broken. Plus I have a severe concussion. He then puts my arm in a cast. He then tells my parents I need a few days of rest. So I can heal from the concussion. He put a waterproof cast on me so I can still do the chores. So what my parents decide to do is give me a load of bread and about 10 waters. Then I'm locked in the attic . I know the family reunion is tomorrow. So I'm stuck in here for a little over a week. With no pain medicine. I guess I'm used to it. I'm only 10 and I have broken many bones in my body. Great now I have to figure out how to climb down our trellis with a broken arm. I know in my heart I am going to force myself to to leave here. If only for a few hours. I have been looking forward to this for a few years now. Now I only have to decide on if I go now, or wait until the family reunion. I decide I will leave tonight, since none of my family won't unlock the door until the family reunion is over with. I decide that I will leave about five am when everyone will still be asleep. As I turn around I see myself in the mirror. I have a black eye, plus bruises all over my body. Now a broken arm. The only reason I have a mirror in the attic was my mom hated it. But my dad would not throw it out. Since it was his grandmothers. I have a old alarm clock to make sure I get up to do my chores on time. I also have two sets of clothes. A hand me down from my sisters. I decided to read to pass the time. That's one thing I was happy about. The attic was full of books the previous owner left here. My parents decided to keep them in the attic. So I decided I would teach myself to read. The books in fact go from early readers to advanced high school reading. I am actually reading a book called the Lord of the Rings. From these books I have also taught myself how to read, and write in many languages. I know Greek, Russian, Japanese, and French. I just started on a how to learn Native American language. I read for about a few hours. I must have passed out reading, because I am woken up to my dad walking up the stairs. He has a bag with him. I keep my eyes closed like I am asleep. I feel him set the bag down. Then he walks back downstairs, locking the door behind him. When I open the bag to see what he left me. There is a jar of peanut butter and strawberry jelly. I know you all think this is very nice of him. So I won't stave to death this week. But in face it is a very cruel thing to do. The reason for this is I'm allergic to peanuts, and strawberries. I wonder how much I would suffer before I would finally die. If I decided to just eat the stuff. I am scared to die, so I just put the bag in the floor. Deciding now is the time to make my escape. Before everyone starts to arrive. So I won't be caught. I slowly take out the glass from the upstairs attic. The window is small that most people won't fit through. But because I'm tiny, plus underweight. I fit right through. I grab the trellis and make my way down carefully. When I'm half down I lose my grip and fall to the ground. Luckily there is bags of garbage to cushion my fall. It still hurts like hell. After about five minutes or so, I get up and run to the woods. This would be the perfect time to escape. But I have been told since I was young, that if I get brought home, or get caught sneaking out. They would beat me so bad that I wish that I was dead. Plus the world is full of kidnappers, and murders. So the safe thing would be to always stay at home where I belong.

I walk down a path that was made from people walking in the woods. When I start to feel gravel instead of the dirt. I look up to see an old church like building. But it says Bobs Diner. I also see a swing set behind the building. I noticed the sun has risen. So it's probably about 7 or 8am. I slowly sit on the swing resting for a bit. When I start to smell something really yummy, coming from the diner. This is when my stomach decides to let me know it's empty. I sit here for about an hour. I see people coming and going from and to the diner. When all of a sudden I notice that I'm not alone anymore.

I hear hey kid those swings are off limits. You can't sit there.