My Head's In Pieces

one

"STOP" Kyungsoo cried, but his father didn't stop beating him. He was being punched, kicked, slapped many times. Sometimes Kyungsoo didn't feel pain, he only felt numb, but most of the time, he felt everything. The sting of his father's slap, the force put into his punches, and the puncture of his kicks. Each night Kyungsoo thought that he must be in hell.

For many years, it seemed like his father was never sober. Gone early in the morning before Kyungsoo wakes up, then back home drenched in an alcohol smell.

There was no apparent reason for his father to beat him, but he did it anyway. At the end of each beating, his father told him

"If you ever try to run away, I will find you and kill you."

Kyungsoo was always scared and believed it. But he thought, there was no where else he could go anyways, only school.

He wondered, since he never saw his dad sober, how is there still food here, how is there electricity, and how am I still going to school? He realized his dad was a hard worker. Everyday after work, he drinks. He changes completely when he's intoxicated. That's another reason Kyungsoo stayed.

Kyungsoo, like every other day, woke up sore. He forced himself up once again to wash up. He looked into the mirror and saw new cuts and bruises. He treated them and washed up, then walked to the kitchen. There was a styrofoam container on the counter with a note on it.

"Son, stop getting into fights okay? You have many cuts on your face. Do well in school."

A tear came rolling down his cheek. He had never seen such thing from his father in his life. But it hurt him to see that his father never remembers anything when he's drunk. His father never knew that it was really his that actions that lead to the many cuts and bruises.

Kyungsoo opened the container and was grilled rice cakes from the restaurant his father worked at. Hungry, he quickly got honey and sat down at the counter and finished all of them in a flash.

Afterwards, he brushed his teeth and changed into his uniform. He ran out the door with his backpack and continued to school. School was the only place he could really escape to. He studied as hard as he could so one day he could finally leave and have a good life. But as a result of the beatings, he hardly could finish assignments that were given. At school he was seen as the kid who always gets into fights. Luckily people didn't want to be near him, so they just avoided him. He thought it was better than getting bullied even more. The teachers always scolded him for not handing in assignments, but gave him breaks sometimes due to his excellent test marks. However the teachers never asked why, cause they knew why. Sometimes Kyungsoo wondered if they would help him get away, but knew there was no chance.

There was another reason why Kyungsoo forced himself to school. There was a girl in his class that he enjoyed seeing. She was almost everywhere, and he just smiled at the sight of her. He didn't know her name or anything because she was never called up in class for some reason. She was his escape, just seeing her made his stress go away. He hoped one day, they could get to know each other, then he would truly feel free.