I Have Nothing

Chapter 1

I feel his fist collide with my face. I fall to the ground. I know that if I get up he will just do it again. His foot collides with my torso. Over and over. I curl up into the fetal position and sob.

He pulls me up by my hair. I scream in pain. He smacks me. Again and again. He stops, I hear him pick up some bottles of liquor off the table and walk out the door.

I wait to make sure he doesn't come back. I pick myself up off of the floor, clutching my ribs. I walk straight to the bathroom. My lip is bleeding and I have a cut just above my right eye.

I open the bathroom cabinet to find the bottle of painkillers I had was empty. Damn him. I got on my tip toes to look at the top shelf. I had a bottle of ibuprofen hidden up there somewhere. I found it and shook out four tablets. I dry swallowed them.

I got some cloth and dabbed at my eye and lip. My eye had already bruised and my lip was swollen. I decided to take a shower to help with the pain.

I got undressed and stepped in. The water stung my damaged body. I curled up on the floor of the shower and sobbed.

You deserved it. You didn't do what he asked.

My subconscious was right. It was my fault. I can't tell you how long I stayed there crying, but eventually I got up and out of the shower. I turned the water off and walked into the bedroom.

I looked in the mirror. If it was even possible, my eye looked worse and so did my lip. I was scared to drop my towel and see what damage he had done to my ribs and stomach. I took a semi-deep breath. As much as I could with my ribs killing me.

I dropped the towel and tears instantly came to my eyes. Almost my whole torso had turned a deep dark bluish-purple. Other parts were a yellowish-green. I felt up and down both sides of my thin body. It felt like I had two broken ribs on my right side and one on my left.

If I was going to go to work I was gonna need to hide these with tons of makeup. I quickly throw on some sweatpants. I don't bother putting on undergarments because I am just going to have to change them when I get to work. I then go to my closet and turn on the light.

There is a hiding place in the back. There is a fake wall panel. I pull it out and grab my black duffel bag. I place the panel back and unzip the bag.

I set the bag down on the bed and grab the makeup sponge out of it. I grab the bottle of concealer and pour it into the sponge.

I carefully cover all my bruises. Then I apply makeup to my face. I cover most of the damage. Then I take black eyeshadow and eyeliner and apply it to my eyes. Wearing black semi-covers my purplish black eye.

I grab my work duffel bag and walk out the door.  I walk outside to see empty beer and liquor bottles covering the wobbly porch. I kick a few out of the way and make my way carefully down the stairs.

I look around the side of the trailer to see that the truck is gone. I guess I was going to need to walk to work. I start walking down the dirt road. It takes me about ten minutes to reach the main road.

I start toward the city. I look down at my watch. 7:00. The sun was starting to set. I regret only wearing minimal clothing. Cars keep speeding by. The breeze bites at my bare skin. I wrap my arms around my tiny figure.

The city lights come into view. I only have about a mile to go. I readjust my bag and walk a little bit faster. The headlights of cars coming toward me blind me.