The Mask (ON HIATUS)

Chapter 11: The Weekend Begins

Helen's P.O.V

After I had run all the way home and tiptoed through the door, as expected, the lights switched on and my father came into view. It's at this point that I realised that I'm about to receive the worst beating I've had in a long time. As he steps closer, I ready myself for the pain that is about to come.

When it is finally over, I look down at my body and see the brand new burn marks, cuts and bruises. I can't even bring myself to cry, I don't feel sad or hurt, I only feel numb. I get off the floor and make my way up to my bathroom, I grab my blade and begin cutting. I start cutting deeper when I still feel numb, I need to feel something even if that something has to be pain. By the time I'm done my right arm is covered in cuts and blood and so are both of my legs. As I can feel the blood pouring out of my skin, I start to feel relief. Relief from the pain that everyone around me causes and from the pain I cause myself.

I don't want to black out in my bathroom again so I decide to get up and bandage my wounds before I walk into my room, get in my bed and pass out.

*~*

I was woken, once again, by the sound of the front door slamming shut, a car starting and driving off at an immense speed.

Thank the heavens! They must have left, probably to go on another business trip. This tends to happen a lot, they only go on these trips to get away from me and my presence, after they get tired of beating of course. That's how much they hate me. They think it's all my fault that everything happened. That her death happened. They're right, though, it is all my fault.

It was 10 years ago...I was 6. We were 6...I was sat in the back of the car on my way back home from my dance class. My twin sister, Ariel, was sat in the front with dad with the music almost blaring. I decided to look through my dance bad, out of boredom, to make sure I had everything when I realised that I was missing my dance shoes.

"Daddy, we have to go back! I left my dance shoes!"

"But sweetie, we're almost home, can't you wait until next week?"

"No daddy, what if they get thrown away? They're my favourite shoes. It can't wait until next week. Please, daddy, we need to go back." I said with tears in my eyes. They were my favourite shoes because they were the shoes that daddy bought me on mine and Ariel's 6th birthday and I knew they were really expensive as I saw them in this really posh dance shop a few months before and said I wanted them but I knew they would cost too much but when I got them for my birthday, I pretty much didn't stop wearing for two weeks straight because they became my favourite shoes of all time. That's why they were so important to me.

"Okay then sweetie, we'll go back right now. Let me just turn the car around." He said with a sigh.

"YAY! Thank you, daddy!" I shouted. I relaxed as dad turned the car around.

Suddenly, mine and Ariel's favourite song came on, She Will Be Loved -by Maroon 5, and we both began singing our hearts out. We began laughing when daddy joined in on our singing because he can't sing at all.

"Hey, why are you two laughing so much, don't you think your daddy is an amazing singer?" This made me and Ariel laugh even more.

"Nope!" We said at the same time. Daddy turned his head round to look at us both as if we were crazy.

It was at that point we heard a horn go off but before daddy could do anything, I felt a hard impact as the vehicle hit the car. After the impact, all I could hear as this was happening was Ariel's screams of pain as the car began to flip over multiple times before it came to a complete stop.