Abused {ACM}

Chapter 1

Abby's POV

I cringed as his foot made contact with my stomach. I was sprawled out on the floor, taking it quietly. I bit my lip so hard that it bled - screaming just made it worse. He grabbed my hair and pulled me off the floor, and glared at me.

"It's your fault your mother's away all the time. Without you, she wouldn't have had to get such a demanding job that takes her away from us!" He spat in my face. He said that as if I didn't miss her too. I wanted my mom to come home, too.

My mom had a job where she was away on business trips all the time. She came home three times a year: Christmas/New Years, my dad's birthday, and one time in the summer.

Well then why don't you get a better job so that mom wouldn't have to support this whole family?

I thought bitterly in my mind, not daring to say it aloud. My father was an author, and so far he hasn't finished one novel yet. It was pathetic. I wanted to throw back sarcastic remarks and insults at him. But as much as I hated to admit it, my father was obviously physically stronger than me. He could easily kill me one of these days.

He was still talking, insults rolling off his tongue as he bashed my head into the wall repeatedly. I clenched my fists and I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing it would be over soon.

I was bruised and cut everywhere, and now I'm pretty sure the back of my head was bleeding, too.

Wonderful.

He stepped back and dropped me, and I collapsed to the floor, panting. He walked away, wrenching the door open and climbing into his car, probably going to a bar or something.

The moment I heard him back out of the driveway, the tears started coming. I've trained myself to hold them in, to never let him see my weakness. But the moment he was away-it was like they were in overdrive.

I supported myself on my hands and knees, tears sliding out of my eyes and dripping onto the tiles in my house. I was shaking, bloody and dizzy, and with all of that and the crying, I couldn't breathe properly. I gasped for air and collapsed onto my side, which only caused my pain in the arm he had kicked. I rolled onto my back and moved my limbs around, making sure none were broken.

He makes sure of that. No broken bones, nothing done to the face or hands or neck, where people could see.

I didn't tell anybody about this - not Austin, Alex, Robert, Zach, Jake or Zoey. We had been best friends since second grade, where we were all seated in the same table group. It was the teacher's hugest mistake, considering we never paid attention and we just laughed and talked all the time, even as little kids. I usually told them everything. Except this. I didn't even tell my mom. I didn't want them to take me away to some foster home where I would never see my friends again. My friends were the only things that I truly, deeply loved in life. Suddenly, something vibrated on my butt.

I was really freaked out for a second until I remembered I had put my phone on vibrate. I pulled it out and saw a text from Austin.

Hey. Bored-be over in 5. Everyone else is at a movie... that sucks. Good thing your dad didn't let you go.

No, no, no! I typed back a reply about not being home or something, but he would know I was making excuses. He always did. Austin knew me best out of all of my friends. I quickly got up and crawled up the stairs, still being too weak to stand up yet. It took really long, and I was scared he would catch me crawling up.

Five minutes. Five minutes to clean myself up. I forced myself to stand on my feet and leaned against a wall, trying to fight the nausea.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The back of my head was matted in blood, my arms had many bruises and a couple cuts on them, my left leg had an extremely long cut on the side due to the vase he shattered, and my right leg only had bruises. I quickly cleaned my cuts with anti-bacterial alcohol, which made more tears squeeze out of my eyes from the pain. I sharply threw the bloody wipes away, stuffing them to the bottom of the trash can so no one could see them. I washed my hair and winced when I had to pull out the already-drying blood sticking to strands of my hair, clumping them together. The wound was still open, and I had no idea how to bandage it without wrapping it around my whole head noticeably. So I wrapped my head up in a towel and pulled on sweats and a baggy T-shirt. I heard Austin's car in the driveway, and I was about to go downstairs to meet him, until a strong wave of... just pure exhaustion hit me. I fell to the floor and my dizziness was worse than ever. I dragged myself to the bathroom, managing to get to the toilet right before I vomited up some blood and the contents of my dinner. I quickly flushed, the smell and sight of it making me want to throw up again.

I was sitting there gagging, tears pouring down my cheeks, wounds half-bandaged, when Austin found me.

"Get out!" I screamed. He slowly walked over and flipped on the lights, which I had turned off when I was trying to make my way downstairs. I hid my face from him.

"Abby?" He whispered. He sounded like he was going to cry. I just shook my head, my mouth opening but no words coming out.

A million lies popped into my head-I tripped, I almost got raped in a dark alley...anything but actually telling him the truth.

I didn't want to explain.

This couldn't be happening.

Five years of hiding it.

Five years of wearing long-sleeves and jeans, even in the summer.

Five years of keeping my dirty little secret, and he finds out like this?

It was so unfair.