A/N- This will be posted all in one part. Please don't hate, this is after all my first story on Wattpad. Criticism is completely welcome, though. I'd love to get advice on becoming a better writer in general.
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They say the best way to let out your emotions is to talk about them, but I can't even do that. I wasn't born mute, the doctors say I experienced trauma at a young age that made my brain do this to me as a way of coping. I don't remember anything from before the "incident" happened. I don't even remember what happened to me during said incident, and I don't want to know.
I've dealt with bullying most of my life, a side effect of being dumb. Moving to the small town of Blue River, Colorado for my father's job only made it worse. After all, everyone practically knew each other. I had thought getting a fresh start would make it better, but I was wrong. I was a social outcast, both for my muteness and my unfamiliarness, and that made me a target for pain and bullying. No, I couldn't scream, yell, or beg for forgiveness, but that didn't mean that it hurt any less. In fact, I think it hurt me more. They'd taunt me, kick me, do anything to torture me, I would cry, and they would laugh at me. High school had not treated me well.
My parents fought all the time, and I caused that. They never wanted a kid who couldn't speak. No, they wanted a perfect family, and I didn't fit into that picture. Especially after my brother had... died.
My brother was why I kept going. He had always treated me well and he'd been my best friend and my only friend. He treated me as his equal, not as his handicapped little sister. My brother was the only person keeping me alive, but he died from a car accident a few months after we moved to Blue River. Even dead, my brother continued to be the reason why I didn't kill myself. His death made me want to live, if only for his sake.
My life was far from incredible, but I, Reyna Myers, wouldn't go down without a fight. This is my story.
***
I hugged my stomach. They had continued to kick me, first pulling me up, then punching me to the floor again. Just another day in my life, I thought.
"Get up!" one snarled at me. He was wearing malicious look on his face as he spoke to me. He had a hooked nose and dark, cruel looking eyes, and he seemed to be the leader of the group.
"She's too weak," another snorted. She had frosty, piercing blue eyes that looked as sharp as shards of glass and long blond hair that reminded me of wheat. I struggled to my feet and staggered forward. All the faces blended and blurred until I couldn't tell one from the other. They did this everyday, physically abused me until I broke, it had almost become a sort of routine, yet the verbal insults stung worse. Those were the ones that hit the hardest.
I was just a waste of space, right? I couldn't do anything right. Everyone told me that on a daily basis, so maybe it was true. Stupid and ugly were the perfect words to describe me. I didn't deserve to live and should just kill myself, at least for their sake. At least if I died, the pain would end. No, don't listen to them, they don't know anything, I encouraged myself, repeating it in my head like a mantra.
"You're a freak, nobody will ever love you," the boy with the dark eyes laughed harshly.
"Come on," a different one with green eyes as hard as gemstones sneered, "we don't need to waste our time on her!" They all agreed and left.
Thank you, I said in my head, sending my message to the Guy Upstairs. I picked myself up slowly and winced from the pain. I checked myself over and looked for any serious injuries, thankfully I was just bruised. I had been hurt so much, both mentally and physically, that the pain had been dulled by time. Then I commenced the difficult and painful trek home.
