Unbreakable

Chapter One

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I wasn't really sure who Cassidy should look like but the closest person to how I imagine her, is Alessia Cara, singer of 'Here' and much much more. So that should give you an idea.

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I dreamed of my mother again last night.

Or the person I believe to be my mother. I've had this dream since I was little and its always the same one. A faceless woman dressed in white comes into view, but never close enough to see her clearly. She's singing, with the most angel-like voice, then she says something. I really never understood what shes saying but I just knew she was talking to me. I like to imagine shes telling me how much I mean to her or how much she loves me.

Then just like every time I have this dream, something wakes me. Sometimes its my alarm clock, or even one of my two twin brothers, Milo and Ethan.  More often its my poor excuse of a 'step-mom' Robin asking if I'd wake up to cook, clean or watch the boys.

But last night, it was my father. More accurately it was my father screaming my name from downstairs.

Rolling out of bed, I caught a glance from my alarm clock. The bright red numbers read 3:47. As in 3:47 in the morning. I stretched and yawned as I got out of my bed and the old mattress yawned with me. I took my time to reach the door, even stopped to throw on my robe, not really in a rush to deal with him at this hour.

"CASSIDY!!!!" I heard him yell again. He sounded angry, but then again he always sounded like that.

His yelling only made me want to walk slower. If he was angry at this hour then he wouldn't be looking to have a 'nice chat' with his only daughter. No more than likely he was looking for someone to take his anger out on. 

And right now, it looked like he'd chosen me.

When he heard my footsteps coming down the stairs, he turned on me. A little too quickly I guess because he nearly lost his balance. He would've fallen but luckily (or unluckily, whichever way you see it) he regained it before it could have happened. Too bad, it would've been the highlight of my night.

He leveled his snake-like eyes on me. His whole face formed a look of utter disgust, a look he reserved for me alone. 

I could already tell how this was gonna go.

"What was you doing that I had to call your ass twice?" he snarled. Or tried to snarl, from the smell of his breathe, he was more than a little drunk so his words were more than a little slurred.

"Check the time, dad, I was sleeping. I have school in the morning" I said, trying to keep any hint of irritation out of my voice despite how I felt. It would only make him madder.

"Did you do as I told you to?" Every word he spoke was thoroughly covered with the disgusting stench of cigarettes and alcohol.

"Yea I got everything done before I started my homework." If this was all he wanted to know maybe I'd be back in bed before my alarm went off.

"Oh, you did, did you? Remind me again what I wanted done? See 'cause I've seemed to have forgot" He said gruffly.

"Well you asked that I clean up the kitchen, vacuum the whole house, clean the bathroom, wash all the dis-" I stopped talking once I realized he'd moved to stand right in front of me. He towered over me and even while intoxicated, his presence made me feel weak and child-like. 

"Did I tell you to stop talking? What else did I tell you to do huh?" His breathe spilled out all over me, making me want to gag. Up close the smell of cheap beer was stronger, as was the smell of old sweat, all this plus the anger radiating from his body made it hard for me to think.

"Umm, the kitchen, vacuuming, dishes, bathroom" I paused trying to remember if there was anything else he'd asked but I was sure that was it.

"Mhm mhm and?"

"And...that's it, wasn't it?" I asked hesitantly

Despite how much he's had to drink, his arm was still lightening fast as it came up to slap me across the face. The hit knocked me off my feet into a a prime position for him to grab hold of my hair. He dragged me by it all the way through the kitchen and to the back door. Pausing to open it, he launched me by my hair and onto the back porch.

"So I guess it just 'slipped' your mind that I asked you to salt the driveway huh?" 

When I didn't say anything he kicked me, hard. The kick made me notice he still had on his thick toed work boots. Great. But despite how much all of this hurt, I didn't dare cry, crying only made it worse.

"Answer me now or so help m-"

"Yes, it slipped my mind, I'm sorry." I answered from the ground without looking up. 

"Yea? Well, I guess it just 'slipped my mind' to let you back in" He said and with that he went back into the house and slammed the door. I didn't even try to stop him, it was already to late, I heard the lock slide into place.

I brought my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them for warmth.  The movement let me know that there was already a bruise forming on my back. I tried to keep my robe fully covering me.

It wasn't until almost an hour later that someone unlocked the door and by then almost every inch of my body was frozen stiff. But no one asked me what happened. No one needed to. This was just one of the perks of being a Lawrence.