The Clearing in the Woods

Chapter 2: The Boy With no Feelings

Mick was always the perfect child, he listened to his mother and father and obeyed every single command. There wasn't a single thing the boy wouldn't do for his parents. Hair growing to his shoulders, eyes a deep cobalt that contrasted perfectly with his naturally tanned skin, he was simply beautiful.

The child always had a respectful and sweet tone, sharing his toys and always making sure kids even younger than himself got first pick. His favorite time of day was always lunch time, if there was anything the child loved, it was to eat. The one thing the boy would not share was his food. Somehow, no matter how much he ate, he never grew overweight or out of shape.

One night, though, while little Mickey was sleeping, around the age of eleven, he heard his father start to yell. Paying no attention at first, he tried to fall back asleep to no avail. He heard a crash and his father's yelling increasing as his mother's normally sweet and calm voiced came out shaky and scared, there was a sound of skin making contact and he heard his mother cry out in pain. Sitting in his bed shaking, he wished he could get up, he wished he could get up and help her or possibly calm his father down, he was too afraid, though, he was nothing but afraid and he felt as though the words "bravery" and "strength" had no more meaning than a sock without it's pair. The words were useless to him along with the actions, he didn't know why, it was fine, right? He knew better than that, he knew that when dad got angry there was no stopping him, no holding the man off and equally he knew that his mother never sounded scared, she was always strong, this was the first time he had heard her voice waver at all hearing her in pain was also something that seemed very new and frightening.

So he sat there, staring at the blackened wall that would turn bright blue in the sun but for now, nothing seemed to shine or show any color. There were no night lights in his room, he always hated them because he felt he had nothing to fear in the dark. Nothing, until now. The crashing and screaming continued until tears started to spring to the boy's eyes.

The next morning, he cautiously stepped out of his room, the sounds of his mother in the kitchen making breakfast brought him to stumble across the floor to her. Head foggy and lagging from lack of sleep but having a goal that he soon met, meeting his mother by the stove.

"H-hi momma!" He chirped to her and she seemed to flinch, not hearing him coming, she let out a sigh and turned to her child, Mick's already forced smile went away completely. "Momma?"

Her right eye was as black and blue as his walls had been last night, a cut on her left cheek from where the skin broke from the force of contact. Her lip was busted and all of this happened in one night, one night where Mick should have got up, one night where he failed her. Her expression was soft as her child started to sob, kneeling down and holding him to her, he buried his face in her hair, breathing in the comforting scent as he started to cry.

"Shh," she soothed him, pulling him away from her to look her in the face, "Listen," her voice broke and tears sprung to her own eyes, she blinked them back and cleared her throat, voice dipping down as if telling him a secret, "you have to promise me, no matter what you see, no matter what you hear, you will hide in your room if your father gets mad. You have to promise me that' you'll never be afraid of him, even if he hits you, you have to stay strong, one day you'll be able to leave, one day, but for now, you're stuck here, for quite a while. I'm begging you not to cry and no matter what, never tell anyone about what happened last night, if anyone asks, I was mugged on the street," the boy listened quietly, tears fading away as he listened.

Bravery. Strength. Those words started to have meaning, like a seed that seemed so impossible to grow, now germinating beneath the soil, the seed planted last night and being watered and fed by his mother's words. All he could do was give a determined look and a nod, his mother smiled, the once calming face now ruined by every mark he left on her.