Saving Athiya

TWO

ATHIYA

TWENTY FIFTEEN

"Athiya, we are having a small get-together with our new neighbors. Will you please join us?" My father, George Holloway, requested. His voice carrying a tone of sadness.

I stayed quiet.

"Athiya," My mother, Savannah Holloway, begged. "They are going to be here tomorrow, and we would like it if you came to dinner with us."

I didn't make a sound. Looking down at my drawing pad, all I saw was darkness. Dark angry graphite strokes on the fragile off-white sketch paper. Some spots on the paper had holes in them while light was being reflected off the dark pencil strokes on others.

No matter how you looked at it, there was only darkness on the paper. Just like my life. Suddenly, I threw the pad across the room, knocking down an empty flower vase in the process. I didn't want to socialize. What I wanted was a way to end my life but that wasn't possible.

"Thiya, you have to understand that we want you to be happy, to make new friends." Mom's voice crooned out. Her voice only made me angrier. Didn't she understand that I wanted the same thing. Didn't she understand that I wanted to be happy, too.

Throwing the blankets off me in anger, I stood up and threw the elephant lamp from my bedside table towards the door. I swiped my hands on my desk and crashed everything to the floor.

Still feeling angry, I picked up the broken vase from the floor and threw it across the room as I had done with my lamp. "I don't want to meet anyone! I don't want to meet anyone! I don't want to meet anyone!" I kept chanting as I created a mess in my room.

Angry tears flowed down my face. I flopped back on the bed, placing one arm on my face and covered my eyes.

"Thiya," Dad said, "we are sorry. Please, honey."

The sympathy in his voice only made me turn sideways and fold my body in a fetal position. I am sorry, too, dad. I whimpered, tears still flowing down my face wetting the bedsheet in the process.

Hades slapped me hard on my face. I cupped my cheek feeling the tingles of hurt and pain on my face. I cringed as I felt the metallic taste in my mouth. No doubt, I was bleeding.

"How many times have I told you to keep that mutt away from me. Now look what he has done. He peed on my carpet!" He said and smacked me again. This time backhanding me. I took a step back from the brute force of his abuse.

"I am sorry." I mumbled looking down. My arms covering my head, protecting me from further abuse but there was no escape from him.

"Speak up!" He yelled fisting my hair and jerking my head up towards his face. My hands trying to lessen the pain by holding onto my trapped hair. I whimpered as he tightened his grip.

"I am sorry!" I spoke louder, my voice shaking because of the pain in my mouth from the previous injury. I could still feel the taste of blood.

"Sorry is not going to cut it this time. You need to be taught a lesson that will stick with you for the rest of your life." He said dragging me towards the swimming pool at the back of the house. "Get me that mutt right now!" He shouted.

"Yes boss!" Jeremiah, his right-hand man saluted leaving the room in search of Danny, my puppy.

"You have done it this time. You and that mutt of yours are going to be taught an unforgettable lesson today." Hades said grabbing my hair harder and jerking my head roughly as we neared the edge of the pool.

"Here, boss." Jeremiah's voice reached my ears making me turn around to see him holding Danny by the scruff of his neck. He was whimpering as Jeremiah passed him to Hades. Please, let him be okay. I thought to myself.

"Hold her!" He said pushing me towards Jeremiah. A wave of formidable fear passed through my body as Jeremiah gripped my arm tightly. I am sure his grip was going to leave another bruise on my body. "You see this mutt, baby? It's time to say good bye to him!" Hades said wicked as he pushed Danny's face underwater.

"NO!" I screamed trying to get to my puppy. Tears were freely flowing down my face.

"Shut up!" Jeremiah backhanded me on the face and tightened his grip on my numb arm. I watched helplessly as Danny was drowned to death right in front of my eyes. My facial expression slacked as fear took over when Hades looked my way.

"Now, it's your turn!" He said letting of Danny's neck.

I gasped for air as I jerked up on my bed.

I was startled when my mother's voice flowed through the door, "Thiya! Are you hungry?" I turned my vision towards my bedside table and saw that it was 8 o'clock and the room was now dark. I looked at the door again.

I didn't feel hungry anymore after reliving one of my memories from the time I spent in Hades' house. It has been a year since I was rescued from his house, but I can still remember every second of abuse I went through in that house.

"I am not hungry, mom." I mumbled loud enough for her to hear.

"Okay." I could hear the disappointment in her voice. I hated to disappoint her, but she needs to understand that I am not the same girl anymore. The Athiya she knew died a long time ago. "I will tell Marie to drop off your dinner in a few, just in case you feel hungry later."

I flopped back down on the bed as my ears picked up the sound of retreating footsteps in the distance. I absolutely hated having nightmares every night. I have been to many psychologists and I have tried dozens of sleeping medications. Klonopin. Tofranil. Valium.

Nothing seems to work for me. I guess even my brain knew that I was a lost cause. I don't think I will ever be able to escape my past. A horrifying past that no person should ever go through. I am just a broken girl now.

I dragged myself to the edge of the bed, dangling my feet, ready to stand on the ground when I registered the state of my room. The broken lamp. The shattered vase. All the sketchbook laying hazardously. My pencils and markers were all over the place. Some were hiding under the desk while some were uncapped from this morning's roller-coaster ride.

I signed. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. Might as well clean this room; put everything where it belongs. This essentially happened at least once a week. The mess of the room, that is. The nightmares...

They were an everyday occurrence. Every time I went to sleep, my brain would conjure up my suppressed memories in various forms of nightmares every single time. The doctors called these nightmares night terrors, but I called them memories. Viciously horrible memories.

Since I was retrieved from Hades' house, I don't think I had one good night sleep. I barely slept 3-4 hours a day and those included my horrible nightmares. There was never a chance of a peaceful sleep and I don't think it is ever going to vanish from my life completely.

I walked over to my desk in the corner of the room, next to the huge panel window on the left side of my room. Sitting on the blue beanbag, I pulled out one of the drawers from my side table to retrieve my sketchbook.

Flipping through the book, any person would be horrified at the scenes drawn on the pages. I stopped at the page where I had drawn Danny right after he was drowned.

In the middle of the swimming pool, Danny's fur body was half submerged in the water. He was floating on his belly, his face hiding under the water, his tail that used to waggle happily all the time was limply floating on the water.

He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve to die. And I didn't deserve to be kidnapped. I didn't deserve to be abused but people don't always get what they deserve. And I am one of those unlucky ones.