Crier's Lullaby (stemxstud)

Prologue

A/N: All chapters will be in Lauren's Point of View unless specified. Please comment, vote, and enjoy.

His eyes were cold and menacing. I knew not to say anything when he got like this. That would only egg him on and the pounds of his fists would only increase just like his temper. In those moments, when I felt his mallets for fists hit my body, I would think back to my mother. Why did she have to leave me? Why did she have to abandon me with this monster?

One hit. Two hits. One, two combos. Five. Six. I had no clue by then. All I could do was keep my curled position. Protect my head, kidneys, vital organs. Block everything else out. Ignore the fists and stomps. Don't think about the footprints I knew would be littering my body as if I was trampled by crazed people. In fact, that was what this was. Being trampled intentionally.

Minutes passed... Those minutes became hours and my beating had ended who knows how long ago, but I still didn't budge. The pain kept me from moving. The fear kept me from opening my eyes. Everything in my mind kept me from moving. I was terrified. It may not have been the first time the man, that I called my dad, had put his hands on me and I knew it wouldn't be the last. For that reason, I stayed still. I laid on my dirty floor in and out of consciousness until I heard the front door slam and his old beat up pickup truck leave with its awfully loud muffler.

Now I could move. Now, I had to move. In a sense, I was very glad I was a big girl. I had more fat to protect my organs and bones so that took a bit of the impact down, it was just bad as well because I couldn't run too fast or anything. A blessing and a curse, I suppose.

I don't even know how I managed to make it to the bathroom nor how I managed to get into the tub to take a long bath to clean myself up. All I knew was when I was done and I took a look at myself in the full-length mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My large body, rolls, stretch marks were bad enough, but to be joined by a rainbow of different bruises at different stages of healing... It was quite terrifying.

Sighing, I dried myself off carefully then got dressed. It was Sunday evening and thankfully I had school tomorrow. It was an escape and I enjoyed it. It was something to take my mind off things.

It was the only thing that I had to take my mind off things right now....