All Pain, No Gain

Chapter 3

Three hazy figures stood above me, that was all I could tell you. One had shoulder length black hair and from the black stubble on his chin I was guessing it was a man.  One had dark blonde hair swept messily to one side.  The third had reddish-brown frizzy hair scraped back.  

Wait one was a man.

A man with long dark hair.

Something niggled in the back of my mind as my eyes adjusted behind my glasses.

His face became clear.  Maggie's words became clear.

Dad.

Panic kicked in before the adrenaline and I scrabbled back away from the face ever looming towards me.  My eyes widened and my heart raced as fear rose.  I almost had the will to scream or cry or shout out.  Anything that might deter him from coming any nearer.

Suddenly whatever I was leaning on gave way beneath my hands and I felt myself falling backwards onto a cold hard floor. I looked up to find the end of the bed staring down at me.

At any other time I would have found it hilarious and so would Jay but this was no time for jokes, just escape and right now the bed was blocking my route.

They must have lifted me onto the bed after I passed out, I thought.

But I didn't have time to think, I didn't even have time to feel the pain from my right arm that was twisted underneath me, all I was seeing was the door.

I tried to untangle my arm from beneath me as I struggled to get up in my haste.  

A hand shot out towards me and I immediately recoiled from the rough hand, scrambling back towards the corner of the room and crouching, trying to make myself as small as possible.

I clutched my teddy bear close to me as he swayed closer, shouting slurred words I'd never heard of before.  His eyes were narrowed and the dark tattoos boasting on the muscles revealed by his shirt made him look bigger and stronger.  And eviler. 

I crouched down into the corner of my bedroom, trembling. My eyes widened in fright as my back pushed against the wall and he towered above me. No mercy showed in his eyes, only hatred. I searched the room frantically for a hiding place.

Not with my teddies, I thought, they can't get hurt, not in my wardrobe, he locked me in there last time, oh under the bed!

I crawled hastily through his legs while he was distracted with his empty bottle of beer and scrambled under the bed, curling into the tightest ball I could. I could see his unsteady feet growing ever closer as he searched for me.

"Come out, come out wherever you are you little whore or I'll make you do some nasty little things," he slurred threateningly. I stayed put, frozen with fear. Squeezing my eyes shut I tried to be as quiet as I could but a little whimpering noise came out as I quivered and he swiftly came closer to my bed.

I saw his knees bend as he got down on the floor and suddenly a rough hand grabbed my ankle and dragged me out from under the bed. I screamed hoping someone or anyone would hear me. I tried to dig my tiny nails into the floorboards but nothing would work. He let go of my ankle and clamped his hand over my open mouth.

"If you make one more sound you'll be paying Daddy a nice little favour."

I nodded meekly in response. I had heard Jay scream at night too and it sounded a lot worse. Jay was a tough boy so it must have been worse. I didn't want him to do anything like that to me.

I glanced towards the open curtains that revealed the dark night sky.  On any normal night, like a normal little girl, I could have sat on my bed by the window, curled up with my teddies and admired the stars.