Survive

Chapter 10

Waking up to a sudden bang on my door, I got up quickly and opened my door. Standing in front of me was a very angry Jenny. By the smell of her breath she had been drinking. I hate when she drinks because she doesn't care who is around she will let me know just how much she hates me. Looking into her eyes and seeing only hate and anger, I stepped back just a little.

"So you think you can play hooky hmm?" She asked my in a slurred tone from the effects of the alcohol.

"I wasn't playing hooky Jenny. This is the first day that I've missed in two years. I wasn't feeling well and the office sent me home." I stated.

"Yeah I'm sure they did." She slurred once again.

I could tell she had a lot to drink and I knew it wasn't late because my dad wasn't even home yet. Which meant if she had enough to drink then something was going to happen to me one way or another. The hate in her eyes was burning through me like a house on fire. I tried to make just back away into my room and leave the situation alone but before I could shut the door she was in my room. I could feel the rage radiating off her. I went to go out the door but she was blocking it.

"Jenny I don't feel well ok. I just want to rest for the night." I told her trying to calm her down.

"You really think I care how you feel." She spit at me with words of hate rolling off her tongue.

It seemed that everything I did only made her more angry. Before I knew it she had my hair wrapped in a fist pulling me to the ground as hard as she could. Landing on the floor I grunted, the pain began to shoot up from my legs. I could feel my eyes begin to sting with tears as she gripped my hair tighter.

"You see Chloe, I've already got your dad on my side with the whole you not listening thing. You better watch what you do around here." She whispered into my ear.

Before letting go of my hair she tugged it as hard as she could almost slamming my head against my bed frame. With that she let go and walked out as if she hadn't almost ripped the hair right out of my skull. Once again the tears came and I tried so hard to muffle my sobs but failed. I didn't understand why she hated me so much. Wiping the tears from my face, I began to collect myself before my dad got home. I walked over to my dressed and grabbed the advil for my now throbbing head. Swallowing them without water, I took a deep breath.

"You will get through this." I thought to myself in the silence of my bed room.

When I heard the front door open, I knew I was going to have to go downstairs. Opening the door I could hear Jenny and my dad talking once again. Quietly walking down the stairs I could hear them talking about me. Inching just a little closer so I could hear better, I was in utter disbelief of what I was hearing.

"Jenny I don't think she was playing hooky. The secretary seemed very concerned about her." My father said.

"Nick you didn't see her when I got home. She was perfectly fine playing on her phone. She didn't even look pale or sick." Jenny said in that whiny voice she did when she wanted something.

"I'll talk to her when she comes downstairs." He said as if he was taking her side all over again.

Making my way down the stairs I could see my father's stern look and Jenny's look of hate. I felt uneasy in the same room with them at the moment. It never used to be this way with me and my dad. Whenever he came home I would meet him at the door and he would engulf me in a giant hug, but now it's as if I had committed a crime.

"Chloe we need to talk." He said in that voice that he used on me when I was a child.

Sitting down at the table I felt his eyes following me along with hers. I just sat there waiting for my punishment. I was so used to it being Jenny making me feel this way, but now it wasn't only her. My father came and sat by me in the chair across from me.

"Jenny thinks that you were playing hooky today. Is that true?" He asked me.

"I swear dad, I wasn't playing hooky. You know me better than anyone. I haven't missed a day of school in two years. I wasn't feeling well." I told him.

I could feel Jenny just staring at me. I was going to pay for telling him the truth because it wasn't what she wanted. I had made her look like a fool in front of my dad and she was going to make sure I knew that I had made the wrong decision. I just sat there as she stared me down.

"Ok well if you aren't feeling well just stay home. I'm sure that I can take a day off from work to make sure that you are ok." He said now back to his caring voice that I love so much.

"I will dad. I'm sorry if this caused a fight between you guys." I said in my most sincere voice that I had.

My father just nodded but Jenny stood as still as a statue. I could tell she was watching me. Again I was on her bad side, but I don't think I've ever been off it. After about thirty minutes Jenny set the table and we began eating in silence. My father wasn't even talking about his day, Jenny was just glaring at me, and I just sat there pushing my food around with my fork. Every so often I would take a little bite to make Jenny think that I was actually enjoying her food she had made. I couldn't take the silence any longer, so I decided to try and make conversation with my father. I only received short replies in return.

"May I be excused?" I asked

"Yeah just make sure you rinse you plate off and put it in the washer." My dad said not looking up from his plate.

Doing as he said I scraped my plate, rinsed it off, and put it in the washer before I headed back to my room. Before I did I gave my dad and little hug and a kiss on his cheek. As I was walking to the stairs I could feel a warm liquid begin to run down my thigh. Hurrying up the stairs, I went straight to the bathroom. Taking my sweats off I looked down in horror. The welts began to bleed. In a hurry I began to try and stop the bleeding with my over shirt. When the fabric touched my skin I bit down on my lip to try and keep from screaming in pain. After what felt like forever the bleeding finally stopped.

Walking to my room slowly, I laid flat on my back and tried to avoid letting anything touch my thighs. Looking down at them I couldn't help but break down again. My thighs were just covered in scabbed over long marks. They were going to scar. I couldn't stop the tears from coming. It was like a damn had finally broke and I couldn't do anything about it. Reaching over for my phone I saw that I had two new messages. One was from Luke the other from Lilly. I didn't even feel like talking to them.

I knew that they would be worried but I just couldn't do it. Lilly knew me enough to know if I was ok even through text. Luke didn't know me well enough yet but I couldn't just text him and not Lilly. I just decided to turn my phone off and just lay in the peaceful silence. My eyes were beginning to get heavy and I was just glad that tomorrow was saturday. Letting the weight of my eyes finally close I passed out into a dead sleep.