As she stood in the storm heavy droplets of rain pelted her shoulders like bullets. She hoped that it would disguise the river of tears running down her face.
Nothing but darkness and the wind in the forest trees encircled her. The only sound louder than the crashing thunder was her step father's voice.
"This is who you are you pathetic child!" he kicked a pile of empty water bottles "Nothing but a heap of piss-filled trash!!"
His scourgous words pierced her gut, but she only clenched her teeth to hide the pain.
She prayed for a sign of hope as she clenched her dead mother's locket in her palm.
The rain continued and so did her father's rambling.
"Empty, worthless, useless, and a waste! No matter how hard you try you'll never be anything else! So just give up already!!"
He snatched up a leg of an old table and started smashing the garbage mountain like a caveman with a club. The poor-excuse-of-a-father carelessly scraped the side of his calf. The girl steadying her gaze, managed a smirk. A small victory that was short lived.
He sent a bottle flying midair which just grazed her face, leaving a mud print. She was fortunate he didn't find anything glass that time.
"So this is how you treat me!? Yesterday I was supposed to hang out with my poker buddies while you do what all woman are good for and clean up this mess! But no . . ."
He chucked a barrel across the yard and it smashed into shrapnel upon landing impact.
"You just had to visit all of your boyfriends didn't you!? You had to run away from your reality isn't that right!?"
He took large steps, coming closer and closer each word he spat.
"Isn't," step "that," step "right?" step.
Soon she could taste his breath, a vile concoction of cigarettes and alcohol.
He forced her head upwards with his thumb under the nerve of her chin. His stare burned into her like a predator determining what part of their prey's corpse should they shank open next. However, interest died in his eyes and he pushed her into the mud.
"Pathetic." he snorted, turning his back away from her. "A girl . . . hanging around with a bunch of guys . . ."
He muttered two words under his breath barely out of earshot.
"Ducking shmut" is what it sounded like. But her pain fired into pure rage once she realized what he really said.
She was about to charge when all of a sudden, a German Shepherd darted from the woods and half-ran half-slid on his paws down the hill. He lunged towards the ruthless man. Jaw opened, eyes filled with determination, and with a thundering bark his teeth clamped into flesh. A human roar echoed through the storm followed by canine growls and ripping fabric. He kicked the pup, but the dog's head still swung around and fought right back. The lantern was crushed by the weight of the two tumbling in the earth. She was frozen in shock, and could now only rely on the flashes of lightning to see. She stepped forward feeling a metal object flat and oval-like underneath her shoe. Her mind went blank when she read the inscription---this was no ordinary dog.
"A police dog?" She gasped in disbelief.
Her father threw the canine across the yard like that old barrel, but the dog did not break---not completely. However, it was just enough time to knock his daughter out and throw her back into her rusty cage.
He picked up the pup by the scruff while the poor thing cried in pain. He laughed in amusement before stuffing him in the cage with his daughter.
His mouth was near her father's pocket, a critical place to strike. Why didn't he fight back this time?
"There," her father spat "now you can enjoy being with your own kind!"
