The Mystery of P: A World in Peril[On Hold]

Chapter 9

Slowly I opened the door, peeking my head inside, and looking in every direction for signs of my father. I heard him coming down the stairs. Sliding in the house I dropped my bag and hesitantly walked further in. Seeing fire blazing in my father's eyes I knew I was about to get a huge beating. Running or hiding wasn’t going to fix anything, so I stayed where I was.

"Why did the school call me about you? Something about being threatened? Beaten up? What is going on?" Father asked to my surprise.

"So…" I started, and once I was done telling him the full story the fire died from his eyes for a moment but it was back a second later.

"So this Brad, you took his girlfriend?"

"No, Alex chose me."

"Strange. So Brad hit Alex, and threatened her, and you are just a victim? You did something to provoke Brad…what did you do?"

"Nothing, I've done nothing but let him beat me up until I stood up to him." I defended.

"Shut up! I don't care, I still blame you." Dad said.

            Suddenly I felt a strong sting on my face. Dad hit me, and he kept hitting, and punching me. I knew I couldn’t fight back, but I tried to get up. He grabbed my shirt and threw me against the wall. Pain surged through my body. Father loomed over me, and took off his belt. He started whipping me with it. I blocked my face but my stomach region got most of the pain. The belt got twisted in my shirt at one point; I uncovered my face to untangle it.  The next second the buckle hit my face, leaving a cut with blood dripping. Feeling dazed I realized father wasn’t in front of me. I looked around and I knew where he was going. He was going to get a cane, but it's not an ordinary cane. The cane had little sharp silver spikes on the end, maybe only a millimeter out of the end, so it can't do severe damage, but it creates a lot of scratches.

            Father came down beating the cane in his hand with a smirk. How can someone be amused by others pain? Without thought, I tried to bolt, but I was smacked in my side and I felt the little spikes go in, he dragged the cane across my side to my back leaving scratches, ripping my shirt. This is the third time father has used this cane on me. He swung back and it caught my arm and he dragged the end down my arm creating cuts and blood oozed from my arm.

"Stop! Please, stop it! Dad, stop!" I yelled when he swung back again.

            This time his wing knocked me down. He hit me with the cane several excruciating times. Trying not to cry and make noises, I tried to drag myself away from him, but he stepped in front of me.

"You're lucky I haven’t gotten my pocket knife and used it on you yet. Don't make me hurt you." Father whispered scarily.

            He then walked away to put the cane down. I got up even though pain rushed through my body. I had to get to Jeremy's. Struggling to walk without pain, I made it to the door and I heard Dad scream and he started to run toward me. I opened the door and ran. The pain was agonizing, but I kept running. Dad came screaming after me but stopped because he didn’t want anyone knowing what happened in that house. Running still, tears streamed down my face. I finally stopped and noticed I've been leaving a trail of blood. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and wrapped my arm best I could and walked the rest of the way to Jeremy's. Soon I found that I was tired, my muscles hurt, and the pain was unbearable. I sat down and rested for a moment. I put my hand in my pocket to find my cell phone, but it wasn’t there. I cursed at myself and looked around. I would have to ask someone to use their phone, or continue to walk to Jeremy's which was about three blocks away.

"Otto?" I heard someone say.

            I turned for a moment, and it was Alex, she looked horrified when she saw me. Instantly I started to run. Wind raced through my ears, and I thought I heard her calling after me, but I wasn’t going to stop. She didn’t need to know anything about my family life. I was almost at Jeremy's I could see his house just up a head, when I started to feel really dizzy. Shaking my head to make me alert, I saw Jeremy and he waved. I started to wave, but I blacked out.