Unseen | ✔

3 | DEMONS

"She's standing on the line between giving up and how much more she can take." – Unknown

[3]

MY THOUGHTS TAKE over my mind as I sit here on a rock. The sound of waves, trees and my own breathing surround me. Just me, alone.

I watch as a group of children run around with little to no care in the world, nothing could touch them. My childhood was anything but what they are experiencing right now. No, I had to learn how to survive.

To trust no one else, just me.

My fingers trace around a bruise on my knee. Slowly, they move up to my thigh. The higher they get, the more bruises there are.

I had to learn to obey and not question. My curiousness as a kid never blossomed. I had to just accept things and not become curious about them.

Ten years and no one knows. Just them and me.

Every day, a fresh bruise sprouts on my body. They never really did seem to put a thought in the fact they just slapped a nine-year-old across the face. It came naturally to everyone but David at first.

The first time David hit me was by accident. The shock that washed over him was extremely evident, yet, after that one time, it happened repeatedly. Until, finally, it was nothing but a mere thought that crossed his mind too.

I was nothing and will always be nothing.

Too trapped in my thoughts, I don't notice a little girl poking my leg.

"Excuse me..." The little girl peers up at me. A smile crosses my mouth; it doesn't quite reach my eyes though.

"Yes?" My voice comes out scratchy like I haven't talked in a long time.

"Why are you sad? I just saw you here all alone and thought you would like some friends or something..." The little girl says, fidgeting under my emotionless gaze. She looks to be around the age of seven.

"Uh - I'm all good. I just think a lot, that's all," I say although my voice sounds timid.

"I'm Millie by the way." She offers her hand to which I shake reluctantly. She is just a little girl.

I was just a little girl.

"Isabelle."

Millie gasps. "Oh, that's so pretty! You look the same age as my brother do you know --"

"Millie!" I hear a deep voice shout. "Get your ass back here now! If you wander away again, I'm telling mum."

Millie groans. "Shut up, Adam. I made a new friend."

My head shoots up at the name, and there it is - the constant thumping against my chest as I stare into those stormy grey eyes.

He seems just as shocked as I am considering his mouth is parted open. I fidget slightly before Adam comes back to reality and starts walking towards us.

I hug my legs closer to my body, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Millie crosses her arms over her chest.

"Adam, do not use me as a way to get girls again. If you even talk to my new friend about how you always have 'pillow fights' at home with all those girls, I will tell mum."

Maybe she isn't as innocent as I first thought. Adam using his sister to get girls? Why does that not surprise me?

"Plus, Isabelle and I were getting along fine before you came along."