Lost Inside

Chapter 1

"What the hell is wrong with you, Blackwell?!!" Blake Warren screamed in Eren's face. Eren just flinched as spit landed on him. Blake had hold of Eren's shirt collar in his giant fists, slightly causing Eren to choke.
          Bam! Eren cringed as his back was slammed into a maple tree, which caused some leaves to fall in his messy, black hair. As soon as Blake let go of him, he fell to his hands and knees. Eren caught movement from the corner of his eye and, before he could react, Blake had his foot slamming into his chest. Eren crumpled to his side, gasping for breath. Blake had kicked the air right out of his chest.
"Go kill yourself." Blake said before spitting in Eren's face. He then walked over to his car and drove away as if nothing had happened.
          After a few more minutes, Eren finally caught his breath and stood up. He cried and wiped his face, trying to hold back his tears. He picked up his things and started walking home.
          What did I ever do to him? He thought. It was like a daily routine. Blake would always bully him everyday for no reason. He reached back beneath his shirt and felt his back. He could feel ridged scratches from being slammed into the tree. He pulled his hand back out in front of and looked at it. It was halfway red with blood. Huh, I couldn't have hit the tree that hard. He just shrugged and wiped his hand on his black skinny jeans and wiped his face, which was still wet with tears.
          After a bit, he soon arrived at his house and stepped through his front door. As soon as he stepped inside, turning around as he closed the door behind him, he was backhanded right in the face and knocked to the ground.
"Where were you?! Why are you late?!" screamed his mother. Eren didn't say anything, which only seemed to cause his mother to grab him by the hair and pull him forcefully to his feet. His mother backhanded him again.
"Answer me!!!" she shouted. Eren still didn't answer. He was thrown to the ground by his mother. Eren wanted to fight back, but he couldn't bring himself to do it because it was his mother, after all, and he loved her. Sort of.
"Go to your room!!!" yelled his mother. Eren hurriedly got to his feet once more and headed upstairs.
          Yeah, my day was great. How 'bout yours? He thought. He went in his room and was about to slam the door before remembering that that would only get him into more trouble, so he gently closed it, barely making a sound. Just a gentle click was the only sound the door created. He walked over and tossed his backpack on his desk, then threw himself onto his bed. As soon as he did, he felt something squish underneath him.
"What the----" he started to say. His brother jumped out of his closet.
"Happy Birthday, loser!!!" he shouted, a large grin plastered to his tan face.
          Eren leaped off his bed and lifted up the covers. There was a pile of moldy spaghetti!
"That's disgusting, Luke, come on! Really?" Eren yelled.
"Hey, at least you got somethin' for your birthday, ya little shit." Luke replied.
"Who said you could even come in my room?! Get out!!!" Eren continued.
"Oh, no one. That's what makes it even funnier!" Luke nodded, still grinning as if he had achieved something great.
"GET OUT!!!!!" Eren repeated, furious.
          Luke laughed and exited the room. Eren grabbed an unused piece of cardboard from his trash can and brought both the cardboard and the trash can over to his bed. He shoved the cardboard right under the pile of blue-green noodles and put it in his trash can. He jumped as he felt the noodles slightly touch his thumb. He set the garbage on the floor and ran to the bathroom.
"Ew! Ew! Ew! So gross. So gross!" he said as he washed his hands.
          As he was drying his hands, he looked in the mirror. His left cheek was a dark shade of purple and blue, bruised, from where his mom had smacked him.
          Eh, no one at school's gonna notice. And if they do, they won't care anyway. thought Eren. He went back to his room and gathered his blankets into a ball in his arms and then headed downstairs to the laundry room. He walked past his mother, who gave him the cold shoulder and acted as if he wasn't there. He walked past his younger sister, Bianca, who was addicted to the TV. When Eren got to the laundry room, he threw his blanket and sheet into the washer and started it. As he closed the lid, it slipped from his grasp and slammed on his fingers. Eren cringed, trying to hide the pain as he slid his finger out from underneath the lid. He headed back upstairs to his room. He rubbed his fingers for a minute and then tried to not focus on the pain that the heavy lid had caused.
          Eren decided that he should take out his garbage so that his room didn't start to stink because of the rotten pasta in the trash can. He tied the handles of the bag together and left his room and headed downstairs once again, this time going outside to the large, blue garbage can. He dropped the bag inside, hearing the nasty squish of the spoiled spaghetti in the bag.
          Eren went back inside, grabbed a clean plastic bag from underneath the kitchen sink, then headed back upstairs to his room. As he did so, he heard his brother come out of his room and head down the stairs.
          Just as hey were on the same step for about a second, Luke stuck his foot out and tripped Eren. Thunk! Eren's face slammed into the next step as he fell. Luke just continued going down the steps as if nothing happened. Eren felt tears gently begin to stream down his face again.
         Why does everybody like to hurt me?!?! he thought. He noticed dark red spots appearing on the step beneath his face. He put his hand under his nose and felt warm drops drip into his hand. He jumped up and ran to the bathroom, leaving his plastic bag on the stairs behind him. He looked in the mirror. His nose was gushing blood. Eren grabbed some toilet paper and held it to his nose. It immediately turned the toilet paper red, as if magic transformed it, and he had to use more. His nose bled for about five more minutes and then stopped. Eren washed his face because some of the dark red liquid had been smeared a little bit around his cheek and to hopefully wash away any evidence that tears had ever stained his cheek. He grabbed a fresh sheet for his bed from the cupboards, went back to the stairs and grabbed his plastic bag, then headed black to his room.
          After making his bed, Eren went over to his desk and sat down. He touched beneath his nose, making sure that it wasn't bleeding again.
          Eren placed the plastic bag into his trash can and closed the lid. He then slowly reached over to his pencil case where a pair of scissors sat, waiting to be used. Eren pulled them out and then rolled up his sleeve. He opened the scissors so that he could only use one of its blades. He placed the scissor blade on the flesh of his wrist, feeling the cold chill of the metal.
          Eren then forced the blade into his skin and watched as blood seeped out, little by little. Then he slowly slid the blade across his arm horizontally, the silver scissor blade leaving a trail of dark red as it moved. Dark liquid oozed from his cuts in which he had made. Eren could  feel his arm tingle and burn, cringing, but he didn't care. He continued to cut his other wrist. He continued to torture both of his wrists with blade, making constant marks, then soon stopped, seeing how much blood he had shed. He opened his desk drawer and pulled out a roll of bandages. He slowly started wrapping the tough, tan fabric around both of his wrists in thick layers to hide his blood and wounds. He put the roll of bandages back in his desk drawer as soon as he finished and pulled his sleeves back down to his palms.
"Dinner!" Eren heard his mother shout from downstairs. He rubbed his bandage covered wrists, then headed downstairs to the kitchen.
          Eren sat at the table where the rest of his family was waiting for him. He sat down and looked at his plate. Chicken, potatoes, and corn. Mmm, he thought. There was one problem though. Eren was a vegetarian. He didn't dare eat meat. But he had no choice. That was one of the reasons his family hated him. They didn't really enjoy having a vegetarian in the family.
"So," spoke Eren's mother, "how was school?"
"Great! We out on the football field today and played football. I scored almost all the touch downs!" Luke bragged.
"I earned an A+ on my math test today." replied Bianca.
"How 'bout you, Eren?" asked his dad.
          Eren choked, not even realizing that his dad was at the table and sitting right next to him. Everything was awkwardly silent for a moment, with only the sound of for forks clinking on plates.
Eren swallowed. "Well, uh, nothing new, exactly." he answered.
"I heard you got hit in the face in gym while playing dodge ball." Luke butt in.
"Well, we hear a lot of rumors in school, don't we?" Eren growled at his brother.
His brother continued. "I also heard that you failed your history exam, too!" Luke growled.
"What?" gasped his parents with an equal tone of annoyance.
          Eren just looked down at his plate and pushed his chicken around for a second, then shoved a small piece into his mouth and quickly forced himself to swallow, managing to control his urge to throw up.
"Have you been studying?" snapped his mother.
"Or have you not been paying attention in class?" his dad added before shoving a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.
"I've been studying and taking notes everyday." Eren told them.
"Then how did you manage to fail your test?" said his father rudely, bits of mashed potatoes flying out in front of him.
Eren's mother spoke up again. "Honey, don't talk with your mouth full," she said kindly, then went back to the mean tone of voice as she turned towards Eren, "but that is a good question."
          Eren just shrugged, staying silent as he continued to chew his food.
"Go to your room." his dad ordered.
          Eren did as he was told. He took care of his plate, sliding leftover chicken in the garbage and placing his plate in the sink, then headed upstairs into his room.
          Eren knew what was going to happen next. He prepared himself, laying on his bed, tensing his entire body for what was to come.
          Boom! Boom! Boom! Eren could hear his dads footsteps coming up the wood stairs. His bedroom door flew open. His dad stepped in, glaring with cold, dark eyes.
"You're such a failure." he said with solid anger, takings his belt off, "When will you learn."
          Then the belt came whipping down. Smack!
"Aaaaaaggggghhhhh!!!!!" Eren screamed in agony as the leather hit his face.
          The belt came down again, this time hitting him square in the chest.
"Ack!" The wind left hus lungs and he coughed up a large amount of blood before curling into a ball. Tears streamed down his pale, bruised cheeks.
"Maybe now you'll learn!" yelled his father before leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.
          Eren just laid on his bed, curled up in a stiff ball, knees held firmly to his chest, letting the tears leak from his face like a running sink faucet.
"Why? Why did I end up being part of this family?!?!" Eren mumbled angrily. He tried to get up and off his bed, but cringed and fell to the floor. More tears streamed down his face. Pain. It was he could he feel.
          He tried to get up again, pain still burning like a wildfire in his chest. He sat at his desk. He placed his hand on his face where he was hit. It stung instantly. He cried and cried for what felt like ages.
          Eren pulled up the sleeves of his shirt to show the bandages on his arms. He slowly unwound  the bandages from each wrist revealing the deep gashes that had been reopened. He rubbed the cuts on his wrist, gasping at the added pain the air on his cuts caused. It somewhat soothed him to see the marks. He didn't know why, but the marks made him feel slightly relaxed. Not much though.
          His chest still had a burning sensation in his chest. Eren took off his shirt to see the marks that his father had left behind.
          Black and blue with a small amount of blood. He brushed his hand over the wound. He cringed. He knew immediately that a rib or two hand been broken or cracked. His dad had lots of strength and used pretty much most of it when beating him. Eren took his roll of bandages from his drawer and wrapped some around his chest, still flinching at the smallest brush of his fingers and the pressure of the bandages. When he finished, he gently slipped his shirt back on.
          Suddenly, he felt a warm liquid run down his mouth. He licked his lips, tasting the irony blood. He stumbled to the bathroom, trying to ignore the agony that ran ran through his body. As he entered, he locked the door behind him. He looked in the mirror. No doubt, his nose had started bleeding again. That wasn't really much of a surprise. He grabbed a wad of toilet paper and tried to stop the bleeding once again.
          Eren looked back in the mirror, seeing a large dark spot on his face where his dad had added another, larger bruise to the one that his mom had created. He couldn't believe the damage that the belt and his mother and fathers monstrous rage had caused.
          He opened a cupboard and pulled out of piece of gauze and medical tape. He taped the gauze over the bruise, hiding it so that no one else could see.
          Eren then noticed a moist feeling on the top area of his chest. He looked down. His white, long sleeve, V-neck was now red near the neck line. There were small blood splatters on his shirt also. He had completely forgotten about him coughing up blood.
          He gathered another handful of toilet paper and held it up to his bloody nose. He unlocked the bathroom door and swung it open. His brother, Luke, stepped in the way and blocked Eren from leaving.
"Here, loser." Luke snarled, holding out a bag of ice to Eren.
Eren accepted it. "Thanks." he said quietly.
          Luke ignored him and went to his own room. Eren went to his without looking back, shutting his door behind him. He threw away the bloody toilet paper. He immediately yanked of his shirt again and threw it in his dirty clothes basket and then pulled a clean, black, short-sleeve, V-neck from his closet. He pulled it on over his head. Eren then sat back down at his desk and re-wrapped a new layer of bandage on his wrists. He skipped doing his homework because he was exhausted an d just wanted this day to end. He laid in bed, avoiding the blood spot of his sheet. He would also take care of that tomorrow. He didn't even bother to get under his blanket. Eren then fell to the cousin of death......sleep.