Learning to Dance in the Rain

Only Human

Sang POV

As soon as we get home, she grabs my arm and yanks me out of the car. I hold back a whimper as she wrenches my shoulder. She drags me into the kitchen.

"Kneel!" she yells pointing at the floor. One of her favorites. I gently start to go down on my knees. Apparently I am not going fast enough since she stalks to be and shoves me down into the floor. I bite my lip at pain radiates from my knees all the way up my thighs. I vaguely notice her start to collect an assortment of items from the cabinets. I can feel my face losing all color as I see what she has made. She's made it a couple of times before and those were some of the worst beating I have ever gotten. My hands start to shake against my will. She finally pours the mixture into a glass and stalks over to me. I try to brace myself but I still gasp when she yanks my bun back forcing me to look up. Taking the opportunity she shoves the glass into my mouth so hard it splits my lip. I try to fight and move away but her grip is tight in my hair. I'm stuck. Once the mixture touches my throat my gag reflex immediately kicks in.

"Swallow it all like the good whore you are!" she commands. I know if I don't do what she says she will keep repeating it until I do. I swallow mouthful after mouthful of what feels like pure acid going down my throat. My throat feels like it is on fire. The cut on my lip burns from the concoction getting in it. I feel the mixture rolling in my stomach wanting to make a reappearance but I keep it down, for now. If I get sick in front of her it will only make it worse.

"I saw you talking to that boy today. Are you sleeping with him? I will not have you be a whore like her!" she screams and I know it's coming. Suddenly she throws the glass to the ground shattering it. She pulls me by my hairs and throws me into the glass. I hiss at the various stinging cuts now all along my arms and legs. "You don't have another performance for another week so I think it's time for a little reeducation, don't you?" She stalks towards me and I try to get up and run but I can't. I fall back into the glass making even more cuts. I barely have time to duck my head before she starts.

Slowly I peel my eyes open. The first thing I'm aware of is pain. Everything hurts. I glance around and notice I'm still in the kitchen. Upon further investigation I realize I am still in the pile of glass bleeding out on the floor. I very, very slowly get up. I don't feel dizzy so likely no concussion. That's good. It's hard to do turns concussed. I've tried.

First things first, I carefully pick up the glass and wipe up the blood. Wouldn't want another beating because of the mess. I gasp as I bend over at a sudden pain. Okay, definitely some cracked ribs, maybe broken. Once clean-up is done I head upstairs leaning on the wall for support. I painfully make my way to the top of the stairs pausing only for a moment to look into mother's room only to see her passed out in bed. I wonder how long I've been down there.

I make my way to my room and retrieve the first aid kit from its hiding place. I carefully clean my cuts, hissing as the alcohol burns, and making sure to get all of the glass out. I go to the mirror and almost breakdown. I look awful. Dried blood is clumping my hair together in a weird shape. She must have ripped by bun down at some point. I have a bruise forming on my left cheek and a small black eye forming on my right eye. So she did get a few head shots in at least. My arms and legs are a mosaic of red cuts. I pull up my shirt and gasp at my stomach. I don't see anything but black and blue and red. I take a couple deep breaths or at least as deep as I can get them and grab the wrap from the kit. I carefully wrap my ribs. It usually helps.

I sit back down on my bed but instead of feeling relaxed I feel like the walls are closing in on me. I have to get out of here. I need air. I can't think about what just happened right now. I want to escape. I need to escape. Grabbing my speaker and iPod I head downstairs and sneak out of the back of the house. They are the only two electronics my mother allows me to have because of dance. I walk through the back yard and into the forest. A couple of months ago I was exploring and came across a clearing. It is beautiful and huge and in years of living here I only just found it. I decided then that it would be my spot, my space, my escape.