Something You'd Never Expect

Chapter Four

"KIRSTIN ROSE MOONLIGHT!!!!" I clenched my teeth nervously. 

"Shit. Yes, Dad?" 

"WHERE WERE YOU?!?!" I craned my neck to look up at him. 

"I texted Mom about it! Did she not tell you?" 

"Your mother didn't get a text. And because of it, we were starved last night!" 

"I could've sworn I sent it..." 

"Now answer my question!"

"I was over at Ari's for a sleepover." 

"You little bitch!" I tensed. 

"You know you can't go see friends until you've told us!" 

"I thought I did! I texted Mom, but apparently she didn't get it!" 

"Are you talking back to me?!" He grabbed my neck with both hands, squeezing tightly. I felt the air trying to flow, but he was cutting off circulation. He was choking me. Fuck. He shoved me down, slamming his forearm into my back. I coughed up blood as he lifted my chin up hard and slapped me, drawing blood. Punching me in the chest, he grabbed both my wrists and pinned them against the wall. 

"Next time, it'll be worse. Do you understand me, you poor excuse of a child?" I nodded vigorously, not speaking. He released me, then kicked me in the ribs for good measure. Once he walked away, I raced to my room and shut the door, locking it. I stared at my reflection in my vanity, breathing heavily, regaining the ability to access damage. There were large, finger shaped bruises around my neck, and my wrists. They were extremely sore. Four long cuts flowing crimson red blood lined against the left side of my face, and a large bruise was plastered against the middle of my chest and back. I was extremely scrawny, and you could see every single bone. I noticed my fingers were twitching and my knees wobbled. I didn't cry, nor did I scream. I was too terrified for that. Fear rose into my throat, tightening my chest, and nausea appeared a few seconds later. I felt my vision go fuzzy as I panicked. It was a panic attack. Of course. I curled into an awkward turtle ball in the corner of my room, shaking. No one called. No one came in. I just sat there the rest of the night, trying to calm myself. 

     That next morning, I decided not to look decent. I slipped on a black and white striped turtleneck to cover the bruises on my neck and around my wrists, and a pair of skinny jeans, black ones, to cover the older bruises and cuts that left a scar across my happy memories. I opened the golden jewelry box Ari gave me for my fourteenth birthday, and picked out the ring necklace my brother had given to me. I slipped it on, and picked up the silver bracelet she had given me for Christmas. It was basically a brace with her name engraved in it. She also had one, and it had my name in it. Also my usual black pearls. I looked in the mirror, and almost stopped breathing. The scars across my face were more noticeable, especially since some of blood had stopped at the sides and dried there. I quickly grabbed the foundation powder and brush, and lathered it on, making sure none of it showed. After finishing, I took my eyeliner and drew a cat eye design on my eyelids, just for good measure. I looked back up at myself, pleased that none of my injuries were revealed. I sighed in relief, threw on my high heeled boots, and strolled out of my room.

      I found Scott and Ari waiting for me outside of the school as I approached the hellhole. Ari waved me over. 

"Hey! How was your weekend?" I managed a smile. 

"Fine. Yours?" She looked concerned. 

"You okay?" I nodded. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it." That answer seemed satisfactory with her. 

"Oh, by the way, Scott and I were planning to go to the mall after school today. Wanna come?" I nodded. 

"That sounds fun." She smiled. 

"Awesome. Well, let's get in before we're late to class." I nodded, fiddling with the ring around my neck. Scott pulled the door open, letting Ari and I step in before following. Once we arrived at our lockers, Scott sighed. 

"Thank god no one's here this early, right?" Ari nodded. 

"Right? If everyone we hate was here, we'd be dead. Like, literally." I grabbed my sheet music book and notepad out of my locker. 

"Okay, well, I'm going to head over to the choir room. Better early than late." Scott and Ari nodded. 

"Later!" I quickly jogged away. After school, I texted London about the plans, making sure she got it all. Ari ran up to me. 

"Hey, you don't mind if we walk there, right? Neither of my parents can drive us there." I nodded. 

"No, that's fine. I usually have to walk everywhere anyways." She sighed in relief. 

"Good. Now let's get going!" The three of us walked until we reached the three story shopping mall. Scott stared at it in amazement. 

"Wow, this thing is huge! The one in Arlington wasn't nearly this big!" Ari giggled. 

"Well, everything here is pretty large in comparison to everything else." 

"I can see that." We stepped into one of the stores, where we were greeted with a cascade of sweaters, t-shirts, and skinny jeans. Scott began looking through the racks as Ari and I swept through the miles of sweaters. I found an adorable white one that had the word 'Love' written in gold cursive lettering. Ari squealed. 

"That's adorable!" I slipped it over my arm as we continued. Soon we had finished our shopping spree, and we were loaded with shopping bags. Scott looked at our behemoth of items. 

"I'm surprised we could afford all of this." Ari shrugged, her bags flopping into each other. 

"That's what Christmas and birthdays are for, right?" Scott chuckled. 

"I suppose." I looked at him. 

"I didn't know you were so into shopping!" 

"Well, I am part feminine, after all." We all laughed. Ari looked at her watch. 

"Oh, I better get home. My mom's making dinner tonight." I looked to her. 

"Microwave pizza again?" 

"I really hope not. The school lunch is bad enough." 

"Ari, you don't eat that. Now that I think about it, none of us eat." Scott nodded. 

"Literally, we all starve ourselves." 

"We do! God, we are such typical white girls." 

"Minus the valley girl accents and pumpkin spice lattes." She nodded her head to the side. 

"Anyways, I'll see you two tomorrow! Later!" She walked off as Scott turned to me. 

"Hey, I gotta go too. I'll see you later, Kirstie." 

"Later, Scott!" He and I parted. No one was home when I got there, but there was a note. I picked it up. 

"'Kirstin, we all went out for dinner since you weren't home. Don't eat anything while we are out. Also, the house needs cleaning. See that it's done.-Mom, London, and Dad.'" I sighed. 

"Like I would eat," I mumbled to myself as I walked into the kitchen to grab cleaning supplies. After finishing up, I walked into my room, changed into my PJs, which were literally just a tank top and little shorts, and I packed up the clothes from the mall. I sat down with my textbooks all set out, ready to finish the homework. I put my earbuds in as Lady GaGa's "Love Game" played in my ears.