Selfless

~Chapter 2~

Cindy rushed inside the house. She shut the door behind her and looked up at her red faced, fuming stepfather.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT LEAVING THE HOUSE?" He shouts, causing Cindy to turn her face away, squeezing her eyes shut, knowing that a whipping could come.

"You will have a punsihment tommorow, and it won't be pretty." Her stepfather says, looking directly at her.

Cindy nodded. "Yes sir." She said, referring to him as he always asked.

He nodded, acting satisfied, though Cindy knew he never would be satisfied. "To to your room." He told her, pointing a meaty finger down the hall.

Cindy quickly rushes down the hall to her room. She could remember when this house was full of life and love, when it was just her and her mom.

Every night her mother would tuck her in, telling her a bedtime story, up until the very end.

Pictures had lined the walls and there had barely been a speck of dust anywhere.

Now, the house felt empty and dull. There were no bedtime stories, no pictures on the wall. Now, the house was infested with bugs and mice.

Cindy stood in front of her door, the only thing that still remained the same in the whole house and twisted the doorknob.

Inside was the room that had been changed the most. The walls used to be pink, now grey. There was no bed, and it was filthy, as she wasn't allowed to clean it.

She sat down on the floor and buried her face in her hands.

"I'm sorry I let him see, I really am. It's just that he really made me mad. He ruined my life." She said to her mother, not even knowing if she'd hear her.

Knock knock knock.

Somebody knocked on Cindy's door and she went to open it. Standing there, in full fancy wear was Magnar. He smiled at her, but she was to upset to return it.

"Hey..." He said, sitting on the floor. Cindy plopped down next to him, looking at him expectantly.

"I heard what Dad said... It's not fair." He told her.

"Wow. I didn't notice that." Cindy said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, I know you knew." Magnar said.

This is why Magnar was her favorite. He actually talked to her, he was nice, he was kind, he knew how mean her stepfather was, he knew when she was upset, he always tried to cheer her up, and he listened.

"And I know you don't like it. Why don't you say something?" He said, looking around at the empty room.

"Because, he'll punish me, and you know that he will." Cindy said, her mind flashing to all of the horrible punishments she had endured in the past.

"He would never hurt you too bad. The Checkers would get him in serious trouble if he did." Magnar said.

It was true, whipping was allowed, only if it was for discipline. But any other form of harm was against the law.

"But he could do other things, make me sleep outside, not feed me, It's not worth the risk." Cindy told him, saying nothing but truth. She had once had to sleep outside for a month. Once she had went a week with no food.

Magnar scrunched his eyebrows together, like he always did when he was thinking.

Cindy knew he could come up with nothing to comfort her, nothing to change how her stepfather treated her, nothing to say.

"Hey losers." Phillip said from the doorway.

Cindy groaned as she heard his voice, knowing that she needed to prepare for teasing, taunting, insults, and rude comments about her mother.

"We're not losers." Magnar said, staring his brother right in the eyes.

Phillip slapped his knee, laughing so hard that he teared up.

"Not losers?" He exclaimed loudly. "That's the funniest thing I've ever hear-" He started to say, but Cindy cut him off.

"Up shut." She said. It was basically saying shut up, but her mother had told her never to tell anyone to shut up, so she began to say up shut instead.

"Oh? Cindy doesn't have the guts to say up shut? Oh right, her mommy told her not to say shut up. And what else did you mommy tell you, oh wait. She's dead." Phillip taunted.

Cindy felt her anger bubbling up ready to spill from the surface.

"CINDY. GET OUT HERE AND MAKE SOME DINNER." The raspy voice of her stepfather boomed. Phillip smirked and walked out, while Magnar simply walked out without doing anything.

Cindy dragged her feat out the door and down the hall, to the filthy kitchen. Slowly, she started to cook, making sure no bugs or mice were in the pots, pans, and food.

When dinner was finished, she heaoed most if it onto three plates and carried them to the table, where her stepfather, Magnar, and Phillip were already sitting down. Cindy placed their plates in front of them and huslted back to the kitchen to get her small helping. Barely even two bites.

She stared out the window, the view was another thing that hadn't changed. The same brown dirt, the same blue grey sky.

Once dinner was finished, Cindy collected the dishes and washed them.

Later that night, she curled into a ball on her bedroom floor and stared out the window. And as she did every night, she whispered, "Goodnight Mom."

°°°

Cindy awoke to the sound of yelling and arguing. She groaned as she sat up, stretching. She yawned.

"CINDY. GET OUT HERE FOR YOUR PUNISHMENT. AND BRUNG YOUR NEACKLACE." Her stepfather shouted through the house.

Cindy paled as she grabbed the beautiful necklace with a picture of what her mother said was a flower. Red things apparently called petals curled around each other, making a beautiful shape.

It was the only thing Cindy had left of her mother, and she was terrified at the thought that her stepfather wanted it.

She slowly walked out, clutching the necklace in her fisted hand,

When she walked into the dining room, she saw her stepfather holding out his hand and the other one holding a hammer.

Cindy instantly lnew what he was going to do and she clutched the necklace tighter.

"Hand it over." Her stepfather growled.

"No." Cindy said firmly, her feet planted from on the ground.

"Now." He said.

When she refused to hand it over, he lunged for her. It hapoened so fast that he managed to grab the necklace.

He set it down on the table and raised his hammer. When it hit the necklace, Cindy screamed.

"Now, girl. This is your lesson." Her stepfather said, walking into the living room.

Cindy glanced around, making sure nobody was in the room and gathered the broken pieces in her hand.

Then, with tears in her eyes, she ran out the door, away from that house, away from the memories, away from the nightmares.

A/N Hi! Just wanted to let you know that from now on updates are on Mondays and Fridays!