Here;

Chapter three

The sound of glass breaking brought me back to reality of what was happening.

We were standing in the dining room.

Coralie has thrown a vase at my dad and it shattered.

They screamed back and forth at eachother.

I silently prayed that this would lead to a divorce.

I wanted nothing more but for them to get divorced.

I wanted Coralie out of my life.

"Anna?" My dad said.

"Coralie beats me when you're gone," I said in a whisper so soft that if a pin dropped, you wouldn't be able to hear my voice.

"What?" Dad asked, stunned.

"Proof?" Coralie laughed as if this was some kind of a joke.

I pulled my shirt up to reveal my stomach that was covered in bruises. I walked to the sink and wetted a paper towel and ran it across my cheek to remove my makeup and reveal the bruise she had left from the other night. I rolled up my sleeves to show my arms which were covered in bruises and one single cut mark.

Yes. She had cut me with a knife.

"Coralie," my father said in a dangerous tone. "What have you done to my daughter?

"I DIDN'T DO THAT!" She protested in a high pitched voice. "She probably got that from brats at the school. You do know your daughter gets bullied, right?"

My dad turned to me. "You lied?"

"No, dad, please believe me. Coralie did this. I-I don't get bullied at school," I choked at the last words.

"Then why don't you ever bring home any friends? Because you have none. And so that must mean you get bullied," Coralie said in a bitter tone.

"I do not," I said and turned away. I walked up the stairs.

The yelling rose back up.

——
12:45 A.M.

They stopped fighting.

The only yells were the yells of Coralie moaning my fathers name.

This house was big.

But not big enough to block the disturbing noise.

I rolled my eyes and flinched in disgust as I reached for my earbuds. I plugged them into my phone and played music to block out Coralie and my father.

Soon enough, sleep took over me.

I woke up the next morning still tired.

My phone alarm was going off and it was annoying. All I wanted to do was skip school and sleep. But my English grade is slipping and I need to attend school. I should probably stay after and get help, but I just don't have the motivation to and I don't know what Coralie would do if she noticed I was gone longer than usual.

I rolled out of my bed and slowly made my way to my bathroom.

I took a quick shower and got out. I put on the outfit I had picked out the night before-a casual longsleeve black flowy dress that stopped at my knees. I had a cream colored cardigan I threw on over and a long chained necklace that had a golden feather that hung at the bottom.

I matched a pair of dark brown riding boots and called it an outfit.

I went back to my bathroom and pulled my long dark blonde hair back into a neat pony and I losely curled the ends. I put on a little B.B. cream and a lot of concealer in attempt to cover the bruise. I finished with mascara and did my brows and put on a light lipgloss.

I stood back away from the huge mirror and I looked back at myself.

I looked decent.

I covered the bruise decently.

I covered the tiredness decently.

I covered every hurt and pain decently.