Someone? Anyone?

I'm Sorry!

"Stop crying like a little bitch!"
His cheek stung with the harsh slap it was met with. Like always his hands were pinned together in front of him as his father held them together with one hand.

Dakota dreamed of the day that he would be bigger than his father but he was small even for 15.
What if he was never big enough to fight back?
His father's second hand grabbed his face as he yelled at him.
"You think you can just brake my stuff and nothing's going to happen? Hmm?"
"I-it was a-an accid-dent. I- I- I did-didn't mean t-to."
"Shut up! Why do you talk like that? If your going to talk do it like a man or shut up! I ain't gonna have a son that talks like a pussy! It's bad enough that you destroy everything you touch!"

His father let him go with a harsh shove that sent him tumbling backwards.
He hit the back of his legs on the coffee table and fell back over it sending the contents of the table scattering. It only enraged his father further.
"What the frick is wrong with you?"
"I- i- I'm sorry! I- I'll c-clean it up! Please! I'll clean it up!"
"No you won't!"
He backhanded his son and then grabbed him by the collar.
"Because you screw up everything you fricken touch! How could you possibly clean something up if all you ever do is make things worse? Hmm? How are you going to do that?"

Dakota tried to loosen his shirt from his father's hands but he couldn't. He wasn't big enough. He wasn't strong enough. It was just another thing he could add the list of things he wasn't good enough to do.
The drunk became even angrier when the boy didn't answer his question.
"Answer me damn it!"
He slammed his son's head against the coffee table he had fallen across earlier.
Dakota's vision swam and he felt his body go limp for a moment. When he regained control of his muscles he felt weak. Even more so then before.
"No. You can't clean it up. You'll only make it worse. So you can wait here until that whore mother of yours gets home and tell her to clean it up."
His father let go of his shirt and he slumped over onto his side not having the strength to stand or the energy to attempt it.

He lost track of how long he lay there on the floor.
Minutes felt like seconds but seconds felt like hours. His vision had yet to clear. He wasn't sure if it was from hitting his head or the tears that filled his eyes.

He felt trapped in this life.
Trapped in this house.
Trapped with that man.
The man who should have been a father to him.
Should have been protecting him but instead hurt him in ways no one else ever had.

He was still laying on the floor when his mother got home. She quickly set the groceries in a chair by the door and all but sprinted to her son.
"Dakota? Look at me baby. Oh my gosh! Dakota? Dakota are you alright?"
No he wasn't alright.
He was all wrong.
Everything about him was wrong.
He was too small.
Too weak.
Too clumsy.
Too stupid
He couldn't talk right.
He couldn't do anything right.

"Dakota? Sweetheart please talk to me. Baby?"
Now he was making his mother cry.
He tried to respond. I'm ok mom.
But he couldn't form words.
He ended up making a pained mowning sound that probably didn't do to much to reassure his mom.
She scooped his head up into her lap and gently stroked his hair trying to sooth him as she wept quietly.
He slowly faded from the waking world into a dreamless black where he felt no pain or guilt and his father's words stopped ringing in his ears.
He only heard a gentle and mournful
"I'm so sorry sweetheart."

****

Kally held his head in her lap and ran her fingers through his beautiful hair. She couldn't stop the tears from cascading down her face.
"I'm so sorry baby. I'm so sorry."
She gingerly wiped tears from his sleeping face.
The she leaned down and kissed his cheek.
This was all her fault.
She should have left 15 years ago.
She should have seen the signs earlier before her boyfriend cut off all escapes. She should have run way with her baby boy back when he was still a baby. But she hadn't because she had been scared. And now she was still scared. Always afraid. Too afraid to stop him.
"I shouldn't have left you alone with him. I'm so sorry sweetheart. This is all my fault. I love you baby. I'm so sorry."
She looked over the room and took in the mess that had been made. She should clean it up before Jason came back out.
She gently lowered Dakota's head back to the floor, ran a hand through his hair one more time, and then went about straightening things back out.