Absolute

4

Dad knocked on my door later that night. He seemed to have something on his mind as he opened the door without my invitation, but whatever it was that he had come for faded from his focus as the door hit the bookcase with a soft thud. He tried again with the same result.

I wasn't sleeping at that point, but I didn't move to slide the bookcase out of the way. I simply stared at the door.

"Sang? What's the meaning of this?" His voice was demanding.

Somewhere in the hallway, Marie's voice murmured a few short words and then my father was moving the bookcase out of the way the best he could until he could slip into the room. He looked at me with a bit of reproach.

"Sang?"

I blinked at him. He wasn't much better than my mom but at least I knew there was no hot stove nearby this time. I couldn't look him in the face, my eyes slid away from him and fell onto the bookcase full of information I didn't know why I needed if I was just going to die in this house.

"Sang..."

"You won't punish me anymore," I said, my voice a bit hoarse. I cleared my throat and met his shocked expression. Before he could respond I was speaking again, having thought a lot about this. "I understand that she is crazy, for whatever reason. You have no such excuse to hide by. This is not a life," I made a wide motion with my good hand around the room, "I know it."

My father took another step into the room, looking a little angry at my chosen words.

"Now wait here just a minute," he started.

"No," I said, I could hear my voice take on a serene quality as I changed my focus to the window, "you listen to me."

"I am tired of existing like this. Why am I not allowed outside, Dad?" I shot at him, knowing that I was walking into something that I couldn't turn around in.

His mouth popped open but I was already there, shaking with the anger and anxiety disorder I was sure I'd developed thanks to him and his wife. I held up my wrapped up hand.

"Would you like to see what my own mother has done to me this time?"

He paled at that, at the wrappings around my hand. "Sang, you need to-"

"No."

I climbed out of my bed, unwrapping the hand. "I need medical attention for this and you know it," I said, spitting as my hand continued to shake as the air was exposed to the burnt flesh. I ignored the continuous pain and watched him, "and I happen to know that a doctor is not an option for me, is it?"

I took a step forward and he took a step backwards, to my surprise. I didn't falter though.

"I don't know why," I said, admitting the biggest flaw in all of my logic, "but I know for facts that the neighbor I met today, the one with a pool in his backyard, isn't supposed to know I exist. Nobody is, right?"

The man had never looked so small to me as he gaped. I knew some of his bravado came simply because he was older, in a position of power. But what power beyond hurting me and controlling me did he truly have? I could take a hit, that was obvious.

But could he?

"I will not tell anyone what happens in this house," I said, "but it is not my prison anymore."

Dad grunted, "you don't understand what you're messing with."

"Neither do you," I countered.

The ominous threat hit home and he snarled, "this is bigger than you or I, Sang. If you get caught, if anyone finds out..."