Shattered

Chapter 2

I woke up groggy, in the same place I was left. My hand was covered in blood; must be another nose bleed I thought. I sighed and tried to pull myself up so I could get to my bathroom. I struggled at first, but mannaged to shuffle my feet to the sink and examined my face. Eyes bruised and mouth swollen, I cleaned up the dried blood from my nose.

"What gives him the right?"

I huffed under my breath and went out of my room and down the hall to the kitchen. I was really hungry considering the fact that I hadn't eaten since noon yesterday and it was now 2:00 in the afternoon the next day.
Damn. How hard did he hit me? I shrugged it off and got myself a turkey sandwich. I warmed the meat and put mayonnaise on my bread. Waiting, for what seemed like forever, was the worst part of life. However there was no absolute way around it. No matter how impatient you were, you always had to wait for something. I've been waiting my whole life for someone or something to give me the courage to tell someone about my father and to get the help I need, the protection I need. But hey, you can only dream up the way you wish your reality was.

I finished putting my sandwich together and ran to my room. Just as I shut my door I heard a knock at the front door. I slowly walked to it and peaked out of he peephole. It was someone from the mail company. I opened the door...

"Ma'am, I have a package for George Hemlock."
I tensed, "Oh yes... he said he was expecting something. I'll just take this and let him know it came."
"Okay. just sign here for me."

I paused, he can't know that I'm here. If he knows then dad will find out that I went outside the house. This can't happen.

As I grabbed the little touch pad to scribble my name down, I panicked. I wrote Christi Hemlock in big, loopy, cursive letters; just like she used to. I gave the tablet back to him and quickly shut the door avoiding his goodbye. I started hyperventilating. What did I just do? Now I'm going to be in huge trouble. I'll just leave it on the step. Yeah. He'll see it when he gets home, hopefully. If he doesn't trip over his own feet while trying to find his keys. I peek out of the tiny hole again to see if the coast is clear, no one in sight. I hurriedly open the door and set the package down on the step. Locking the door after I was done was the easiest part. Just as if a sense of relief flushed throughout my entire body, I ran back up stairs.

I finished my sandwich and tried to finish my sketch before I noticed I was nodding in and out of sleep. I hadn't noticed the time. Even though it was 6:00, it was quite early to be going to bed. I didn't care at this point. I changed into my polar bear pajamas and went to brush my teeth. I checked myself for bruises and cuts that I could have missed, good thing I didn't see any. Ever since the first time he's been that violent with me, I've gotten pretty used to examining thoroughly for things of that sort. After I gave my hair one last stroke with my brush, I ran and jumped into bed. I was nodding for a good 20 minutes. And right before I fell completely asleep I heard him scream my name with fury in his voice. I didn't care, sleep was the only good thing of me right now..... Or at least that's what I thought.