𝙄𝙇𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙇𝙊⚠︎𝙉𝘾𝙏 𝘿𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

5th September 2012

"Ilo, get it quick," The girl speaks through the microphone on her headset and watches as her online friend conquers the win, taking them to the 48th and apparently, the second last level.

"Yes!" she squeals, as a 10-year-old gamer, she was quite the geek. But of course, it was possible only through a friend she made through the internet, someone she knew to be Ilo.

"We won Milo, as promised we're gonna reveal each other's names," he reminds and she sighs dramatically.

"Okay okay Sir, you first though!" she tells him loud and clear and hears how he chuckles from his side.

"Kay, I'll write it in Morse Code though," he says and the little girl frowns almost immediately.

.--. .- .-. -.- / .... . . ... ..- -. --.

"Dude, I told you, it's too hard!!" she whines through the microphone as a morse coded word was shown on her screen, she then copy-pastes it to her desktop where she could click on the option to print it out.

"No it isn't, I told you to learn it," he complains back and before she could even respond to his words the monitor in front of her was thrashed repeatedly, pieces of broken glass flying haphazardly before she could even contemplate, some of it flying to pierce through her lips and the girl could only turn away after feeling the pain, immediately getting out of her seat to move away from the scene.

There was her dad, drunk with a baseball bat that belonged to her, he continued to thrash the computer and the CPU with the bat. The speakers were still audible and she teared up when she heard the worried voice of her friend.

"Are you okay Milo? Milo?!" he screams and soon her dad groans, swinging the bat once more, she could hear a few gibberish voices from the other side before the speakers had finally died down.

"I told you to heat up my food didn't I?" he asks his daughter, now pacing towards her with agonizingly slow steps.

"I did, twice even. You were just too lost drinking to notice!" the girl screams with tears falling one after another, followed by a pained sniffle. He grunts before holding her jaw in his hands.

"Respect your elders!" he yells at her face, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes filling her nostrils and she could only cough at the disgust. The man retracts her face again, glaring at her before his fingers went towards her lips.

The innocent girl's eyes widened a fraction as fear overflowed within her.

"No daddy no!" she croaks out as tears once again blur her sight completely. He disregards the girl's voice, clutching on to the piece of glass that stuck out her bottom lip. He pulled it downwards and she could feel the piece of glass cut through her bottom lip.

Her fingernails pinched his upper arms as she begged for him to stop, not being able to scream anymore as the pain in her lips only grew, she gasped for air as his hands pressed on her jaw, painfully slow while pulling out the glass piece and she could feel the blood flowing out immediately.

The iron taste filling her mouth as her father smirked in satisfaction. He threw the piece of glass in his hands somewhere to the side and held her upper arm violently as she shook while crying. He pushed her towards the broken monitor, pieces of plastic and glass sprawled around her study table, some of it piercing through the skin on her soles.

"Clean this mess up, as for talking back to me, you sleep hungry tonight," he growls behind her and the little one's shoulders shook as she kept gasping, as though suffocating to even breathe. He left, slamming the bedroom door arrogantly and she flinched at how the loud noise filtered around her room.

She went towards the piece of paper, an A4 sheet with nothing but a morse code at the very middle of the page. she folds the piece of paper, shoving it inside the pocket of her denim jeans right after. She didn't stop crying that night, not having dinner didn't bother her, she was used to it. What bothered her was that she probably lost a friend, someone that cared about her.

- - -

5th September 2019

"Sure about this right?" the kind boy asks her, the metal pin ready in his fingers yet he waited for her final confirmation.

"Yes, I'm 18 now. I couldn't think of a better present I'd gift myself," the girl says, confidence flowing through her voice. The boy nods, sitting in a better position, before holding the girl's chin, the boy was overly gentle for someone with his looks. Unlike his job, he only had a single piercing, that too on his left ear.

"If you don't mind me asking, why the lip for the first time? You don't even seem to have piercings on your ears," he questions.

"Is it because of this scar?" he asks softly and the girl smiles before looking down at her hands.

"Yes," she answers softly, and the boy nods, not pushing his limits with his queries and getting ready for the job.

"I understand, it won't hurt, just breathe and, stay calm I guess," he informs the girl who nods at his statement.

The boy starts and the familiar pain hits the girl but she remained calm throughout, letting the boy do his job as they sat in close proximity. The needle he held securely in his fingers now pierced well into the girl's lower lip, the pain didn't even last that long which the girl had seen coming beforehand.

The boy retracts after the piercing was made, soon displaying a bunch of lips rings that laid on the little table next to them. The girl looked at the various designs, her eyes stopping at a certain one, sight lingering on it to take in its beauty for a bit longer.

"That one," she tells the boy who nods approvingly.

"Sure thing," he says before removing it from the little display, hands going back to hold the side of her lips before he clips on the ring, tightening it just enough before turning her chair around so she could now face the mirror.

"Thank you, Uhm,"

"Its Renjun,"

TBC