The Consequence of a Dream

Ch. 1

Phoenix pov

"You are going to have your fucking ass beat later! I've had to stay away from alcohol for a whole day because of this! All this stupid nonsense!" He yells before hurling the knife at me.

Knowing better than to move when he throws something at me, or I will get hurt much worse, I stand still and let the knife hurt my arm.

I hear it hit the tile floor before I feel a trickle down my arm and see large gash on my arm and blood, "You better go fucking bandage that before they get here or I will make sure you're not breathing by tonight." He says coldly.

I rush to my room and grab the first aid kit from beneath my bed and rip open an alcohol wipe and quickly wipe my arm clean. Once I do that is when I see how deep and wide the gash is and I'm not so convinced a few gauze pads are going to cut it. But with no other options, I tape gauze pads to my arm.

As I head the doorbell ring I kick the first aid kit beneath my bed and rush to the bathroom and throw the bloody alcohol wipe away. I use the washcloth from my bathtub to wipe the blood off my arm and rush back to my room for a jacket that I'll now need.

I fix my hair before walking out of my room to see Demi, her manager, and Nick Jonas standing in the living room, "And here she is." My dad says putting on a fake smile.

Matching his energy, I put on a fake smile and give a small wave, "Oh my gosh, can I have a hug?" Demi asks.

I walk over to her and she opens her arms which I walk into. I flinch a bit when she wraps her arms around me. It's a honestly second nature. Even if I tell myself not to, I still flinch and go tense. It's why I hate hugs. Because it's then when people have questions to ask me.

The hug ends within a few seconds so I'm hoping it wasn't too noticeable by Demi, but something tells me it was.

As everyone sits down, I sit beside my dad knowing I have to do my part in making us look like a happy family.

"So we'd really like Phoenix to open for Demi and Nick. Demi found Phoenix a little over a few months ago and has been set on her opening for both her and nick. Is there any concerns you have about this?" Phil asks.

"Of course I have concerns, she's going to be gone for four months and I won't get to be there to make sure she's ok. I won't be there to know where she is, what's going on, and I'm not going to be able to see her until she comes home." My dad lies.

His only concern is not getting to beat me everyday for four months. Because who or what is he going to take his anger out on now? Who's going to fetch him his beers, fix his meals, wash his clothes, clean the house, iron his clothes, walk a mile to the grocery store for his groceries, or any of that because he's too drunk to do it himself?

"You'll be able to visit Phoenix whenever you'd like and I'll make sure to take care of her. She'll be with me at all times." Demi says.

"When will she have to leave here?" My dad questions.

"The tour does start next week, but we will be flying out of LAX. So it'd be best if she was able to leave work Demi and Demi help Phoenix get a set list together and have her rehearse with her band. It's a lot different than singing with a track." Phil says.

"Will I at least get to spend one last night with her?" My dad asks.

And beat the living shit out do my daughter before I hand her over to you tomorrow morning? That's the rest of the sentence.

"Of course! We will be flying back tomorrow morning and Phoenix will just stay with Demi." Phil decides.

I honestly zone out of the conversation at that point. The fact I've just had to hear that I'll be staying with my dad tonight is enough of a disappointment for me to just tune out of it. It's not until everyone stands up when I snap into reality.

"Phoenix how about you show them your room while I start dinner?" My dad asks.

You mean warm up the dinner I made last night and take credit for?

"Yes sir." I say before leading 3 people down the hallway and to my bedroom.

I open my bedroom door and flip the light switch on and lead the way in. The room is not me at all, but my dad could careless so I'm stuck with it.

"This is where you film all your covers right?" Demi asks.

"Yeah, at the keyboard right there." I say pointing at the keyboard pushed in the corner of the room by my window.

"You don't really strike me as the person to like the color pink." Nick says.

I turn my head to him to see him looking at the pink walls, pink bed, light pink bookshelf, light pink curtains, and just a lot of pink.

The feeling of anxiety and discomfort hits me hard as I realize I've got to think of a lie quickly. Because he's right, I don't like pink.

"Yeah, everything in it I've had for 14 years just about. I don't like to make a lot of changes to it. My mom decorated it all and it's kinda like the only thing I really have to like remember her." I say.

"What happened?" Nick asks.

"She died." I say before walking to my keyboard and turning it off.

Not sure how long that's been on for, but hopefully not too long.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry." Nick apologizes.

I turn my head to him to see Demi giving a 'nice going look' and Phil the 'you had to ask look.' Nick looks sympathetic about the question.

"Oh, no it's fine. I mean I guess. It doesn't really make me sad to think about. I never knew her, she died when she had me so I never knew her. I just keep my room like this since she did it and it's all I have really. Its not sad or anything." I say.

Lies, I cry about it all the time. I cry about it almost every night. If I had a mom, maybe my dad wouldn't be the way he is. Maybe I wouldn't have the life I have. Maybe I'd have a better life. But I'll never know. I don't have a mom here to know how things would be. I just have an abusive, alcoholic, drug addicted, father. That's it.

"There's a lot of red on the carpet." Demi says.

I look at where she's looking and see a lot of blood spatter on the carpet. Something that happens often, I just haven't been able to get the resolve carpet cleaner to it yet.

"I busted a pen there actually. That was a mess too. I didn't realize how hard red pen ink is to get off of you until then. It was quite the challenge." I lie.

Pen ink is a close enough color to blood right? Please tell me that's true. Because now I'm starting to panic. There's too much I've already down wrong. I've flinched when Demi hugged me. I couldn't come up with two good enough lies as a cover up, my dad is going to really beat me.

If I don't end up in a hospital, it'll be a miracle. It really will. If I'm able to move after tonight, I will be shocked to say the least. Because my dads only goal tonight, will to make sure I can't move.

*time skip*

As expected as soon as everyone leaves my dad turns to me angrily before shoving me into the kitchen counter. My head hits it full force and I hear the ringing in my ears. My vision goes blurred and the pain felt in my head is intense.

I feel a few hard blows to my ribs and face before the ringing I hear stops and everything goes black. I no longer feel, hear, see, nothing.