Bare Nerves

Part V

'Don't you ever DARE try to stop me from doing ANYTHING!' Dad's face was lobster red. Veins were popping on his neck and temples. He was practically foaming at the mouth. It was about time someone put this rabid cur down. I didn't loosen my grip on his wrist and, just for a moment, a look of surprise flashed across his face. I couldn't help but smirk, the adrenaline was making me giddy. Dad suddenly grabbed hold of my forearm and pulled my hand away. Then he brought his fist down hard on my back, right between my shoulder blades. Each blow echoed inside my body like deep bass booming from a speaker. To put me in my place, he then pulled his leg back, and kicked me swiftly in the arse. Without a word, he turned away from me and went back to looking for more loose milk teeth in Rina's mouth.
I was undeterred by my father's show of violence. If anything, I was filled with reaffirmed purpose. I left my phone on the kitchen table, and glowered at the back of his head.
'Cunt!' I screamed, put my head down and barrelled into his side, shoving him with all my strength. He lost his balance and staggered to the side, hitting his head on the stile of the kitchen door. It made a comical, hollow sound and I snorted with laughter. Rina looked horrified. Dad was absolutely fuming. He grabbed a hold of me by the shoulders of my jumper and pushed me backwards with great force. My back hit the sink unit and I heard a crack. The wind was completely knocked out of me and I fell to my knees. My diaphragm was in spasm. I couldn't breathe. Groaning sounds that didn't even sound like me squeezed out of my throat. My body struggled desperately to recover its natural breathing rhythm. Rina threw herself to her knees beside me and put her arms around me.
'Rina, go finish your homework.' my dad commanded, before dragging her to her feet by her hair. Rina obeyed, scurrying off down to her room and taking her school bag with her. Dad stood, looking down at me as I tried to take in gulps of air. I could feel his eyes on me as I knelt, with my forehead to the floor, on the dirty, yellow kitchen tiles. After a few minutes, he turned and walked out the front door. I heard the garage door swing open and I pushed myself up, onto my hands and knees, and took some slow, deep breaths. I tried to arch my back a little to test it. My diaphragm went back into spasm.

Dad returned about five minutes later with his rusty, old bike lock chain and a black carry case. He heaved me off the floor and swung me into the chair Rina had been in. He wrapped the bike chain around my torso, pinning my arms to my sides, and clicked it shut.
'Since you're so clearly jealous of the attention I was giving your sister, why don't we have a look at your teeth now?' My heart dropped into my stomach and my skin felt tingly and numb.
'Oh shit. Oh fuck. What now?' I thought, trying in vain to wriggle loose. My dad picked up the carry case and unzipped it.
'I've always hated your crooked front teeth, you know that? Maybe it's time we fixed them?' he reached into the case and took two long, plastic-handled tools from it. Metal files. Before I had a second to process what was about to happen, he was standing behind me forcing my head backwards. He jammed the handle of one file between my teeth to hold my mouth open. He then took the other and began grinding it against my upper front teeth. The gritty, scraping sound reverberated in my skull. I shook my head wildly and screamed. Dad lifted the file handle and brought it down on the top of my head.
My brain went blank for a second from the shock of the hit. I was left feeling very disoriented, with a ringing in my ears. The grim reality of the situation began to dawn on me. Dad was really out of control this time. A wave of dread washed over me, and my heart began to pound heavily. My breathing was barely recovered from my back injury, and was getting even more shallow with terror. The ringing in my ears was so loud now. It was piercingly high-pitched. Like multiple sirens, one after the other.
'Holy shit. That's sirens.' I gasped in disbelief. I turned my head and looked up at my dad. His face turned as pale as the ash in the fireplace. Through the open living room curtains, I could just about see the scene unfold. Two Garda cars arrived at speed, the tires tossing up the gravel of our driveway. The doors swung open and four Gardaí ran towards our front door. My dad hurriedly unlocked me and threw the chain and the case of metal files under the sink.
'Don't you say a fucking word, you little maggot.' he threatened quietly, before going to the door to answer the knocking and calling of the guards. I stood up shakily off the chair, and caught a glimpse of Rina through the window. She was standing on the path outside the house with the Caseys, holding our coats and bags and the photo of mom I kept on my nightstand. I grabbed my phone off the table and darted out the side door, winding myself for the third time, and stumbled up the garden path to my sister. I fell when I got to her, but Dr. Frank caught me before I hit the ground.
'You kids have any relatives you can stay with tonight?' a Garda asked us, as we hugged each other close.
'They can stay in our guest room tonight, Mikey. We'll figure the rest out tomorrow.' Dr. Pauline said with that lovely, motherly smile.
'You guys okay with staying with my sister here?' the Garda asked. We nodded. 'Okay, so. It's getting very late. Come by in the morning and we'll take your statements then. Anything else you need?'
'I recorded the whole thing. It starts as a video but the last bit is probably just audio. It should still be good though.' I announced proudly, handing over my phone.
'Good God, lad. I wish all our victims were as savvy as you. You'll be doing my job in a few years, son! he chuckled. Just then, our dad was brought out in handcuffs. He wasn't screaming and fighting like I thought he'd be. His head was lowered as he was brought closer to Rina and me. When he was a few feet from us, he lifted his head and smirked at my sister.
'You stupid, little brat.' he sneered, enunciating every syllable. Rina hid her face in my shoulder and I hugged her tight. I scowled at my dad as he was swiftly guided into the back seat of one of the Garda cars.
'You kids want pizza? We'll order some for you to share, you must be starving.' Dr. Pauline asked, trying to distract us from our father's smug face going by in the car window. We all began walking toward the Casey house together. 'If you need us for anything at all, don't be afraid to ask.'
'There's also a tv and games console in the guest room. You'll have those to yourself too.' Dr. Frank added with an attempted smile.

Rina held on tight to my arm for the rest of the evening. She forced herself to eat some pizza out of politeness, but was sick shortly after. Neither of us slept that night. Whenever I closed my eyes, Dad's face was there, grinning menacingly. The haunting memories had already done irreparable damage.