The Unknown

Chapter 6

        The darkness and silence still surrounded me. Every small movement I made, I heard my bones creak internally and the pain continued to return. 

        Paralyzed in pain. I tried to pull the small pieces of glass from the caked dried blood surrounding each piece on my palms. It was too painful to use my broken fingernails. I pulled the shallow ones out using my sore teeth. I gave up, I would have to depend on her to clean me up, I was of no use to myself. The only possible movements were my fingers rustling through my hair, picking and shaking out the a few of her pearls and small shards from the pint glass she threw at me the night before.

        Or what seemed to be like the night before. I lost track of time being in there. The darkness was the same. The damp and cold air and walls were the same. The only thing keeping me company was my heart beats. Constantly beating to remind me it was there. 

        When she pushed me down the steps from the kitchen, my bad doings caused me to end up in my small time out closet. My stomach growled with hunger thinking about the kitchen and food, but I knew I wouldn't be eating in any given time. My fingers searched the floor for the plate, feeling the hard crusted pieces of left over food dried on.

        My thoughts were cut short by the sudden light shining under the door and the sound of her heels clicking down the steps.

        Click.

        Click.

        Click.

        With each foot step coming closer, the faster my heart rate increased to throb inside my chest. It almost hurt to feel it beating against my brittle rib cage. With every breath I took, a crack would come forth from my sternum.

        The lighting in the basement blinded me when she opened the door. Her toothy grin seemed sinister, as if she was hiding snakes behind each one. She just looked at me, one eye was twitching. I knew she hadn't taken her medicine.

        "There needs to be a change around here," she spoke through her teeth, and then extended one of her hands towards me, offering to help me stand up. I raised my hand to accept her welcoming hand, but it was cut short by her tight grip around my wrist. She pulled me out and my weight carried me to stumble into the wall. I kneed myself in the face, causing my eye to throb and a few pieces of glass to jab into my forehead. Her laugh made me cringe. Just her as a whole made me cringe.

        "Come, my dear, you need a bath," her voice was left behind her as she clicked up the stairs. I crawled to the bottom of the steps, using the hand rail to support my weight.

        The tile to the kitchen floor was warmer than the basement's chilling cement. I followed the clicking of the heels up the stairs to the door of her room. Her hand motioned for me to accept me into her room. The soft carpet comforted my feet and tickled my toes. Walking into the bathroom, she pushed from behind my shoulder blades. The sudden unexpected force caused me to fall into the cold-tin-rusted bath tub. She lifted large bottles of liquid from behind the side of the tub. The cap twisted off with ease, causing her devilish grin to return onto her face.

        The scent of ammonia filled my nostrils as she poured the liquid into the tub. The fumes stung my eyes and caused tears to well up inside of them. I shut them to hold back and bit my lip, refusing to wail. The feeling of the liquid to mix with my opened wounds caused a scream to well up from my throat. Before it could escape from behind my quivering lip, my head was soon forced underneath the liquid. I struggled to move and to breathe. All of the air escaped from my lungs in screaming bubbles that went around both sides of my head, passing my ears as they reached the surface. 

        I dug what was left of my cracked brittle nails into the hand that held my head under. Oxygen greeted my lungs as I gasped for the pungent air. Before I could exhale, I was pulled by my hair, out of the tub and dragged into her room. I reached up to the hand clutching a wad of my locks, struggling to get free. My eyes fell to the ground behind me, watching the a mixture of fresh blood and bleach drip and trail behind me. 

        I was thrown down the stairs out of her room. Splinters jabbed into my fingers as I tried to grip part of the stairwell and steps to stop me from falling.

        "You think you can harm me and not get punished for it?" her voice bellowed and echoed around the house. I laid at the bottom of the stairs stunned. The clicking of each closer step caused my heart to race and me to stumble to crawl away, falling down the stairs into the basement and skinning my limbs on the way down. Without hesitation and ignoring all the pain my body was in, I crawled back into the closet, sitting in a corner, clutching the plate to my chest with my knees up.

        Click.

        Click.

        Her heels clicked down the steps, I shut my eyes in fear. I already accepted death and I was ready for the pain to disappear. For good. The tears welled up in my eyes and the scent lingered on my drenched clothing. 

        "You're pathetic! Never run from your problems!" Her screams echoed in the closet, almost deafening. Her voice was followed by blows to the head by her kicking. I fell sideways and covered my ears to try to drown out the negativity and criticism. More blows to the ribs followed through, kicking the air out.

        The next was a sharp pain in my thigh. My muscle clenched around the foreign object before it was removed.

        I screamed out choking on my own saliva. 

        Then the next pain was across my side, stopping at my ribs. I winced and tried to squirm away.

        Then it was dark. 

        Click. 

        Click.

        Click.

        I was left there in a puddle mixed of my own blood and bleach . . .