I need to go away

“Don’t let it happen again” he stated as he snatched his suit from my fingers before getting up off the sofa and heading back upstairs, probably to get ready for his and Natalie’s grand outing tonight. Thankfully he left, leaving me alone with no further injuries. My head was throbbing and my vision was ever so slightly blurry from where I had hit my head earlier, but I know that if I complained about it I would just get a repeat of earlier, so I just took a deep breath of air to help clear my foggy head and turned around to start fixing up a sandwich for Damon.

Later that night, once Mr and Mrs Leften had left for their gala, I lay in bed, staring at an old photo I had of my parents and myself, the only thing I have managed to hide all these years from these people. It was of the three of us in the back garden of our house, me in my mum’s arms and my dad holding the both of us in his. I don’t think it was long after this photo was taken that they disappeared.

Thanks to a loose floorboard in my room I had managed to hide the photo, plus a few other things, from the Leftens. If it wasn’t for this photo, I probably would have completely forgotten what my parents looked like due to it being the only thing I had of theirs.

I sighed as I took in our smiling and cheerful faces, even though I didn’t remember much about them I still knew that having them as my parents made me the luckiest kid in the world. They were so kind and thoughtful, and happiness just radiated from them.

A lone tear escaped my eye and ran down my cheek as my brain reminisced though the amazing memories I held with them. When I suddenly heard my bedroom door start to creek open I startled, I had been so caught up in the memory of my parents that the noise of the door shocked me.

“H-hello?” I whispered, asking the question but not really wanting to get an answer.

“Be quiet freak” I heard Damon hiss in the darkness of my room and my heart rate suddenly skyrocketed. I was immediately on guard and started to slightly whimper as soon as I heard the first syllables leave his lips. What was he doing in here? The Leftens almost never come in here, they say that the ugly should remain behind closed doors and should only come out when told to. Whenever I questioned it as a child Natalie always told me that they were doing the world a favour by shutting me away, after all who would want to look at a face like mine all day.

“I said be quiet” he whispered and unexpectedly appeared in my line of vision, with me lying on my bed and him leaning over me. It was dark inside my room, with no window to even offer the glow of the moon, but I could still tell from the sneer on Damon’s face that he wasn’t here to get me to make him a midnight snack.

I flinched at his sudden proximity and my heart started to go a mile a minute, whatever he wanted from me I knew it wasn’t good. I tried to sit up and get him out of my personal space but he just smacked me across the face before gripping onto my wrists, forcing me back down onto the mattress. I whimpered and squeezed my eyes shut at the pain as he laughed. My face still hadn’t completely healed from earlier so that hit sent stars into my vision and my cheekbone to throb painfully.

“Stay still bitch or I’ll really give you something to cry over” he growled “I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long” he whispered as he breathed in my scent from the crook of my neck. He was so close I could feel his breath on my face and I gagged as I got a strong whiff of alcohol. Oh god please no, Damon was a mean drunk, just like his father.

I quickly flung my legs in the air, trying to get enough momentum to get him to release his hold on my arms but all I managed to do was twist my elbow in the wrong direction and I let out a scream of pain as I heard it pop out of its socket.

“I said stay still” he growled as he quickly elbowed me in the stomach, effectively winding me and making it nearly impossible for me to breath. Not good, not good at all. The blow rendered me breathless and I stilled my efforts of escape, my whole focus now on just making sure I got enough air into my lungs to not have a panic attack.

“There, now you be a good little girl and I won’t have to tell my father about you not listening to me okay?” He smirked. Even in the dark I could tell that he was enjoying this, enjoying hurting me and making me cry out in pain. Like father like son.

“Now do as I say and I promise I won’t hurt you anymore” he whispered in my ear, still keeping his full body weight on top of me.

Apparently I didn’t respond quick enough for him because he growled and elbowed me in the ribs again.

I cried out from the pain, feeling my ribs re-break from the impact, but he ignored my cry and continued to hold me wrists down, repeating his question.

I nodded my head, tears leaking out of my eyes, just wanting the pain to stop.

“Good little girl” he sneered as I felt him move both of my hands into one of his, my elbow screaming in protest at being moved but I bit back my cry, not wanting to anger him anymore than he already was. With one hand he held both of mine down securely with all of his weight whilst the other found its way to the hem of my shirt and started to grip and paw at my skin around my hips and stomach...I need to stop this, I needed to get away from him and away from this place.

With all my strength and will power I could muster I pushed upwards, succeeding in head butting him in the nose and I smiled slightly when I heard a crunch.

“Ahh what the hell! You freak...you broke my nose!” He screamed as he let go of my arms and sat up to cradle his bloody nose in his hands, swaying from side to side slightly due to the high levels of alcohol that were still in his system.

I didn’t wait another second, worried that if I hesitated even slightly he would regain his composure. As quick as I could I slipped out from under him and kicked him in the back, shoving his blood covered face into my lumpy old mattress before turning on my heel and making a run for it.

“Crap, get back here you bitch!” Damon screamed at me as I sprinted as fast as I could out of my room, down the stairs taking them two at a time and out the front door, thanking whoever was out there that it wasn’t locked. I knew where the keys were, I just knew I didn’t have time to get them as I could hear Damon stumbling after me not to far behind.

“I’m going to get you bitch” he screamed as he chased after me down the street, “I’m going to get you and when I do you are going to be so sorry you did that”.