Written In These Scars

Prologue

My heavy breathing filled the small, cramped space. I was trying to muffle it with my fist, but it didn't seem to be working. I had my body crammed into the small corner of my closet. I was trying to make myself invisible. I didn't want her to find me, she wasn't allowed to find me. If she found me, I'd probably die. This was no way to leave the only life I have ever come to know.

Everything was quiet and dark, there wasn't a shed of light coming from anywhere or the sound of a foot step echoing through the hallway just outside my bedroom door. I didn't dare get up and try to run, I was afraid. She had always been good at being extremely quiet. She was always able to sneak up on you and give you a good scare. That is why I didn't want to come out of my closet. I knew what she was like.

My back was starting to ache from being hunched over, my legs were becoming sore. My entire body was screaming to be put into a new position, but I didn't dare move. One accidental push or bump into something and I'd be dead. Just then, I heard something. My aching body froze up. The sound of a door being opened in the hall echoed in my ears. She was getting closer. I heard the sound of another door opening, then silence. She wasn't closing the doors. She didn't want me to know if she was in the hall or in the room she was searching. Another door opened, there was only one room left to check. This game of cat and mouse was about to expire.

I had two options at this point, since I knew where she was I could make a break for it and hide under my bed. Or I could stay curled up in the dark recesses of my closet and pray that she makes it quick. I didn't want to go out as a coward. I literally had a second or maybe less to make up my mind before she came into my room. My body ended up making that decision for me. I uncurled myself as quickly and quietly as possible. I crawled to the door of my closet and silently pushed it open a crack. I stuck my eye to the crack and didn't see her near the door or in my room. I took a deep breath and pushed the door the rest of the way open.

I slid and crawled across my carpeted floor until I got to my bed. On the way over, I saw her backing out of the guest bedroom across the hallway. I quickly slid my body under my bed and went absolutely still. I saw my bedroom door get pushed open and a pair of bare feet step onto the carpet. I watched as they moved around the room with accurate and quiet steps. She paused in front of the closet, bending down to see if I was still in there. I felt the blood drain from my face when I saw what she was carrying with her. I reached my hand up to cover my mouth, to keep the scream inside. She had a firm grip on a hunting knife that was dripping onto my white carpet.

I felt tears form in my eyes, some escaping and pooling on my hand. She stood back up and walked closer to the bed. I squeezed my eyes shut as fear racked through my body. Every part of me was praying she didn't look underneath. She hesitated for a brief moment, before a sound came from downstairs. She immediately turned and rushed out of the room. But, I celebrated too quickly. I let my hand drift off my face and my elbow connected with the bed frame with a loud thud. I yelped out in pain, grasping my elbow. I am done for.

I tried to make an escape, scooting myself out from under my bed. I thought I could reach the window and fall the two stories to the ground below. But, she caught me. She snuck up on me and grasped my leg. I grasped at the ground trying to crawl away.

"Oh, Brooklyn." She tisked. "You know, I would have found you eventually."

I just looked up at her in horror. I wanted her to get it over with. Just kill me already.

"Because I always find who I am looking for." She sneered. "Always."

She lifted up the knife over her head, her eyes looked crazy. Before she could bring it down on her target, I raised my free leg up and smacked her in the face with my foot with all the force I could muster. She yelped and dropped the knife beside her. I wiggled free of her grasp and pursued the window again.

She recovered fast because I felt a sharp sting go through my leg. I cried out in pain, but didn't stop trying to escape out the window. The pain was getting to me, I was feeling light headed. I reached my hand up to the window sill when the knife went right through my hand.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" She yelled. She ripped the knife out of my hand, I screamed from intense pain. I was now bleeding from two spots, I clutched my hand to my chest to lessen the blood loss. "I highly advise that you do not try and escape again."

My vision was starting to blur over with black spots. The blood loss from my leg and hand were beginning to take its toll on my body. She pinned me down to the floor, on my back so I could see her face again. The knife was now drenched in my blood and someone else's. I hated to think about the person's blood, who I knew for a fact, was lying dead downstairs somewhere.

"Please," I beg through the strain in my voice. "Don't do this."

She quickly puts the blade to my throat, silencing me. "But I have too. It's for your own good."

"Please." I whisper. I knew no amount of begging or pleading would get me anywhere. I feel the sticky knife lift off my throat. I suck in a deep breath because it may be my last.

"Don't you understand, Brookie?" She says the nickname she gave me like it's supposed to make everything okay. The knife is now aimed right above my face, my vision makes it hard for me see at exactly what part it is aimed towards. My eyes? My mouth? My forehead? "None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me. But you didn't. You disobeyed me. You betrayed your own mother. And now, you must be punished."

Her eyes go completely blank. Her expression is unreadable as I stare, wide eyed at the knife trying to focus on it. The last thing that I remember happening is I turned my face to shield her actual target only to feel it slice right into my cheek. The cut was deep and sharp. My vision began to slowly fade away. The last thing I heard was the sound of multiple feet stomping up the stairs and my mother yelling my name. Then everything went black.