What It Takes

1

I never ran so fast, I heard only my breathing until the sound of low moans and hands thrashing through the air. Panic grew inside my body and my heart raced as fast as I ran. I thought things were already worse until a hand successfully grabbed my shoulder and I got pulled closer to the owner of that hand, I tried to untangle myself out of their grip until a pair of teeth sank deep into my neck. My vision went black and all that was left were my screams for help.

I shot up in bed, my hair stuck to the back of my neck with sweat and my heart pounding in my ears. I calmed myself down and sighed, Another nightmare, I yawned and I checked the time on my phone which was 6:27 AM. I sighed and I rolled out of bed and stretched when I got to my feet. That nightmare felt so real to me, that I brushed off the thought and started to dig into my drawers in search of a clean set of my school uniform. I start to get dressed into it when I found it, A button-up and a skirt but is a bit lengthy but cute in a way. I start to put the tie on and I start to slip on my black thigh-highs and jewelry. I brush through my short black hair and I put on a little bit of eyeliner and perfume. I stretch again, still tired but I continue in search of my school notebooks and papers. I gently set them inside my school bag and I check my phone and I read the numbers off of the screen, 7:01 AM. I slip my phone into one of the pockets on my skirt, I fix my bed quickly and I start to stride down the stairs and toward the door I reach for the handle until I hear footsteps. My dad. I feel like I can't breathe. "You're not gonna say bye to your papa?" My hand freezes where it is and I gulp. I turn around toward my dad and I say, "I'm in a hurry, I'm gonna be late for school." This is a total lie, I don't even wanna look at this fuck. "Is that so? Well then, go on now." I nod uncomfortably and I turn towards the door and I exit, hearing him chuckle when I shut it completely.

I can finally breathe again and I shake off what happened with my dad and I start to walk to school.
Deep in thought, I never really got close to him for what my dad had done to my mom when I was younger. He was a bad drunk growing up. It was difficult for him to hold down a job and he always used what was left of his money on booze rather than food or bills whenever my mom tried to confront him about it, he chose violence over a conversation and beat my mom every time she tried to speak to him about his drinking problem. Over the years, he got his addiction handled but now and then he gets drunk and instead of only beating my mom, he would also beat me. I fought back many times, sometimes I walked away with a victory but sometimes I walked away with a busted lip or bruises. I have scars on my back and my body from when he cut me with anything sharp to get his point across that he was the man of the house and that no one had a right to talk to him about his addiction, I focus on the sound of dirt whenever I stepped on it and I feel the warm morning sun kiss my skin. I've calmed down again and I keep walking to school, It's rather strange that no one is really around but I probably was a bit late to see them. My school starts to come into view and I see several students on the campus, a lot of chattering and noise. I walk up and no one seems to notice me, well obviously I wasn't part of the popular kid category.
I look around in search of my best friend, Glass, she was my childhood friend and we were always so close. She knew everything about me and I knew everything about her. I spot her medium-long midnight blue colored hair in the crowd and I start to walk up to her, and she is also looking for me and she sees me and starts to push past students to get to me with the biggest smile on her face. She sure was the beautiful type, especially with how her hair color choice matched her pale skin. She hugged me and I hugged her back and I take in her smell, "Someone missed me" I say to her and she giggles, "Always." She lets go first and she wraps her arm around me, "God, most of these girls are asking for the attention." When we walk past some girls and they look back and glare at Glass, "Oh sorry, Cupcakes, Didn't mean for you to hear me." She winks at them and they look away and start muttering to each other and giggling, Glass, on the other hand, is the biggest Lesbian you'll ever come across and everyone knows it too. While I'm bisexual but I'm not as brave as Glass to sprout my sexuality as pride though it's not a bad thing either.
We continue walking to class because for the first hour we have the same class, we go up to the second floor and we arrive early and we sit in our seats in the back of the class by the window, class doesn't start for 20 minutes. So we sit down and I stare at the window while Glass talks about how she didn't do the homework, "Rae? You in there?" She taps my desk and I come back to reality and I stare at her in question. "What's up? You never space out this early in the morning unless one thing happened." I nod at her and I finally admit, "I had a nightmare which felt so real and been on my mind and my dad tried to talk to me this morning." Her face goes hard when I mention to my dad, "Your mom took that asshole back?" I nod at her, "We need his money for groceries and bills." She nods in understanding, "And about your nightmare, What was it about?"
I recall the zombie's grip on me and its teeth digging into my neck, "A zombie attacked me in that nightmare and it felt so real, the feeling of its teeth digging into my neck." I rub my neck and wince Glass notices and she stands up and removes my hand from my neck and I feel something warm come down my neck. "Hold your neck and keep it that way!" She says in a worried tone and she runs and grabs a tissue box off of the teacher's desk and grabs the first aid kit, she runs back to my desk and grabs tissues and gives them to me and grabs bandaids, and starts to apply them onto my wound. Then she wraps it, and she sits down with a sigh. "What the fuck is going on?" I shrug, "Rae, you know what this means right?" After she finishes that sentence, students start to flood into the room with chatter and Glass gets up and puts the tissues, trash, and first aid kit away. She comes back to my desk and sits in her chair and turns around to me. "We can talk about this after class," I say to her and she nods. The teacher walks in and starts to talk and everyone goes quiet and returns to their seats. I look out the window, deep in thought and with an aching bad feeling in my gut.