Hearts Out |H.S|

Chapter 12

A/N: i'm leaving a (*) for when you can play the video that's on multimedia! Thank you for your patience and for reading!!

TW: domestic abuse, grief

MADELYN'S POV

She used the belt this time.

She always used the belt when her anger was too hard to control, even for herself. Just like any other first day of September, my body had surrendered to her blows, with tears in her eyes and slurred words coming out of her mouth with each ragged, alcoholized breath. Those sounds drowning my pleads and sobs.

For the last week, I'd been coming back home with stingy eyes and a big weight in my chest, dreading for this day to come. But no one had the great power of time control, so eventually, it did.

The anniversary of my parents' death.

September 1st.

The day I hated the most.

Not only because it reminded me of two beautiful souls who were no longer with me. Not only because it reminded me that I would spend the rest of my life alone. Not only because of the thought that my parents would never see me grow into the woman that I was becoming today.

But because it was the one day of the year where I would receive the worst possible physical pain.

As I watched my wounded back and sides through the mirror, I sucked in a sharp breath. The pain was bearable, but I knew the minute I landed my fingers on them it would hurt like a bitch. I didn't have any medical supplies to treat wounds in my apartment, and money was pretty tight, so I guess I'd have to steal some from the hospital. People did it all the time, anyway. I wasn't concerned about being caught. I could always dress the real reason by saying it's for a patient.

My aunt had come over on my day off this morning, drunk and calm. She'd told me it was my fault that her little brother was gone, like every other year. I'd asked her to go home, saying that this date was hard for both of us, like every other year. She'd gotten mad, like every other year. She'd taken her belt out of the loops of her jeans, like every other year. And the rest... just had happened, like every other year.

Hours later, I was looking at my broken skin, the dry blood surrounding every inflamed cut. My eyes were puffed from all the crying and my throat felt too tight to even let whines out. I could just go to the police station and put a restraining order against her, sue her, ruin her life, give her what she deserves. Yet, I was too scared to do something like that. She had threatened me multiple times ever since I was sixteen years old. She would kill me if I ever tried anything against her. And I was all by myself, didn't have the money to afford an attorney, didn't have neighbors to testify, didn't have friends to back me up.

I was screwed.

A loud, rumbling sound made my windows tremble and I froze, glancing at the window through the mirror, my blood running cold and panic reigning every nerve of my body. The lights flickered for a second before turning off, enveloping me in total darkness, the sound of heavy rain being my only company.

Shaking furiously, I made my way to my couch, flinching as another lightning bolt struck mercilessly around the room, followed by another loud growl, and then I sat down, hugging my knees against my chest. I didn't care the cushions were getting stained with my blood, much less the friction that the material was doing against my sensitive flesh. I was already a pro at ignoring pain, and now I just wanted the storm to stop.

Sitting in nothing but my bra and my flannel pajama pants, I pressed my forehead to my knees, murmuring the tune of the only song that managed to calm me down.