Dyani

Part 15

Some people might say that every child, at one point, deserves a good beating. I was sure however they didn’t mean like that. Most of the pain was concentrated on my back, as I had curled up like a ball covering myself with my blanket. Of course that didn’t soften the blows. After a few minutes they had suddenly stopped and I heard dad rush off the stairs to the bathroom. I clearly heard him emptying his stomach.

‘Karma’s a bitch,’ I sighed silently.

He didn’t come back up and I was too afraid to run away again. Especially because I didn’t really have any place to go.

Way past four in the morning I finally fell asleep, only to be woken up at six thirty. I needed to get ready for school. I got dressed quickly and took my makeup with me to the shower. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw nothing of my nightly beating. I pulled up my shirt, there was a large circular bruise from the previous afternoon. On my sides I saw fresh bruises appearing. I didn’t dare touch any of them, mostly because I was sore even without touching them. I put on some simple makeup, to hide how tired I looked. Even though I just wanted to leave as soon as possible, I couldn’t. Dad would leave first, otherwise he’d be late for work. Thijn would have to be at school at eight fifteen, I had to bring him there. Usually that would have been a task my mother would address, but that was over. The school was fifteen minutes from our house, with two large busy roads. We left a little before eight, together on my bike and got there just in time.

‘We’ll leave a little earlier tomorrow. Gotta go now, I have school too!’ I said, giving Thijn his lunch.

He had to eat his lunch at school from now on, we just hadn’t the time to properly lunch at home together. I kissed him on the forehead and he went inside. Now I was battling the clock, because it was eight fifteen and my classes would start at eight thirty, leaving me with fifteen minutes to cycle a road that usually took twenty minutes.

As I had predicted I arrived at school, five minutes late. Quickly I got a note at the reception and ran upstairs where my first class would be. I ran into my physics class and our teacher, mr. Taylor, smiled at me.

‘Have you got a pass, dear?’ he asked.

He was a fun teacher, physics wasn’t my strong point, but he really tried to make learning fun.

‘I’m sorry for being late, sir. I had to bring my little brother to school,’ I muttered at his desk, handing him the paper.

‘Don’t worry about it, take a seat, we have just started reading chapter eight.’

‘Thank you sir,’ I muttered and took my seat by Gabriella.

She immediately stroked my back, to comfort me about my mother passing, but she didn’t realise how much that hurt me.I flinched. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell her about my father. I was ashamed, it felt like it was all my own fault. If only I hadn’t cried in the car.

‘Are you okay?’ Gabriella whispered, as she saw my teary eyes.

I knew she asked because of my mother, but I really wanted her to stop rubbing my bruises.

‘It’s fine, maybe you should stop rubbing my back, I’m afraid I’ll start crying.’

She immediately stopped rubbing my back and looked at me with big guilt ridden eyes. I wanted to whisper to her that it wasn’t her fault, Mr. Taylor started to talk about the chapter and explaining some things that weren’t in the books. I wasn’t really paying attention, thinking of my mother and how the task of caring for my brother, had fallen onto me.

‘Dyani?’ I heard Mr. Taylor say.

‘Yes sir?’ my voice sounded hoarse.

‘Are you paying attention?’ he asked.

‘I’m so sorry sir. I’m not feeling so well,’ I whispered.

‘Would you like to go see a nurse?’

I shook my head, that wasn’t necessary.

‘Try to keep up and I would like to see you after class for a moment,’ he said.

Some of the more childish boys started to laugh and some made fun of me. Mr. Taylor seemed to want to say something, but Gabriella got to her feet and looked at them angry.

‘You don’t even know what’s going to happen or what will be spoken off, so just shut up!’ she yelled.

‘That will be quite enough,’ mr. Taylor said, clearly suppressing a chuckle.

Gabriella sat down and the class continued. When the bell rang, all my classmates left. Gabriella asked if she had to wait for me, but I said she could go to her next class. I would only be a moment.

‘Dyani, the reason I asked you to stay behind...’

‘..is because I wasn’t paying attention,’ I finished his sentence.

‘No. Please let me finish my sentence. It’s because the dean told us about your mother passing. I wanted to pass on my deepest condolences and if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where my office is,’ he said with a nice smile.

‘Thank you mr. Taylor.’ I whispered, touched by his words.

He put his hand on my back to comfort me, smiling sadly. I flinched and he noticed. Of course he would notice, he could feel my back try to get away from his hand.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked.

I could hear the genuine care and worry in his voice.

‘Yes sir, I fell earlier. It’s just some bruising..’ I mumbled, not looking at his face.

I hated lying, but I didn’t feel comfortable talking about my father with my teacher. I wasn’t sure he believed my lie.

‘Be safe,’ he said, sitting at his desk. The next classes would be there soon, so I took my bag, said goodbye and left the room. The rest of my classes that day went by slowly. After school I had to hurry myself to Thijn’s school. Again I only had fifteen minutes to get there. I took him to the forest, we didn’t have to be home until five.

‘Why are we going to the forest? Do you have a surprise?’ Thijn asked excited.

‘No, why would you think that?’

‘Last time mommy took me here she had all the flowers blooming!’ he said excited.

‘That wasn’t mommy Thijn, that’s just the seasons. It’s spring now, we’ll see flowers again today.’

Thijn just gave a loud cheer, not really paying attention to what I was saying. I locked my bike on the edge, like last time and we walked towards the same clearing I had been before. Unlike I predicted, there were hardly any flowers, just some daffodils and dandelions.

‘Will you make the flowers appear?’ Thijn asked, looking at me wide eyed.

‘I can’t sweetheart. No one can.’

‘Mommy could do it!’ he yelled, he was angry at me.

‘Let’s go home,’ I sighed.

Please let me know what you think? I love comments!

Dedicated to a friend I hardly talk to at the moment.. Damn schooll -_-