The Hidden World

1~My Life Known As Hell

My name is Shane, no one told me my last name or if I even had one. My adoptive parents were, how shall we say this, difficult. They never cared about me in a way parents were supposed to. They fed me yes, but never from love. They made me work till I had blisters and cramps everywhere, beat me if I messed up, and would tell me to kill myself because no one would ever love me; not even my birth parents. It a miracle I'm still alive, or want to be alive.

Today is another day, I don't know what day it is but I know that it's a day where the same shit happens. I work, I get beat, I get yelled at. Waking up from the poorly built cot I sleep on, I crack my back and stretch out my body feeling the soreness in my muscles. My adoptive parents are nobles. They work for the King himself. King Vincent VII. Even though my parents may be nobles they treat me like a peasant. They dress me in tattered clothes and make me sleep in a small hut some yards from their own luxurious house. In my hut it's just a cot, a bucket to do my business in, and my beaten up shoes. Nothing else and nothing more. I live involuntary like a dog.

I get up and force my feet to walk. As I make my way to my parents house I struggle to move my body. The beatings from yesterday have sunk in and I now feel like I've been hit by a battering ram. Walking up to the door of my parents house I knock loud enough for them to hear. I know the drill and as soon as I finish knocking I get down on my knees with my head bent down and arms behind my back. This is how I must present myself to my parents every morning. As I look down on the front door mat with the family emblem on it, two swords sticking into a heart, I hear the door swing open. I squeeze my eyes shut embracing myself for what I knew would come next.

"You son of a bitch!" I felt a hard slap rake across my face. I kept my head down as I listened to the words spoken to me. It was normal for me by now. "You're late! What have you been doing huh? Oh yeah, sitting around like the useless piece of shit you are."

I felt my dad's foot come into contact with my open stomach. I grunted in pain and tried my best not to double over to hug myself.

"Get your lazy ass up and look me in the face!"

I quickly stand up ignoring the jolts of pain running through my body and look my father in the face. My face is set with no emotion as I await his next commands.

"Now you shall clean every inch of our house today, go out and chop the big pile of trees for firewood, run to the market to get us food, and do some landscaping. All must be done before noon."

I widened my eyes in shock. That only left me two hours to do all of that since I had woken up late. "Sir! That's only two hours how do you..." I was cut of with a hard slap.

"Don't you dare talk back to me! Get it done or face the consequences you bastard. Get out of my sight. You disgust me."

With that he slammed the door in my face and I stood breathing heavily. I wouldn't cry. I've cried enough from what he's done to me. I know that crying is not taken lightly by my father. I would really not like to recreate that memory ever again.

-

It was my tenth birthday. I hoped that my parents would have me do less work today. I walk up to their house and knock gently. I wait for the door to open and when it does I'm faced with the hard set jaw of my father. Eyes black and showing no emotion. His black hair a wavy mess and his stubble showing. His strong build loomed over me with slight muscles in his arms. He was on the chubbier side but not fat. He looked down at me with complete horror.

"You get down on your knees when you present yourself to me. Now kneel!"

I thought that I didn't have to kneel. It was my tenth birthday after all. "But father it's my birthday."

"Does it look like I give a damn?! Kneel."

I felt tears brimming my eyes. I kneeled slowly and put my head down. I sniffled and felt tears start rushing out of my eyes. I was now full on crying. He didn't care about my tenth birthday.

"You dare cry in front of me? You should know better! Stand up you fool!"

I stood up quickly, sobbing in tears as I stared at my father who was showing no mercy.

"Crying is for the weak and you must learn never to cry! GIVE ME YOUR HAND."

With tears running down my face and chest heaving I held up my left hand, palm up. I watched in horror as he took my hand by the wrist and snapped it in a direction it was never meant to go in. I felt a searing hot pain shoot up my arm and I screamed out in agony.

"Never cry in front of me again. You understand?"

I nodded my head, "Yes, father."

"Now let's go out back for a nice time at the stake."

I held back my tears this time as I walked to the stake. My hand hung limp and I tried my best to ignore the pain. I was tied up with my back facing my father. He had taken my shirt off and I now kneeled. I braced myself with my lip trembling in fear. I felt his face come up to my ear and the stubble rub against the side of my face as he said to me, "Ten lashes for your tenth birthday. My gift to you."

I nodded slowly and braced my self. As soon as I felt the metal claws of the whip reach my back I let out a scream. My back arched as I felt blood drip down my back.

"Take it like a man!" My father screamed at me as he brought the whip down again and again.

I kept my back arched as the sharp metal claws kept on hitting my bare back creating horrifying streams of blood and marking like a demon.

-

As I walked to the market I felt the deep scars on my back tingle at the memory and my wrist burn. I would never cry in front of him again. And that was a promise to myself.