at the edge of the cliff || ✔

chapter seven: punches

at the edge of the cliff

chapter seven: punches

"Isabella Shay Daniels! Get your ass in here!" I heard a voice scream from in the kitchen. I roll my eyes and walk down the hall into the kitchen. My stepmom stood by the sink, pointing inside. I walk over there and look in there to see a couple plates. A couple. Meaning only two.

"What?" I ask looking up at her. She raises her hand to slap me and I calmly take a step back before she could. She glares at me for a second.

"We give you a place to live and you can't even do a few dishes?" she yells. I lean my hip against the counter and cross my arms giving her the best 'im bored. Are you done yet?' look. "And where the fuck have you been all night, huh?" she asks. I hear the front door slam and for a split second she looks scared. Scared of him. What he will do. I feel my own heart beat speeds up the tiniest bit and I prepare for what might happen. What will happen. "Answer my question, bitch." she say gritting her teeth bring my attention back to her.

"I was at a party." I shrug switching the foot I was leaning on. Stay calm Shay. Don't let her get you riled up. Stay calm, cool, amd collected.

"Oh right. Your a slut." She laughs. "How many guys did you sleep with this time? Maybe you broke your own record." she sneers I take a step towards her, almost losing, but she remains in the same spot, her eyes only faltering slightly. I smirk knowing that she is even the least bit intimidated by me.

"You wanna call someone a slut? Hmm do need a reminder of what happened here just a couple weekends ago?" I smirk at her knowing I got her. I knew catching her sleeping with some guy in our living room would come in handy someday. She opens her mouth to speak but footsteps enter the room.

"What are y'all bitches doing?" my father deep voice echoes through the silent house.

"Chatting." she says all to quickly with the fakest smile, showing her yellow teeth. Picture a crack whore, and you have my step-mother. He nods staring us both down. "Get me a beer." his eyes stop on me. I roll my eyes and walk over to the fridge and toss it towards him. He takes a swig and continues staring at us.

"How was work honey?" my stepmother attempts to put her hand on his chest but he shrugs her off. I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my mouth. They both look at me.

"You need to learn to shut your mouth." she says trying to sound intimidating. I raise an eyebrow.

"I would absolutely love to see you make me shut up." I try her seeing how far she'll go in front of him. "Actually, I'd pay to see that." She looks at my dad and he glances down at her and grunts.

"Be respectful to your mother." he says.

"Mother?" I repeat him shocked. He nods and she smiles. "Your fucking high, right? You honestly just said that? You out of all people, you would know better than anyone what happened to her, considering you-" his hands were around my neck before I could get the rest of my sentence out. I struggle to move his hands off of me but that only resulted in a slap across the face. A hard slap. I winced but still tried to move away from him.

"Don? Don't you think that is enough?" I could hear his wife ask, the fear seeping in her words. He throws me down and goes after her next, slinging her down the hallway. I attempt to get up but only make it to the opposite side of the room before he was back for more.

"As long as you are under my roof, you will respect me and your mother." he yells emphasizing the word, before spitting in my face. His huge hands wrap around my arms and start dragging me toward the stairs.

"My mother is-" I barely got just those words out but the fist in my stomach knocked any of the air I had out of my body.

"You" punch "don't" punch "know" punch "when to" punch "stop. Do you?" he asks. With one last punch I was on the ground gasping and holding my face as an awful pain engulfed every inch of my body, inside and out.

My body was aching and crying out, but my brain still didn't stop. "I guess not." I say with a toothy smile, before gasping for air when a sharp pain goes through my side. That just made him more mad and his eyes grew nine shades darker. He raised his hand one last time and gave me a good punch in the stomach. I toppled over and started coughing uncontrollably. My eyes went wide when I saw blood coming from my mouth. I could hear the faint sounds of footsteps walking away and I knew he was gone. I felt relief flood my body. Rolling over on my back, I just layed there, looking at the ceiling.

"Shay?" I heard a voice say. My step-mother hovered above me. "I-im sorry." she stuttered, her eyes dancing from left to right, watching for the monster to make an entrance again. I heard the sound of keys and then she lays my car keys beside me while I still lay there. "I'm sorry." she said one last time before her footsteps faded away too.

I just stay there. Crying inside. Not outside. Not here at least. I wouldn't let my dad see he gets to me. But of course he did. He was supposed to be my father, but here I am laying on the ground after getting the living shit beat out of me. I felt around beside me until my fingers wrapped around my keys and I struggled for a while until I finally pushed myself up off the floor.

I only knew one place I could go now.