The Broken Ones

chapter two

When I woke up the next morning I had a pounding headache. I pulled out some headache pills from my nightstand and took my water and guzzled the pills down. When I finally felt strong enough to stand up I went over to the mirror and looked at my bruises. I had a really big one under my jaw, a few small ones that will be gone soon around my ribs and stomach and a lash mark on my back. I'm surprised none of my ribs broke from my lack in diet.

***

"Andie you're gonna hurt yourself. You have to eat before you land yourself in the hospital." I turned my back to Tori and looked in the mirror. "I'll stop when I'm pretty." I said and stormed off. That was also the month my doctor told me I was borderline anorexic. That was the first night I cried myself to sleep (not knowing there were more nights to come), it was also the night the beatings got worse. Tori was fifteen and I was fourteen at the time. I spent three months in rehab, and Tori made me promise her to eat for as long as she lives.

I kept my promise.

***

I went to the bathroom and stripped off my clothes for a shower. I stepped into the water and let it calm me. I don't know how long I stayed like this, but when I looked at my hands they looked like mini raisins. I grabbed a towel from the cabinet and wrapped it around myself. I walked over to the sink put a new bandage on my cut. I walked to my room and got dressed for the day.

I took my phone off the charger and saw I had a new text from Unknown. It's probably Aubrey and her minion friends trying to torture me more because of what happened at that party. She doesn't seem to understand that I was drunk. I opened up the text anyways.

From Unknown: throw them away your better than that.

My eyes darted to my wrist then the closet then back to the phone. This happened a few months ago after the incident when I started cutting. I kept getting these messages telling me I was better than that, or it won't help, or to throw them away. I stopped cutting for two months. Then the messages just suddenly stopped and things were getting bad again. If I remember correctly last night was the first night I cut in those two months, today would have been three.

I'm now even more curious then I was the first time when I got these texts.

To Unknown: I'll stop if you promise not to leave me alone again.

My hand hovered above the send key. I didn't know this person and the fact that they knew the exact night, well it freaked me out. I deleted the message and just continued to stare at my phone. "Andie get down here," my father called in a sing-song voice. "That's bizarre." I mumbled to myself. "Now!" he screeched. That was the tone I was used to. I got up put my phone in my pocket and raced down the stairs. My father sat on the couch with a beer in hand watching the football game on TV. "Yes, dad?" he waved me over and paused the TV. "I need to talk to you about some important matters." I nodded my head. He inhaled deeply and sighed. "Your leaving." He said calmly. My head shot up to look at him with wide eyes. He was kicking me out.

He looked at me and smiled. "You may be crap in school but your grades aren't. Somehow I happened to get a boarding school to think you're worth something. You leave in two days." I widened my eyes and stared at him in disbelief. "Well actually two days was two days ago," he chuckled "I've been planning on sending you for a while." He turned to look at me and gave me a sly smile "So I suggest you go pack your car. The driver should be here in about an hour. Oh, and before I forget put some makeup or something on those bruises. They make you look uglier than you already are." I just nodded my head and walked back up the stairs to my mother's room.

I knocked on her door and didn't hear her answer. I walked in anyways and saw her in my dad's drawer. She looked up at me and stared. "Mom?" I asked. She looked back into the drawer. "Your father," she looked back at me "He's a bit of a cruel man, isn't he?" I couldn't manage any words so I stiffly nodded my head. I cleared my throat. "Why?" she walked over to me and held out her hand. "Your father has been having a bit of an affair. I found these in his drawer." In her hand she held some panties. "Oh." Was all I said to her. "Yes, I thought he was a while back. Him always leaving the house when you were in school, coming home with his shirt already off. That should have been the one to confirm my suspicion, right? Well no I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and now this." She gestured to the panties. "Mom, I uh, I came to say goodbye." My mother walked away and put the panties back in my father's drawer. She turned around and looked me or tried to look me in the eye. "Goodbye, for what? Why are you saying goodbye?" I played with the hem of my shirt and look down. "Dad, he's well," I looked back up and met her eyes. "He's sending me away to some boarding school." She snapped her head away and went to lay down in her bed. She cleared her throat. "Oh, goodbye then." That was all she said and waved me out of the room. I exited the room silently.

I didn't expect much from my mom, and her goodbye felt like it was permanent or final almost like she didn't want to see me again. I knew my mom was different after Tori died and I understood she would never be the same. My mother and Tori always had a special relationship, and I knew that Tori's death wasn't something she could bounce back from that easily especially on her own. There were times when I wanted to help my mom but she wouldn't let me, and I can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. Hopefully I get at least one call from her when I'm all settled there, but I knew her goodbye meant I would be the one to call. If my mother didn't get out of this house soon though there was no telling what my father would do to her, obviously he needed someone to beat and he just got tired of me.

I went to my room and packed two bags of clothes stuffing my longboard into one of the duffel bags. I grabbed my backpack and emptied the books out of it. I stuffed the bag with toiletries and make-up. I made my way over to the closet and grabbed the little black box. I stared at it. I kept staring until I heard my father call me I stuffed it into my backpack, and grabbed my charger zipping up the bag. I grabbed my things and took one last look around my room. My eyes landed on the picture of my sister and me. My eyes widened and I ran to my nightstand to grab it. "Andie!" my father called again in a harsher tone. I ran down the stairs with my things and looked at my dad. "It was nice seeing ya." He said in a bored tone. My jaw dropped but closed automatically. I should have known I wouldn't get much out of him. I nodded my head stiffly and walked to the car. I opened the trunk and threw my stuff in, keeping my backpack with me. I got in the front seat of the car and looked through the window. My eyes overlooked the neighborhood one last time.

My eyes caught sight of a boy around my age looking at me, no, staring at me from his window. "Weird" I mumbled. As the driver pulled away from my house the boy kept looking at me. I tore my gaze away from him and looked at my house one last time. Maybe this will be good for me to get away from this torture chamber. "Fuck em" I said under my breathe. "Fuck them all."