*Dream*
I was huddled with my stuffed animal Benny, the elephant. I had him clutched to my chest under a small table that my mother had in the middle of her living room, one of the many rooms I wasn't supposed to go in unless I was helping her.
She was screaming at me for my latest stunt in the series of things I couldn't explain to her at all! I had broken one of her lamps that used to be on the table that I was under right now. She didn't even like that lamp so I was wondering why she was so mad about me breaking it, well I did know but I wished I was wrong. I wished that most of the time because when this was the case I tended to be hit a lot following it.
She was mad because I had done yet another thing that I couldn't explain. She somehow linked this to my father, how I didn't know but she started yelling about how I was a monster just like he was. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but while she was in this kind of mood I didn't even think about asking her.
She came over to where I was her face red as a tomato from yelling so much and knocked over the small wooden table I was under so that I was out in the open just sitting there on the floor of her living room.
Then she raised her right hand. I flinched back and got ready for my latest beating supplied by my latest stunt. Since my 10th birthday four days ago the number of stunts I did had grown at an increasingly high rate.
I was scared though because the more stunts I performed the more beatings there were. They would all be the same. She would get really mad at me and then say that I was a monster like my father and start screaming nonsense about my father.
Then she would start yelling at me that she didn't know what she was doing when she married him. And that now she had a corrupted daughter, namely me.
Then she said that one day when I was older I would go where he went and learn all the horrible things. I had no clue what she was talking about and I still didn't
Then she hit me over and over again until my entire body was covered in bumps and bruises with black and blue marks around my eyes and other places.
She had never gone on this long hitting me and I was hurting more than I ever had before.
After she looked like she was slowing down she dragged me downstairs into the basement and tied me to a chair. She barely ever did this and when she did I knew what comeing was and I knew it was going to hurt a lot.
She had my mouth covered with ductape and had a sock in my mouth and my hands were tied tightly behind me ot the chair within minutes.
She turned to the closet in the wall on the other side of the room and went over to it and took out the knife that I had been expecting.
Slowly she walked over to me with the knife clenched in her hand. She put it right under my neck and dragged it against my skin. She repeated this process several times all over my body as I tried to call out in pain but couldn't because of the gag.
She kept going for ten minutes and then she went up the stairs again and turned off the lights and left me there for probably a few days or so, just like last time
I fell asleep in my dream just as I was waking up in real life.
As I woke up I screamed as if I could still feel the knife running over my body. That was the worst beating I had ever gotten. It was nearly a year since then; I would be turning 11 in about a week. I immediately felt bad about screaming because I probably had woken up Severus.
As I had expected he burst into my room about half a minute later. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt so I could see a weird tattoo on his arm.
I expected him to get mad at me for waking him up so I flinched back slightly forgetting my promise for the moment.
He came and sat next to me on my bed putting his arm around me. Once I was aware of my surroundings again and felt safe I started to sob uncontrollably. He let me cry for about 5 minutes without saying anything and just rubbing my shoulder trying to comfort me.
I was done crying and wiped away my tears quickly. I looked over at Severus blushing at my outburst. He didn't seem perturbed by it, he was looking at me concerned.
Once he was sure I was done crying he said, "What's wrong?"
I replied vaguely, "Bad dream."
"I figured that much. About what?"
I knew I should tell him but I also knew he would think I was weak if I did. At that moment I didn't care what he thought or anyone thought I was just glad I was away from that kind of torture.
"My mother," I said quietly.
"Well let's talk about it," he said trying, and failing to keep his voice calm.
"She was just beating me up for breaking a lamp, it happened all the time."
"I don't think that's all or you wouldn't be that upset by it. What is different about this time?"
"Well this time she took it to the basement," I said forgetting he wouldn't know what the meant.
"What do you mean by took it to the basement," he asked still rubbing my shoulder softly.
I looked down unable to look at him while I told him, "Well whenever she took me into the basement it's because I did something really bad. Most of the time she would tie me up and then use a knife to make me bleed but I couldn't cry out because I would be gagged. Then she would leave me there for a couple days. That's what this dream was about; one of the times she took me down there."
"Wait a second you mean she cut you with a knife," Severus yelled standing up.
I thought the anger was directed at me so I said, "Well yes, but it didn't happen that often."
"Oh when I get my hands on that woman," he said not finishing his thought.
Lowering his voice he said, "Can I see the scars? I might be able to help them heal."
I thought about it for a second before lifting up the sleeves on my shirt and exposing my cut up arm. There were little white lines from old scars and red marks from newer marks.
"I was wondering why you were wearing long sleeves. I guess now I know," he said quietly running his hand over them.
When he hit a sensitive spot I winced and he pulled away immediately. He didn't seem like he was able to say anything so he just pulled me into a hug. I put my head against his chest feeling safer than I ever had.
He finally pulled away and looking me straight in the eyes said, "Are there more?"
I nodded and knowing his next question quickly pulled up my other sleeve and lifted up my shirt to expose my stomach area. Again he ran his fingers over the scars but pulled away realizing what he was doing.
"She did all of this to you? The cuts and the bruises?"
I nodded and his face contorted until he was breathing heavily.
I touched his arm and said, "It's all right."
"Well it is now that you are here. I just can't believe that you were stuck with her. You must hate me," he said sighing.
At one point I might have hated my father but I didn't now, "No I don't hate you."
"How could you not? I left you with that monster, even if I didn't mean to."
"What do you mean you didn't mean to?" I said trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.
I might finally learn a little more about my life I thought as he struggled with an answer, "I didn't ever marry your mother. In fact I didn't even know I had a child until about 2 weeks ago when she wrote to me asking if I would take you in. I had no idea that you were being treated like that or I would have come and gotten you the second I got her letter."
"It's all right, but what do you mean you didn't know you had a kid? She didn't tell you?"
"Well yeah. We had dated for a few months when I told her what I was and she flipped and kicked me out. I never spoke to her again so I didn't know I had a child until I got that letter. It certainly was a shock to me. I just wish I knew earlier so I could have come and gotten you."
He was right on the edge of telling me what I really wanted to know; why my mother thought I was a monster, "What do you mean found out what you are?"
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I know it's a bit long but I felt like all of this had to be together, I hope you enjoyed it even though no one reads this. This was a favorite of mine to write and the next part is too so I hope you like it! As always please Vote Comment and Fan!