CHAPTER ELEVEN

I didn't stop screaming.

But he didn't stop hitting his head.

When I came back to my senses and stopped screaming, I ran to drag my father away from him. When my hands made contact with his shoulder in an attempt to pull him away, he used his free hand to make himself free of me. He threw me to the floor.

I began to cry.

Tears of anger. Tears of pain.

Tears of regret for the kind of man my mother married.

Tears of pity for myself and my family.

I started hearing footsteps, and they were directed towards the door where we were because the nearer they got, the louder they became.

Since I was still on the floor, I could see the person's feet.

So ridiculously familiar.

I raised my head to look at my grandmother, my mom's mom, properly.

She didn't say a word, she just walked up to where my father stood, placed her hand on the hand with Dylan's head in it, and immediately, he stopped.

Just like that.

My father stormed out of the living room.

I looked at Dylan to see how he was doing.

He wasn't crying, but he was very angry. He was furious, but he looked like he couldn't believe what just happened. His father bashed his head against the wall like he was some kind of..toy.

I couldn't believe it too.

I didn't hear Kamila's footsteps as she approached because I was far away in my thoughts while staring at Dylan.

"What just happened? There was a disturbi-- Oh my, Dylan! You're bleeding!", she said (sleepily at first, but she became alert at the sight of blood), looking alarmed.

Nobody said anything to her. Grandma just walked out, the same way she came in.

Dylan sat on one of the chairs at the dining table, while I slowly hauled myself off the floor.

"Why isn't anyone saying anything? Ray, what's going on?", she pressed further, coming closer to me.

"You were crying, Ray."

I pulled her in and hugged her, my tears beginning to drop slowly.

"Father's a dog. We live with a dog, Kamila."

Dylan went into his room to clean up his head, while I worked on cleaning the bloodstain off the wall. We'd all decided against telling Mother. She'd shout at him, but as usual, he'd act like no one was talking. Then Mom's blood pressure would rise because she'd begin to think a lot again and she'd end up in the hospital, like in previous times.

I looked up at the clock above the television in the living room.

5:30 p.m.

Huh. Mother should be back by--

"Hello?"

Yeah, she's back. I went to welcome her.

"Good evening Mother. How was work", I greeted her, taking her bags from her.

"Stressful as usual", came the reply.

My mother works as a nurse at a private hospital. My dad works as a marketing manager somewhere, I can't seem to remember the name of the company right now.

In my opinion, nurses are underappreciated in this part of the world. Mom leaves home by 6:00 a.m. and gets back home by 5:00 p.m. every day. She only has Sundays off.

"How was school?", she called over her shoulder on her way to her room.

"It was fine Mom."

"Alright then. I'm tired, I'll get some rest now", and she shut her bedroom door. Well, her's and Dad's.

I went on to Dylan's room to see how he was doing. I knocked on the door.

"Yeah?"

"It's Ray", I called.

"Come on in."

I shut the door behind me after letting myself in.

" How is it?", I asked him.

"Duh, it hurts."

"I know you idiot, but how bad is it?", I rolled my eyes.

"It'll be better. I don't think he'll ever be", he laughed bitterly, then stood. "How's Mom?"

"She's alright, but she's tired, as usual."

"Always working herself out, and all he does is bully us. Bully her. I'm sick of it Ray. I'm sure you're wondering why I didn't retaliate. If I did, we'd be fatherless by now."

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought so. You were enraged. Get rest, and don't see Mom, she'll confront him, and her blood pressure could go up", then I stood to leave.

"Sure. Night."

I shut the door.

"Rayna, where are your siblings?", Mom said, coming out of her room.

"Kamila is____"

"Moomm!", Kamila ran from the kitchen to hug our mother.

"Hey kiddo", she smiled. "How was school today?"

"It was fine Mom."

"Where's Dylan?", she turned to me.

Dang.

"He's asleep", I replied to her.

"Oh, I'd go see him in his room then", she made for his bedroom. I moved in to block her way.

"No!", I suddenly yelled. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"I mean, he's tired and in a bad mood. He needs rest. I guess the coach overworked him today."

"Oh dear, all the more reason to go see him", she removed me from her path.

I couldn't come up with anything else.

Oh, she'll see the bruise and she'll want to know what happened. She__

The sound of someone's phone ringing pierced through the serenity of the living room where we currently were. It was Mom's. And she picked up the call.

"Hello?..... Oh, that's news..... Sure sure...Tell me more....", and she went to her bedroom to continue her conversation.

Yess! I hope his bruise heals up before tomorrow...

Dad went out and he's not back. I don't even care. The longer he stays out, the better.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!! Must I do this every day? You're running late!", Mother yelled.

"I'm coming Mom!", I called back.

I've been up since 4:00 a.m. I had a bad dream and that woke me up. Dad was the villain of course. Anytime he did something, I'd be reminded in my dreams. I cried when I woke up.

And I've been sitting in my bed for three hours now.

So yeah, I didn't sleep well. I'd dressed up already anyway, so I just went down for breakfast.

"Good Morning mother."

"Morning," she began peering into my face, "Are you okay?"

No, I'm not, I didn't sleep well because I had another Dad nightmare, none of which you know about.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then. Dylan has taken Kamila to school already. Hurry up and get going yourself. Take care alright?", she kissed the top of my head and left for work.

I ate my cereal breakfast quite leisurely. Yeah right. I was in no hurry to go to school today. I am in no mood either. I finished up, and slowly dragged myself to school. I had twenty-five minutes to spare anyway, and the walk to school is fifteen minutes. Even if I arrived late, I couldn't care less...

I arrived anyway. I had five minutes left until the bell for the first period went.

I went without Maeve today, she texted that she had something to do earlier.

I went to get my books for the English Language for the first period. I took them out and shut the locker. I casually glanced around, and my heart broke at what I saw in the corner of the end of the hallway...