Trashed and Scattered

She tore through the house, skipping steps as she hastily climbed the stairs, a demon on her heels. An inhuman squeal erupted from her throat as she dashed down the hallway and made a sharp right through her bedroom doorway. As she swung the door shut, she barely made it in time. She collapsed her weight against the bottom of the splintering wood as it began to shake with violence.
“You little shit!” the demon roared. “Open this fucking door!”
She buried her face into her palms, pulling her knees to her chest as she pushed her back against the door with all of her might. She tried to think of anything else…anything to take her away from where she was.
Her mind floated to Maleficent, how carefree and unwilling to adhere to others she was. She channeled that strength through her youthful bones, the back of her head bouncing to and fro as the door heaved and caved behind her.
She made a mental map of her room and tried to guess how long it would take her to bound across the floor and out the window. It couldn’t be more than a few seconds, surely. But would those few seconds be enough to escape the clutches of the witch attempting to barge her way in?
As her leg muscles tired and her thighs began to tremble, she knew she would be no match for the viciousness coming through that doorway. She had to at least try.
Waiting for the timing to be just right, she endured as much as she could. Growls and threats spewed through the cracks in the wood. As the door heaved into itself, she pushed herself to her feet and sprinted for the open window. Her heart beat so loudly that she could hear it pulsing between her ears. She kept her eyes focused, moving as fast as she could in an effort to teleport.
As she reached the window and threw both hands over the pane, she thought that she was free. She’d jump if she had to, she didn’t mind the fall. It felt a little like flying, after all.
Just when she pulled her toes to the threshold and was ready to leap through the small opening onto the roof, a set of talons tightened into her shoulder and ripped her from her place.
Falling to the floor without control, she smashed her innocent face against the hardwood. Her ears rang out, at a decibel she was sure only dogs could hear.
The room spun wickedly as she tried to compose her travelling eyes, fixating on anything and everything solid in an effort to gain control. The demon curled its claws around her lapel and pulled her limp body within inches of its ravenous face.
“You little bitch,” it seethed.
She pursed her eyes tightly together in anticipation for what she knew would come.
When the demon clacked its hooves in a beat recognizable as leaving, she dared to open her eyes. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream out in pain and in fear…but she couldn’t. She lay on the floor, clutching her knees, and she stayed perfectly still.
It must have been nearly an hour before she finally worked up the courage to move. With one fluid movement, she clasped the door shut and made a move for the window. This time, she flew through without disruption. The sunlight burned at her swollen eye as she moved quickly from one end of the roof to the other, abandoning all caution.
The bark of her favourite tree aided her flight and soon she was across, staring back at her open window…wondering what things must look like from this side of the yard. She wondered if he’d ever seen the monster inside her house and the things that it was capable of…the things it had done to her. She hoped, for humiliation’s sake, that he hadn’t.
She tapped her finger tips against the glass but no answer came. There was no shift of the curtains, no friendly face peering back at her. It was then that she felt the salty bitterness of emotion creeping from her innocent eyes. She tried not to, but she couldn’t stop it.
Her shoulders shuddered as she wept for herself. It wasn’t the physical pain so much as the sting in her heart…She didn’t understand why her own mother didn’t love her. What had she done so wrong that her mother felt the need to punish her so severely? It was a heavy load for anyone, let alone a young girl.
As her gaze moved up toward the blue sky, she watched through her window as the creature stalked its way back in. She panicked. If she was caught just outside, she was sure her window would be locked and barred within the hour. As a last ditch effort to get out of harm’s way, she turned and banged lightly on the glass. Still no answer.
Praying to a god she wasn’t sure she could believe in, she wrapped her fingers around the frame and hoped that it would open. Her faith was temporarily restored as she the window rose with her hands and she slid inside with ease. Letting it fall back down to the way it had been, she slipped behind the safety of the curtains.
The house was silent, riddled only by the sound of her own breathing. She tip-toed to the light switch and flicked it on, not brave enough to simply let the sunlight flood her friend’s bedroom. She had to remember to thank him later for leaving his window unlocked, something she knew he rarely did.
It was strange to be inside his house without him. She wasn’t really sure what to do with herself, so she did what any normal kid would do. She clicked on his little television and plunked the first movie she found inside. His room was messier than she’d ever seen it, clothes scattered around everywhere. He kept posters against his walls and a few CDs were scattered around his stereo.
His room looked nothing like hers. She was expected to keep her belongings minimal; she didn’t think her family was poor…but she never seemed to receive any new things. She never received anything personal or personalized. No gifts, no posters for her room or CDs for her thoughts…The only thing she owned that wasn’t a decided necessity was a set of drawing pencils her friend had given to her. He liked the monsters she’d doodle into his notebooks and so, he said it was an “investment”. She didn’t really know what the word meant but she’d happily accepted and later stuffed the gift beneath a loose floorboard.
She settled into the laundry on his bed and made herself comfortable, only then did the throbbing in her cheek really begin to show itself. She knew that there was chaos across the tree from her—she knew that the demon would be scouring every inch of the house for her. With that visual sitting forefront in her mind, she nuzzled into the pillow deeper, as if she could hide away if only she tried hard enough.
She just needed to wait it out. Once her father got home, she knew that she’d be safe…safe enough, anyway. He’d keep the monster at bay.
As the credits rolled from bottom to top, her lids betrayed her as she fell into a defenseless sleep.
She was awoken by a hoof. She jolted alive, shooting straight up with panic radiating from each and every pore. Her friend leaned back, stunned by her reaction. It had startled him as much as he had startled her, but he was filled with regret instead of amusement.
“Sorry,” he frowned.
Her little hands clutched at her chest, pulling the threads of her t-shirt apart in her grip. Her chest caved in and pushed out with manic breaths as she tried desperately to seize control.
“You scared me,” she panted, her heart rate slowly coming down from its high.
“I didn’t mean to,” he sighed. “But you scared me, too. I’ve never seen anyone wake up like that.”
“I forgot where I was,” she confessed with grave humiliation, a weight far too heavy for the shoulders of a young girl.
He slid into the bed next to her, surveying her eye that was so swollen he could barely make out the colour tucked away inside. She had a pretty nasty gash that stretched out above her eyebrow, it had crusted with dried blood. He didn’t think it polite to mention that she’d bled all over his off-white pillow case. Not that he minded.
“How long have you been in my bed?” he asked with a hint of a smile.
She shrugged, daring to glance out the window and over to her neck of the tree. It was difficult to make out specifics of her small bedroom from where she sat, and for that she was thankful. The sun had begun its dip into the ocean, tucking the birds into their beds for another night.
“Are you hungry?” he asked curiously.
“A little,” she sighed, wincing as her words moved her broken skin around.
He pouted at his wounded friend, daring to reach out and move the hair from her gash. She flinched briefly as his hand glided past her cheek, but relaxed just as he pushed her hair behind her ear. He leaned in to survey the damage, his face mere inches from hers. She held her breath, as if she could make her reality disappear if she just stopped breathing.
“Lex,” he said quietly, “can I ask you a question?”
“Yeah,” she let out just enough air to answer.
He pulled his lips to one side, seriously considering his words before letting them escape slowly, “How does she do this to you?”
“How?” she repeated confusedly.
He ran a fingertip carefully atop the cut, just to see if it had really healed over. His slight touch was enough to ripple it into action once more, blood beginning to pool up into drops.
“I think this needs stitches or something,” he told her. “Did she use a…weapon…or something?”
“A weapon,” she repeated flatly, biting back a laugh.
“I don’t know,” he laughed in defeat, falling away from her and onto his heels.
“No, she doesn’t use a weapon,” she replied simply, drawing her hand up to feel around her forehead. “She uses her hands. But I think this was from when I hit the floor.”
It had rolled so casually off her tongue that she didn’t think to soften the blow. It wasn’t like it was a secret she kept from him; he was the only one in the world that she’d trusted enough to tell. He was her safe place.
She smeared the blood around her fingertips, calm and collected as she felt herself grow colder. Every time she’d have to face what had happened, all she could do was to beat herself up further. She must have done something to warrant such treatment. Was it enough to just be born? Could that have been enough to set her mother off on her rampage of hate? It sure seemed that way.
“I think we should tell my mom,” he said quietly, almost in a whisper.
She gasped, “Wiley, no. You can’t.”
“Why not?” he snapped sternly. “This is getting bad, Lex. What if something happens to you?”
“Something like what?” she frowned. “She won’t kill me or anything.”
He wasn’t convinced. As a trickle of blood beaded from her brow and dripped down onto her cheek, it took everything he had not to burst into tears.
“Lexi, please,” he pleaded softly.
She shook her head, “I can’t…They’ll take me away, Wiley. They’ll take me away from my dad…away from you.”
“Maybe they’ll just take her away,” he suggested naively.
She smiled faintly, crawling across the bed to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, “You’re a good friend.”
“I really think you need stitches,” he insisted. “Can we please tell me mom that at least? She’ll take you. You know she will. We can say you fell from the tree again. I promise I’ll lie.”
“Is it really that bad?” she asked seriously, fighting her reflection as long as she possibly could.
He nodded.
“It will heal,” she shrugged.
Last time she’d had to go to the hospital…Well, she decided she’d really rather avoid it. It wasn’t like she was in a pool of blood or anything.
“Come on,” he urged, pulling at her arm feebly in an attempt to get her moving.
“What if she says my mom has to take me,” she thought aloud. “What if she makes me go home…What if my mom finds out? She’ll think I told on her!”
“Peyton!” he snapped, clicking his fingers in her face.
She snapped back instantaneously.
“She wouldn’t do that,” he assured his friend. “We’ll say she’s out. It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen.”
“Okay…” she relented, nervously climbing from the bed to the floor.
He slugged an arm around her shoulders, pulling her tight into his chest as they headed for the stairs.
“Sorry I used your real name,” he muttered with a smirk as they descended the stairwell and lingered by the front door. “You were being crazy.”
“I understand,” she smiled.
He nodded, taking in a lung full of oxygen before releasing it all in one go, “Mom! Lexi fell out of the tree again!”

Notes

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