Whisper

Mother had used me as her doll again today. She worked part-time at a salon, and I was her practice mannequin. I enjoyed it, sometimes. Mother lets me keep the outfits and buys me make-up sometimes. She tells me that it's to help hide my flaws, since I have so many of them. I thank her for giving me things to hide my flaws. I don't like being flawed.

I sat in my tree and waited for that boy to pass by again, today. I was happy that Mother made me look so pretty when she came home for lunch. When that boy did pass, he stopped in front of my house, and my heart skipped a beat, I swear it.

"Hey," he called, "why are you up there?"

"Because, I want to be," I replied.

"Oh," he said, "well can you come down for a minute?"

"Why?"

"I don't know," he thought a moment, "I guess I'd like to introduce myself, or something."

"Oh," I said, climbing down, "okay."

"Hello," the boy said, smiling, "I'm Dan."

"Desiree."

"Hello, Desiree." Dan shook my hand. "Why don't I see you in school?"

"Because," I explained, "I'm home-schooled."

"Oh, is that any fun?"

"Not exactly."

"Why are you home-schooled?"

"My parents wanted me to be."

"What do your parents do?"

"My dad is a lawyer, my mom has a part-time job at a salon and for the rest of the day, she stays around my dad's office. They don't really like me, I guess."

"Neither does my dad."

"What about your mom?"

"Don't know her.

"Oh," I looked at his watch. It was rather interesting. It had an animated snake on the face, and the time was analog. Then I noticed the time. "Oh no, I have to go!"

"Oh, okay. See you later?"

"Okay."

Dan smiled and walked away. I heard Dad's car coming down the street as I rushed up the tree and climbed through my window. I had just gotten it shut as they pulled into the driveway.

"Desiree, we're home!"

I awoke to a tapping on my window. It was just the tree, I knew it. It had always woken me up. I had gotten into the habit of checking, though. As I knew, it was the tree.

I fell asleep shortly after.

I fell down my stairs. I could feel the pounding, but not enough to hurt, for some reason. My Dad met me at the bottom, and picked me up. He shook me rapidly.

"You are never to leave your room without our permission, Desiree, you stupid bitch!" he kept yelling at me, over and over. After finishing each time, he'd slap me across the face, harder and harder until I started to bleed. Once he saw the blood, he seemed satisfied with himself...if only for a moment. His stern expression changed to a grin, and he threw his weight into my stomach with his fist. I coughed a few times, unable to breathe.

"You stupid, weak, ugly bitch, you need to take your fucking punishment, you whore!"

My dad threw me against the wall, my face bleeding even more. I fell to the ground, and he kicked me three times. Then he picked me up, and shoved me to the front door. Suddenly, it opened, and there in front of me stood Dan, smiling at me. He gently picked me up, and carried me to....

I woke up. I was lying on the ground, trembling. I had many dreams where my dad would hit me, but I was never rescued in them. Maybe Dan was in my dream for a reason. Maybe I should keep talking to him. Maybe I just admitted that I like him....