Mute
Chapter 5
I walked at a steady pace towards my gym class. I stopped when I was halfway and made a b-line for the nearest restroom. The moment I was in a stall I let whatever I had eaten out. A few moments later I stopped, I guess it was good that I hadn't ate much today.
I didn't bother looking in the toilet, instead I flushed it. I cleaned the bile away from my mouth afterwards. This was the second time today. I frown, trying to think what could cause this. Maybe I ate something bad? I push away the thought quickly.
If it didn't stop within a few days I would figure out something.
I dismissed the thought of going to a hospital. It meant that I'd have to deal with needles, and all of those weird machines. I hated hospitals, or any type of medical office in general. They'll judge you based on what you do, and how what they diagnose you with.
If they see my scars they'll know how fuc.ked up I am.
I didn't want anyone to know anything about me. I couldn't get close to anyone, and I couldn't just rat my dad out. I'd be forced off into an orphanage or a foster home. I could not handle that. I couldn't handle strangers bringing their attention to me. I didn't deserve it.
I'd rather be his punching bag than have unwanted attention.
-
The last two classes of the day went by okay. Nothing major happened, and Vic wasn't in the class I had him with. I thought nothing of it, I was just glad that I didn't have to deal with him. I currently was walking home, having just gotten out of my last class and I had already gone to my locker before I left.
It wasn't a long walk to my home, just a few blocks that would take 15-20 minutes at minimum. My father would expect me home by 4:00, that was if he had lost his job. I would think he didn't, but he's unpredictable.
He's always jumping from job to job, not settling on one. I had grown used to it though, not finding it too surprising when he moved to a different job. Whenever he did move jobs it took him about a week to get ahold of a new job. If I was lucky it'd be a job within town, if not, well it'd be somewhere in another town and we'd have to move again.
I don't think I'd have to worry about that for a while though. I snap away from my thoughts when a black, 1969, Dodge Charger slowed to my walking pace next to me. I glanced at the car, seeing that the driver was Vic's brother, Mike Fuentes.
"Hey, need a lift home?" Mike asked, his window was rolled down.
I looked at him, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. Why where the Fuentes' brothers being so nice to me? Was it because what Vic had seen in the bathroom. I glanced at Mike then back towards where I was walking. Had Vic told him?
I was going to deny his offer, but it started to rain. It was more of a drizzle, but I knew it would get worse. I didn't need to get sick within the first week of being here, so I accepted his offer.
"s-sure." I muttered, Mike motioned for me to get in the passenger seat.
After telling him where I lived, he began driving there. I looked out the window, watching the rain droplets hit the window then glide smoothly to the right. I'd break my focus away from the droplets every so often, just so I could look at the surroundings.
I glanced at Mike, seeing he was looking at the road. I then looked back out the window, seeing that we were approaching the street my house was on. When we arrived to my house he stopped the car, pulling over on the side of the road in front of the house. I looked at him.
"Tha-nk you" I said quietly, gathering my bag from the floor of the car to leave.
"Wait." he said, opening the dashboard of the car. He pulled out a little stack of post-it notes and a pen. He tossed the pen back in the dashboard after he wrote something down on a orange post-it note.
"Here." he handed me the paper, closing the dashboard and locking it one he handed it to me.
The paper had numbers messily scribbled on it. I looked at him with a skeptical look.
"I'd like to get to know you." he spoke, I had a feeling I knew why he wanted to get to know me. "But, as a friend, yeah?"
"Y-y-eah. F-ri-ends." I confirmed, opening the door.
My dad's car wasn't there, so he must still be at work. I glanced back at Mike, giving him a reassuring smile, before finally getting out and leaving. I closed the car door behind me, and made my way into my house to avoid the rain wetting my clothes any further.
Once I was in my house I went to the kitchen to get something to drink. I placed my bag in a chair of the kitchen table. I grabbed a glass and filled it with water. After I had finished my drink, I placed the glass in the sink. I then began to wash the dishes by hand, I didn't need my father bit.ching at me because of the unclean dishes. I also had to cook dinner later.
When I finished washing the dishes I began to cook dinner, since it was about 5:00. I cooked something simple, nothing too hard. After everything was done I went ahead and fixed my dinner, which wasn't much.
It was just mash potatoes, mac and cheese, along with a small chicken strip. It wasn't much, but it was one of the few things I could cook properly. The rest I left for my father, covering the separate bowls with their designated lids.
I took my dinner up to my room, closing the door behind me and sitting at my desk, I booted up my laptop. I had this English paper I needed to work, after I finished eating, of course. I ate a little bit of my dinner, pushing the rest aside.
Before I started to work on my English paper, I took my plate to the kitchen. I dumped the remaining food into the garbage, washed my hands and went back to my room. My dad would be home at any minute by now.
I texted Mike while I did my school work. I did this for the rest of the afternoon. By the time it was 8:00 I was nearly done writing my English paper, my dad had came home already and hadn't really said much to me.
He didn't seem to bother with my existence at the moment. I was okay with him ignoring me, it meant less beatings.
At 8:34 PM I decided to take a shower. I grabbed some of my clothes and went off to the shower. Just as I began to strip away from my clothes, my phone vibrated. I looked at it, seeing I had a text from Mike.
'want to hang out tomorrow? At my place?'
I bit my lip, thinking about it. I don't think I would want to go crawling into the devil's den. I also didn't want to get in trouble, but Mike seemed alright.
'I can't, busy.' I hated to deny his request, but I couldn't risk getting into trouble with my father. I was still considering his offer though.
'When are you free?' Mike sent the text after a few minutes.
'Saturday, we could hang out then?' I hesitated before sending the text, my father wouldn't be home during this weekend. He had some business thing he had to do and wouldn't be back until Sunday morning. He wouldn't even know I was gone.
'Yeah, sounds like a plan.' I placed my phone own after reading the text. I locked the door to the bathroom then finished stripping off my boxers. I placed everything in the hamper, I would wash the clothes tomorrow.
-
It was midnight and I was in my bathroom, tears stained my cheeks and a few new bruises scattered over my body. I had locked myself in here since my father had decided to beat on me a bit. I was used to it.
I dabbed a washcloth on my face, wincing at the slight pain on my right cheek. He had smacked me pretty hard, and kicked me a few times in the ribs. I muttered a few curses as I noticed that my cheek would most likely be bruised by the morning.
I cleaned up a bit, a few of the of the cuts on my body had opened up. I put gauze and band aids on them, cleaning them first.Then I finally went back into my room. He was gone by now, probably in his room. I made my way over to my dresser and pulled out an oversized sweatshirt.
I kept the same sweatpants on, not bothered to change them. After I put on my sweatshirt I turned off the lights in my room. I then went over to my bed and got under the sheets, staring up at the dark ceiling thinking about tomorrow.
Maybe everything would go right tomorrow? Who am I kidding, nothing ever goes right with me.
I didn't bother looking in the toilet, instead I flushed it. I cleaned the bile away from my mouth afterwards. This was the second time today. I frown, trying to think what could cause this. Maybe I ate something bad? I push away the thought quickly.
If it didn't stop within a few days I would figure out something.
I dismissed the thought of going to a hospital. It meant that I'd have to deal with needles, and all of those weird machines. I hated hospitals, or any type of medical office in general. They'll judge you based on what you do, and how what they diagnose you with.
If they see my scars they'll know how fuc.ked up I am.
I didn't want anyone to know anything about me. I couldn't get close to anyone, and I couldn't just rat my dad out. I'd be forced off into an orphanage or a foster home. I could not handle that. I couldn't handle strangers bringing their attention to me. I didn't deserve it.
I'd rather be his punching bag than have unwanted attention.
-
The last two classes of the day went by okay. Nothing major happened, and Vic wasn't in the class I had him with. I thought nothing of it, I was just glad that I didn't have to deal with him. I currently was walking home, having just gotten out of my last class and I had already gone to my locker before I left.
It wasn't a long walk to my home, just a few blocks that would take 15-20 minutes at minimum. My father would expect me home by 4:00, that was if he had lost his job. I would think he didn't, but he's unpredictable.
He's always jumping from job to job, not settling on one. I had grown used to it though, not finding it too surprising when he moved to a different job. Whenever he did move jobs it took him about a week to get ahold of a new job. If I was lucky it'd be a job within town, if not, well it'd be somewhere in another town and we'd have to move again.
I don't think I'd have to worry about that for a while though. I snap away from my thoughts when a black, 1969, Dodge Charger slowed to my walking pace next to me. I glanced at the car, seeing that the driver was Vic's brother, Mike Fuentes.
"Hey, need a lift home?" Mike asked, his window was rolled down.
I looked at him, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. Why where the Fuentes' brothers being so nice to me? Was it because what Vic had seen in the bathroom. I glanced at Mike then back towards where I was walking. Had Vic told him?
I was going to deny his offer, but it started to rain. It was more of a drizzle, but I knew it would get worse. I didn't need to get sick within the first week of being here, so I accepted his offer.
"s-sure." I muttered, Mike motioned for me to get in the passenger seat.
After telling him where I lived, he began driving there. I looked out the window, watching the rain droplets hit the window then glide smoothly to the right. I'd break my focus away from the droplets every so often, just so I could look at the surroundings.
I glanced at Mike, seeing he was looking at the road. I then looked back out the window, seeing that we were approaching the street my house was on. When we arrived to my house he stopped the car, pulling over on the side of the road in front of the house. I looked at him.
"Tha-nk you" I said quietly, gathering my bag from the floor of the car to leave.
"Wait." he said, opening the dashboard of the car. He pulled out a little stack of post-it notes and a pen. He tossed the pen back in the dashboard after he wrote something down on a orange post-it note.
"Here." he handed me the paper, closing the dashboard and locking it one he handed it to me.
The paper had numbers messily scribbled on it. I looked at him with a skeptical look.
"I'd like to get to know you." he spoke, I had a feeling I knew why he wanted to get to know me. "But, as a friend, yeah?"
"Y-y-eah. F-ri-ends." I confirmed, opening the door.
My dad's car wasn't there, so he must still be at work. I glanced back at Mike, giving him a reassuring smile, before finally getting out and leaving. I closed the car door behind me, and made my way into my house to avoid the rain wetting my clothes any further.
Once I was in my house I went to the kitchen to get something to drink. I placed my bag in a chair of the kitchen table. I grabbed a glass and filled it with water. After I had finished my drink, I placed the glass in the sink. I then began to wash the dishes by hand, I didn't need my father bit.ching at me because of the unclean dishes. I also had to cook dinner later.
When I finished washing the dishes I began to cook dinner, since it was about 5:00. I cooked something simple, nothing too hard. After everything was done I went ahead and fixed my dinner, which wasn't much.
It was just mash potatoes, mac and cheese, along with a small chicken strip. It wasn't much, but it was one of the few things I could cook properly. The rest I left for my father, covering the separate bowls with their designated lids.
I took my dinner up to my room, closing the door behind me and sitting at my desk, I booted up my laptop. I had this English paper I needed to work, after I finished eating, of course. I ate a little bit of my dinner, pushing the rest aside.
Before I started to work on my English paper, I took my plate to the kitchen. I dumped the remaining food into the garbage, washed my hands and went back to my room. My dad would be home at any minute by now.
I texted Mike while I did my school work. I did this for the rest of the afternoon. By the time it was 8:00 I was nearly done writing my English paper, my dad had came home already and hadn't really said much to me.
He didn't seem to bother with my existence at the moment. I was okay with him ignoring me, it meant less beatings.
At 8:34 PM I decided to take a shower. I grabbed some of my clothes and went off to the shower. Just as I began to strip away from my clothes, my phone vibrated. I looked at it, seeing I had a text from Mike.
'want to hang out tomorrow? At my place?'
I bit my lip, thinking about it. I don't think I would want to go crawling into the devil's den. I also didn't want to get in trouble, but Mike seemed alright.
'I can't, busy.' I hated to deny his request, but I couldn't risk getting into trouble with my father. I was still considering his offer though.
'When are you free?' Mike sent the text after a few minutes.
'Saturday, we could hang out then?' I hesitated before sending the text, my father wouldn't be home during this weekend. He had some business thing he had to do and wouldn't be back until Sunday morning. He wouldn't even know I was gone.
'Yeah, sounds like a plan.' I placed my phone own after reading the text. I locked the door to the bathroom then finished stripping off my boxers. I placed everything in the hamper, I would wash the clothes tomorrow.
-
It was midnight and I was in my bathroom, tears stained my cheeks and a few new bruises scattered over my body. I had locked myself in here since my father had decided to beat on me a bit. I was used to it.
I dabbed a washcloth on my face, wincing at the slight pain on my right cheek. He had smacked me pretty hard, and kicked me a few times in the ribs. I muttered a few curses as I noticed that my cheek would most likely be bruised by the morning.
I cleaned up a bit, a few of the of the cuts on my body had opened up. I put gauze and band aids on them, cleaning them first.Then I finally went back into my room. He was gone by now, probably in his room. I made my way over to my dresser and pulled out an oversized sweatshirt.
I kept the same sweatpants on, not bothered to change them. After I put on my sweatshirt I turned off the lights in my room. I then went over to my bed and got under the sheets, staring up at the dark ceiling thinking about tomorrow.
Maybe everything would go right tomorrow? Who am I kidding, nothing ever goes right with me.