What A Smile Can Hide

   I screamed as Charles repeatedly hit my head into the wall. Tears soaked my face, stinging the cuts that were covering my cheeks. He grabbed my hair, jerking my head back. "Does it hurt?" Charles mocked. I stayed silent, squeezing my eyes shut, trying to block out the pain. "Does it hurt?" He seethed, tightening his grip on my hair. I nodded, squeezing m eyes closed harder. "Use words!" Charles demanded, I flinched. "Yes," I sobbed. "Good," he hissed, I let out another deafening scream, as he hit my head back into the wall and let go.    I slid down to the floor, cradling my head, Charles crouched down to my level. "Now, clean up this mess. And next time I expect to come home to the house looking spotless. And if it's not, it won't be you lying on the floor next time, it'll be your brother." Charles said, standing and walking away.    My head spun as I slowly stood, Frances was standing there on the other side of the room, watching with no emotion. Like every other time, she just stood there. I looked to the wall behind me, to find blood splattered, leading down to the marble floor.    I raised my hand up to my temple, feeling warm liquid. I brought my trembling hand back down to see blood. Slowly and carefully, I made my way towards the hallway closet, taking out a mop, bucket and a few cloths.   I walked to the laundry, filling the bucket with water, and disinfectant. I carried the stuff back to the wall that was covered in my blood, dipping a cloth in the bucket and wiping the blood off the wall. Then moving onto the floor and moping away the existing blood.    Once I was done I put everything away and went upstairs, to my bedroom. I knocked quietly on the door. "Jaxon, you can unlock the door now." I whispered.    I heard shuffling around from the inside until I heard the lock click. Slowly, I opened the door, to see my little brother crying. When I closed the and knelt down next to him, he wrapped his arms around my neck. I hugged him back. "I'm sorry, Grace." Jaxon cried into my shoulder.    I rubbed his back soothingly. "It's alright Jax, it's not your fault." I said pulling away.     Slowly I stood up, grabbing a few tissues out of a tissue box on my bedside table and handing them to Jaxon. He wiped away his tears, looking back up to me. "Your head, Gracie." He gasped. "I'm okay, I've just got to go clean it up." I said, walking into the bathroom attached to my bedroom. And fishing out my first aid kit from the drawer under the sink.     Looking into the mirror, I seen fresh blood mixing with dry blood, and my dark brown hair. I grabbed a hand towel, wetting it with warm water and dabbing at the blood. Once the blood was gone, the wound didn't look too bad. I popped my head out of the bathroom, Jaxon was on my, lying down. I looked at the time on my bedside table, it read 8:26 pm. "Alright Jax, bedtime." I sighed. "I'm going to grab some pyjamas for you, stay here. Don't leave the room," I demanded, he nodded slightly and yawned.    I quickly walked into Jaxon's room across the hall. Grabbing some pyjamas, and some extra clothes for Jax tomorrow, I hurried back into my room. Jaxon was already fast asleep, curled up into the blankets.    I sighed, chuckling lightly. And placed the clothes at the end of the bed. I walked back into the bathroom and had a quick shower, once I dried off and changed into some pyjamas. I found some butterfly stitches, and carefully placed them over the cut on my temple.    The other smaller cuts just looked like scratches. I slid into bed, tossing and turning until I finally fell asleep. Only to have the same nightmare that I have every night. "Don't hurt them please," my mother begged, reffering to my baby brother and I. Two men in black hoodies, held a gun to both my parents' head. My stomach knotted up, as the bile rose in my throat I bit it back down.  "Where's the money?" The one holding the gun to my father demanded. "We don't know what you're talking about," my father said. I held my baby brother to my chest as I was forced to watch the scene in front of me. Another man beside me, making sure I don't move. I cried silently. "We know your lying, now where is it?" His voice started to rise. "Please don't hurt them," my mother repeated. Bang!    I shot straight up in bed, breathing heavily, sweat dripping from my forehead. The bedsheets cung to my sweating body like a second skin. I looked over to the clock, 7:09 am. I quietly climbed out of bed, trying my hardest not to disturb Jaxon. And walked to the bathroom. After I was finished showering and brushing my teeth, I changed into a long sleeve white shirt, black jeans and a burgundy hoodie, with white converse.    I walked back over to my bed and gently shook Jaxon awake. "Come on Jax, time to get ready for school." I said.    He sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I don't wanna go to school," he whined. "Jax, you know that it's safer at school, than it is here. You have to. And I can't stay here, to make sure that you're safe." I explained.    He sighed, frowning.  "Well how about we quickly drop into the ice cream store on the way home?" I asked, face lit up straight away.    He nodded vigourously, jumping out of bed, grabbing his clothes and runnign into the bathroom. Once Jax came out of the bathroom, he was all dressed, and ready to go. With his hair neatly combed to one side.    I raised an eyebrow at his hair. "What, you don't like it?" He asked, sounding disappointed. "No, I love it, it looks great. But who are you dressing up for?" I asked, grabbing his cheeks and squeezing them.    Jaxon's face turned beet red. I chuckled softly and let go. "No one," he said innocently. "Alright, is your bag ready?" I asked, grabbing my plain black backpack, placing a few books and my phone in it. "Yep," Jaxon replied, also grabbing his backpack.    I went to reach for the handle of my bedroom door, quickly grabbing Jaxon's hand. "You know the drill, no speaking and be very quiet. We don't know if Charles is still here, okay?" I asked.    Giving his hand a little squeeze, he squeezed back as an answer.    We made our way out of my bedroom, tip toeing down the stairs and into the large marble kitchen. I went to the fridge and grabbed two unopened water bottles, passing one to Jaxon. And two sandwiches I had made the day before, when Frances and Charles were at work.    At the front door, I made sure all of my bruises were hidden and my hoodie was covering my face.        Once we got to the front of Jaxon's school, I gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. And he ran off onto the playground. Stopping halfway and turning to face me, giving me a cheeky smile and little wave, before he turned back around and kept running.    I walked to school, keeping my head down and face covered. The bell rang as soon as I entered the halls, and I hurried off to class through the crowd of noisy students. I was dreading recess, the schools biggest bullies would find me. They always do. When it's verbal abuse I can take it from them, but when they use physical abuse I can't take it.    I get enough of it from Charles.        The bell rang, signalling the start fo recess. If I hurried fast enough out of the hallways and onto the field, they might not find me. I jumped out of my seat, quickly packing up my things and hurrying down the hallways, towards the field.    I was five metres away from the door, leading to the field. I was pushed roughly, I let out a yelp, landing face first onto the floor. I felt a heel digging into the spine of my back. "What's up, nerd?" An annoyingly high pitched voice asked.     Holly Jenkins. "What do you want, Holly?" I asked, my voice muffled because the pressure of her heel was increasing and my neck was painfully twisted too far. "We want you to do our homework, all of it." She stated, her minions behind her laughing like hyenas, which would probably even be offensive to hyenas the way they're laughing.    I heard more footsteps, approaching and stopping right above me. "Ours too," they said. Mason Reed.    He dropped papers down by my side, I twisted my head to the side into a more comfortable position. The O'Ryan twins, Michael and Myles, both with blonde hair and hazel eyes, the only way you can tell them apart is that Myles has shorter hair. And then Mason Reed, the most popular, the leader. Black curly hair that flopped over his electric blue eyes, with the sides cropped short.    I couldn't see Holly, because she still had her six inch heel digging uncomfortably into my back. "Well, I don't want to do your stupid homework. Do it yourself, and stop being lazy." I blurted out before I could stop myself.     I felt all the colour drain from my face.    I'm in heaps of trouble now.    Holly's minion snickered, but cleared their throats after I'm assuming Holly had glared daggers at them. "Since when does the nerd talk back to us?" Asked Michael. "Apparently since today," Myles said. "Your doing our homework, that's final." Holly sneered, finally taking her foot off of my back.    I made sure my hoodie was covering my face, before slowly standing up. They all shoved their homework into my arms. Holly smirked at me, thinking she got her way like she always does. "Your not my mother." I said, wondering where the sudden confidence had come from. I held out the papers and dropped them. "Well, if I remember quite well, you don't have a mother anymore, or a dad. You should be grateful that the Johnston's adopted you." Holly said smugly.    I felt hot tears prick at the back of my eyes, from the sudden mention of my parents.    Mason roughly grabbed my shoudlers slamming me into the nearest wall. "You're doing our homework if you like it or not. Now, it better be finished by tomorrow. We'll find you when we want it," Mason said. "Just leave me alone," I said weakly. "Aw, you gonna go cry to your dead mummy?" Holly asked, in her high pitched voice. "Leave her out of this!" I screamed, finding anger over grief.    Students passing by stared and then kept walking. No one has the guts to stand up to them, especially if it's for me. "Or what?" Holly asked. "What are you gonna do, nerd? Fight us?" "Wow, the day I see that, is the day pigs are gonna fly." Michael chuckled.    Before I knew it, my fist had connected with Mason's jaw. As he was distracted by the sudden impact, I slipped out of his hold. "Michael, I guess pigs fly." I said and grabbed my backpack, running out the door onto the field, leaving them stunned.