Scarlet scars

CHAPTER 2: Kill her!

Scarlet

I was being chased by a monster, holding a sharp knife in its claws. It was black with scaly feet and elongated scaly hands, but surprisingly with a human face. My aunt Brenda’s face to be precise. She was trying to kill me? Why? I ran and ran as fast as my legs could carry me but it didn't stop chasing. I realised my time was up when I met a wall. It was a dead end.

"It's time you die scarlet, I will kill you!" she said. I felt the shadow of death hanging over me and I couldn't breath. My lungs where giving up, depriving me of air and the one insistent thought on my mind was, I can not die now. I didn’t know why but I just knew I couldn’t. I’d always had a death wish but, one thing I didn’t want was a painful death.

she raised her black hand in the air screaming "I will kill you!!" I screamed, covering my face with my hands but then I woke up, beads of sweat forming on my skin.

It was just a nightmare!

I felt so relieved. I dropped down on the pillow in an attempt to calm my beating heart when I heard my aunt's voice calling my name from downstairs. Just from her voice, I could tell she was angry enough to turn my nightmare into a reality.

"Scarlet!” My aunts voice came again “Scarlet you i***t come down here! how many f*****g times do I have to call you, you better get down here quickly before I lose my patience!" I groaned wondering why she was calling me in the middle of the night. I checked the time on my alarm and almost dropped it as I saw what time it was.

How the f**k was it morning already?

oh no! Oh no! she was going to kill me!.

The time on the clock was 6:50 am. I was supposed to wake up at 4 am in the morning to prepare hot water and breakfast for my uncle, aunt and my cousins before leaving for college. It usually took about an hour for the water to be ready and 30 minutes for the food.

Getting up at 4 am gave me enough time to do everything and also make it to class on time, since I had to take the bus. The twins drove their own cars to college and they had never agreed to take me with. So I stopped bothering to ask for a ride after a while.

I had overslept and I really didn't intend to. It happened because I had slept really late the previous night. I had to wait, out in the cold, until my uncle returned. It was one of the punishments for stepping foot into their precious garden. Stupid garden!

My uncle came back when It was close to 3 am. So technically, I had slept outside and I hadn’t had enough sleep. I knew that was as much as I could get. I fumbled with my sweatpants trying to get them on, thinking about what she would do to me this time around.

I remembered a few months before, this one time I had served my aunt's breakfast 10 minutes later than usual. she had made me stay hungry for two days straight without a morsel of food. she had accused me of trying to starve her. How could a full grown woman starve because of a having one late breakfast? My aunt wasn’t that good with logic I guess.

I got up from the bed rushing towards the stairs but before I could even reach the door, the door to the store room, a.k.a my bedroom, was pushed open with a huge bang sound as it hit the wall. I am so dead!

My aunt was standing at the door fuming. comically I could see the red flames coming from her head. I had to rein in my laughter because this was a serious situation, no jokes. I was in trouble.

Damn comic books!

"It seems we have been too kind to you, you devil" my aunt said as she approached me like a wrestler approaching his opponent. I stood there frozen in my tracks. I didn't know what else to do. was I supposed to run? or try and beg my aunt for mercy, that I wouldn’t do it again? I settled for accepting whatever was to come because it was futile to try and explain.

My aunt reached me and grabbed my hand yanking me forward, I lost my balance and found myself on the floor. She pulled me up and before I could get a chance to steady myself, she raised her hand and slapped me very hard across the face, I lost my balance again and fell hitting my head on the sharp edge of the bed.

I winced in pain as I let out a groan. I couldn't hold my tears in any more. All the ‘I’m a strong girl” pep talk I’ve been giving myself gone with that slap. I let the tears fall freely as I felt the pain spread out in my skull.

"You’re an evil child! you are not satisfied with killing your parents right? you also want to finish me and my family off right?" she said as she pulled me up, pulling me by the collar of my shirt. I was sure she didn’t know what she was talking about because if she was worried I wanted to kill them, she wouldn’t let me close to their food. I mean why go through the stress of letting them starve, which was impossible because they have hands, when I could just kill them easily?

"Aunt it hurts please," I cried out when she pulled me up using my hair. She tugged on it harder as she dragged me towards the door. I pulled onto my hair trying to make her let go but she only tightened her grip and yanked me forward.

"oh! so it hurts? right?" she asked in a somewhat devilish tone while loosening her grip a little. She grinned as she looked at my face and said, "So you don't think it hurts to stay hungry? my husband should go to work on an empty stomach because of you? my children too? just wait and see, this is not enough punishment for you. it's like we have been too kind to you." she said pulling me towards the stairs.

"Aunt plea... please it hurts, I didn't mean to, I... I won't do it again please." I cried when I saw the glint that promised nothing good in her eyes. My head was throbbing from the hit I took and from her firm hold on my hair.

She kept dragging me and when we got to the stairs, she pushed me forward and let go. It took me seconds to realise what was happening and when I did, I was already rolling down the stairs.

"Mother!" I cried out loud, as I reached out trying to hold on to anything. I rolled down the stairs hands on my head shielding it. I coiled myself into a ball, when I landed a few feet away from the staircase. I felt the pain ricocheting throughout my entire body. "Mother why did you leave me in a world like this?" I cried hoping to get an answer, but none came. Why on earth was I still alive anyway?

I heard my aunt's voice a distance "you want to kill me right? well, I will not give you that chance. instead I will kill you first" she scoffed. Not even trying to check if I was fine. It wasn’t the first time she’d thrown me down the stairs though, so she knew I was alive. "You should have just died along with you useless parents." she spat just as Amelia walked out of her room.

"Why can't she just die?" she asked in a taunting voice "I had to bath cold water because of her!" she loudly added. As old as she was, she didn’t even know how or where to turn on the hot water from. I only ever felt sorry for her.

"It's okay my princess” right, she was a princess. “she has gotten her punishment already plus she will not eat anything in this house for 2 days. so that she won't repeat this again. she wants to be living here for free." My aunt scoffed.

I couldn't help but cry because of their words. I didn't care about not eating for two days, I can go longer than that and also, I never ate anything except leftovers in this house. I always ate at work. The fact that they had to pull my parents in every time I messed up, was something I didn’t take well.

I didn't want to get up from the floor before they left because if I did, I would be accused of trying to fight with my aunt. I remember when I was 14, my aunt hit me hard on the back of my head, that I hit the wall but instead of cowering at her feet, I quickly stood up straight, facing her without an expression of pain on my face. She’d accused me of trying to hit her and that I had grown wings. so every time I would fall, I did not bother getting up, until she was no longer present.

"Amelia call your sister down soon so that we can go and have breakfast at Mr Grande's, I will drop you two afterwards or only one of you can bring their car, we don't want to use up too much parking space this early morning.” She said as she reached where I lay still like lifeless coiled up. She kicked me on the side and spat on me as she turned on her heels and headed towards the garage through the kitchen door.

soon after the twins followed suit. with Amelia kicking me on the same side her mother had kicked "b***h!" she spat as she left. Emelda Did not even spare me a glance, too busy on her phone. She’d always been like that. She never talked to me or anything. every time I was being abused she would just watch and never say anything. She was better because she didn’t care at all. We could have gotten along so well.

After I heard the sound of the engine, I got up and limped up to the bathroom to wash up and leave for school. I went straight to the mirror to make sure my face did not have any visible scars. I had a cut on my forehead which was bleeding but it wasn’t something a tiny little band aid wouldn't fix. My right leg was not okay, though, I felt as though it was dislocated but I knew it would get better in a matter of days. I could only try and hide the limp but not missing classes because of a few minor bruises. I would be graduating soon, so it was imperative that I didn’t miss classes.

I showered quickly and put on my oversized long sleeved t-shirt to hide the bruises on my arms and a pair of worn out jeans. I grabbed my worn out converse shoes from under the bed and put them on. I really needed to get my self another pair of shoes before my toes started sticking out. The shoes were life savers as I had, had them for a long time.

I pulled on my baseball cap hoping it would hide the bandaid and then threw my back pack on and left for college.