Summer (excerpt 3)

i'm posting this for the abuse contest

                “I’m home,” Summer called as she opened the door to her apartment.  “Mom?”

                No one was home. 

                Good, she thought.  She would rather be alone anyway.  The house was dark and quiet, just the way she liked it.  No noisy distractions, no worrying about what anyone else thought about what she was doing… Just peace. 

                Sitting down at the dining room table, she rested her head against the polished wood.  This week hadn’t been so bad.  Of course, there were a few setbacks"there always were"but she was still alive… Although sometimes she wasn’t completely sure whether that was something to be proud of or something to be ashamed of.  Sometimes she thought the world would be better off without her.  Her mother certainly thought so. 

                Summer sighed.  She wished her mother would simply love her for who she was, but apparently she just couldn’t live up to the being the type of daughter her mother dreamed of.  Somehow, though, Malek and Shaun had been able to earn her approval and ever since they were born Summer didn’t stand a chance.  Living with Mariana was like living in a minefield.  One moment she was in a good mood and a split second later she was fuming.  One wrong word and she’d be blown to bits without warning. 

                As if on cue, the door knob turned and Mariana walked in with her brothers in tow. 

                “Hi,” Summer said, looking up.

                “Why are you at the table?  You didn’t forget what we discussed about the food, did you?”

                “No, I remember.  I just got home and sat down.  I haven’t even gone in the kitchen.”

                Mariana sighed dramatically. 

                “Hey, guess what mom got us?” her youngest brother, Shaun, asked excitedly.

                “What?” she answered drily.

                “We got a new video game system.  It’s awesome!”

                Summer smiled. “Cool.”

                “Maybe you’d get cool things every now and then if you were good,” Mariana commented.  “You guys go set that up in your room.  Summer, clean the living room, please.”

                Rubbing her ankle, Summer stood up and started picking up the few miscellaneous items that had been left in the living room the night before.  God forbid the boys clean up their own mess, she thought.  She never used the living room.  She was a prisoner to her room by choice.  She couldn’t stand being around those people for longer than a few minutes.  She hated always having to fake smiles and pretend to be someone she wasn’t.  Besides, her room contained everything she needed to survive.  Her music was there; her books, her bed, the computer she’d worked all summer to buy, and a window with the screen punched out for a quick escape if the situation arose.  To her, it was the most perfect place in the house. 

                Summer grabbed the pair of socks that were draped across the arm of the couch and took them to her brothers’ room.

                “Catch,” she called. 

                Malek caught one of them and watched as other landed in the middle of the floor.  “Thanks,” he said as he tossed the sock on his bed. “You want to watch us play?”

                She glanced up at the television screen where a fat monkey danced above a progress bar. 

                “No thanks.  Maybe later.”

                Malek shrugged and turned back to the game.

                On her way back to her room, she tapped on her mother’s door.  “Living room is clean,” she said.

                Mariana looked up from her laptop.  “Everything’s off the carpet?”

                “Yes.  I put the books that were on the floor on the coffee table.  The boys’ clothes I gave to them.  Did you want anything else?”

                “Okay.  Uh…” She paused as her phone rang.  “Hmm, I don’t recognize this number.  Hang on a second.”

                “Sure.”  Summer said. “I’ll be in my room.”

                Mariana nodded and held up a finger.  “Yes this is she…” she said into the phone.  “No, what’s going on?”

                Yawning, Summer went to her room and sat down at the computer.  She quickly typed in her username and password into Yahoo! Messenger and waited for it to log her in. 

                “No one online?” she said aloud.  “Oh well, I should probably get started on my homework anyway.” 

                Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother walking towards her room.  Angrily, she flung open the door and stormed in.  “Would you like to tell me why your school counselor is calling me saying that you have bruises and scars all over you?” she shouted.  “Are you crazy?  Do you know what would happen if they took you away?  It wouldn’t be just you.  They’d take your brothers too.  You think they want to live without their mom because of you?”

                “I’m sorry.  I didn’t tell anyone anything…”

                “Oh yeah, right!  If you hadn’t said anything then they WOULDN’T… BE… CALLING… ME!!”  Each word was punctuated with a clap of her hands.  Mariana grabbed her daughter by the shirt and shoved her against the wall.  “I don’t even know what to do with you right now, I’m so mad!”

                “I could always leave…” she commented, hoping that this would be the one time her mother would just say okay.  “I’m not trying to get you into trouble.  I wouldn’t do that.”

                Mariana sighed.  “You have ten minutes to get your stuff and get out of my house,”
she said through clenched teeth.  Pushing the girl away from her, she stomped out of the room. 

                “If she’s moving out, can I have her room?” Shaun asked.

                “I don’t care,” Mariana responded.  “I really just do not care.”

                Summer let out a shuddery sigh as she sank to her knees.  She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand as she thought.  It was 4:38.  That meant she had until 4:48 to be out.  Grabbing her backpack, she emptied it and replaced its contents with two sets of clothes.  Looking around her room, she tried to decide if there was anything else she wanted to take with her.  Once she left, she wasn’t planning on coming back.  Ever.

                I guess I should call Kaelas and let him know I won’t be here, she thought.

                She quickly dialed his number and waited as the phone rang in her ear.

                “Hello?”

                “I’m out,” she said.  “I’m leaving.”

                “She kicked you out again?” Kaelas asked.  “Where are you?”

                “I’m still right now.  I’m trying to get some of my stuff together.  I have…” she glanced at the clock, “four minutes to be out.”

                “Want me to meet you somewhere?”

                Summer frowned as she thought.  “I guess you could meet me at the entrance of my complex.  Just don’t come all the way to my house.  I don’t know how wide the area these people are supposed to be watching is and I really don’t want them to see you.”

                Kaelas sighed into the phone.  “When I get there, you’re going to tell me what’s going on with that.”’

                Summer laughed.  “Maybe.  So I’ll see you in a bit?”

                “I’ll be there.”

                “Hey,” she said. 

                “What?”

                “I love you.”

                Kaelas’ heart almost stopped.  “I love you too.”

                Summer laughed again.  “Bye.”

                Sliding the phone in her pocket, she grabbed her backpack and glanced around her room one more time.  Old room, she corrected herself.  She could feel the butterflies fluttering around in her stomach and she smiled.  She was excited.  For once she was actually being allowed to leave.  She was free.  Free to live without always being afraid, without always being worried that something was going to happen.  She had been waiting for this moment for as long as she could remember and now no one could take it away from her.  Even Marcus couldn’t complain because she and her mother had agreed on it.  It was done. 

                Summer bent down to scratch Ginger behind the ears as she came looking for attention.  She wished she could take the dog with her, but in all honesty she didn’t even know where she was going to stay yet.  Wherever she went might not even be open to dogs.  She wasn’t too worried though.  She knew they would take care of her.  Even though she technically belonged to Summer, everyone in the house loved her.  In fact, most of the time she figured they loved the dog more than her anyway.

                 4:47.  Summer walked out of her room and close the door behind her.  She looked back at her brothers as they sat on their beds furiously pressing buttons on the game controller.  She tried to peek in her mother’s room, but she couldn’t see inside.  The door was only cracked.  Taking a deep breath, she headed down the hallway to the front door.  She closed her eyes, savoring the long awaited moment.

                Before she could even grasp the door knob, she felt someone grab the collar of her shirt, yanking her backwards.

                “What?” she exclaimed as she looked into her mother’s angry face.  “You just said I could go!”

                Mariana cursed as she threw her daughter against the back wall.  “You think you can just get off that easy?” she yelled.  “Well let me tell you something, little girl!  It doesn’t work that way!”

                Summer bolted for the door, but her mother was faster.  She grabbed her arm and swung her around so her back was against the wall.  Kicking her already injured leg, she pinned her to the ground.

                “I am so sick and tired of you!” Mariana screamed.  “Somebody get me a strip of leather!”

                “Oh, I’ll get one!” Shaun said as he scurried away from the doorway where he had been watching.

                Summer groaned loudly as she tried to push her mother off of her. Even though she was a small woman, she was pretty strong.  Stronger than her. 

                “Get off of me!” she screeched.

                “Shut up,” Mariana shot back.  Balling up her fist, she struck the side of her face.  “I swear if you don’t stop moving I will kill you.”

                Summer squirmed trying to force her way out of her mother’s grasp, but every time she kicked, Mariana struck her leg.  If she tried to push away, she struck her arm.  Silently, she cursed herself for thinking things could end peacefully.  That’s what you get for trusting your mother, even for a split second, she told herself.

                “Get off!” she yelled again.

                Mariana wrapped her arm around Summer’s neck, pulling her into a tight choke hold.  She ignored as her daughter scratched at her arm in a desperate attempt to get her to let go.

                “I… I can’t… breathe!” she struggled.  She bit down on her mother’s fingers as they covered her mouth. 

                Mariana yelped and smacked the girl in the face.  Leaning over, she bit down hard on the side of her daughter’s face.

                Summer tried to yell, but her face was planted in the carpet and everything was starting to look fuzzy.  She tried to scream again for her to get off, but she couldn’t catch her breath.  She tried to wiggle and reach for her phone.  Maybe she could dial emergency or even Kaelas.  She knew he’d be there in an instant if he only knew what was going on.  But her head was swimming and all she could see was the large fuzzy spots growing before her eyes.  She could no longer see the room or anyone in it.  She could hear Mariana saying something to her brother, but she couldn’t tell what it was… They sounded so far away.  I’m going to die, Summer thought.  And I never really even got to live.  She could feel something striking her skin, but she was so detached that she couldn’t tell what it was…  Part of her no longer cared.  Slowly the fuzziness in her eyes expanded, the voices faded, and everything went dark.

 

~~~

 

                It felt like she’d been asleep for hours by the time she finally opened her eyes.  Her world was nothing but a dark shadowy haze.  She could barely see anything.  She thought she could hear voices in the distance, but they sounded so far away she didn’t think they would be able to hear her if she tried to call out.   She wiggled her fingers, feeling the soft material beneath them.  Her bed.  So she was still in her room.  What happened?  She was supposed to be leaving.

                Moving her arm carefully, she rubbed her forehead.  The room was slowly coming into focus.  She could see her backpack tossed on the computer chair, its contents sliding out. 

She didn’t see her phone.  Wincing, she rolled over and slid open the bedroom window.  It was always unlocked and the screen had never been put in, specifically for a time like this.  She paused as the sound of footsteps approached her room.  As the door knob started to turn, Summer sucked in a breath and slipped through the window.  She heard her mother shout something as she entered the room, but she didn’t wait to hear what it was.  As quickly as possible, she darted across the lot and disappeared into the dense wood behind the house.

Reviews

[Ashley Black]

very good work :) i lvoe it it's very intriguing

[Elvina CZq]

I like your story best. You really have a way to capture every emotion contains in this story. Especially the very last part when Summer was trying to escape, really give my heart a loud beat. You're not only good at writing poems, but in stories, you are able to write your best and in truthful way. Keep up the spirit of writing :) you are a talented writer indeed :)

Hello Cattie Rain, I am S.S. and I am the creator of the contest that you have submitted this piece to. I can guarantee you that you are a finalist. This was fantastic.

[LynLee]

OMG! this is horrible! i felt so much emotion i wanted to stop reading, but i couldn't! this is bad, but such a good write! i hope you win that contest!