She will not look back. Her footsteps pit pat throughout the cave, bouncing off the stalactites and into her pounding eardrum. Face hot, she presses on, legs burning, chubby nubile thighs pumping. Her muscles beg her to stop; the river invites her to cool her parched throat. But still she continues.
Tears are streaming down her cheeks, but she cannot feel them. She is numb.
Finally, she comes to a stop, a lurching halt that nearly throws her to her knees. Breaths come erratically, rasping out of her throat like a desert wind. Life-giving air returns to her lungs, and her breathing becomes regular. Calm. Almost, until the blue orbs in her face dart throughout the darkness, pupils dilating.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where am I? she mouths to no one. Why had she come? Never go into an unfamiliar cave – it was a simple lesson. Stupid, she thought, tears burning her eyes. He’s right. She should just go back.
She glances back at that little sleepy-eye sliver of light at the top of the cave. She’s so far down; she can’t get up if she tries. Can she?
Experimentally, she grabs a rock as a handhold, and pulls. She can get out. She pauses, fixated at a purple mar in her pale flesh. Don’t be a baby, it’s not even big enough to be from… she swallows her nervousness and looks back at the light.
But her sleeve has come up, and she can see the skin, mottled violet and green all over.
He looms over her. A monster.
Not the kind that lived under your bed, not one who went away when you woke up in the morning.
“Don’t ya wanna gimme a kiss, Katy?” She is overwhelmed by the stench of alcohol wafting acridly from his mouth. “A kiss goodnight for Daddy?”
She pushes him away weakly; even her muscles have accepted this as reality. “No.” The words push themselves out of her lips before she can stop herself. They hover in the air, a fantastical bubble the two observe in a hazy moment of quiet. But the reality of gravity sets in; her words tumble to the ground, and he grabs her by the throat.
“What did you say to me?”
She shakes her head vehemently and shuts her eyes tight. Red blotches appear in vision as she shuts them tighter and tighter. If she can’t see him, perhaps she’ll disappear all together.
She’s numb. The blows barely register in her brain. All she knows is that he’s hurting her. And then she sees something – a light.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------That was the day she first meets Jenna. Jenna understands. She comforts Katy when she’s hurt. She tells Katy that it’s not her fault. Jenna is a friend.
“Jenna!” she calls. Her voice sounds foreign in her own ears.
And at once, she feels herself slipping into a daze. The same daze she goes into while he’s beating her. Jenna is like a light. Katy can only see her out of her peripheral vision, but she knows she’s there. She’s always there.
“Jenna, is this where you wanted me to go?”
Yes.
The voice is there, Katy knows it. It pierces into her mind. “It’s real,” Katy reassures herself.
And you brought what I asked?
Her fingers fly to her waist, feel the fine tip of the knife. She shuts her eyes and lets it bite into her finger.
Not here. Keep going.
Katy nods, and climbs off the rock wall, and further into the cave.
Follow the river.
She presses on, compelled by some unscented force.
Her vision blurs, and she pats the tip again for comfort. It is still there, and its steel sting reassures her.
She sees things around her. Doorways. Worlds. Paths to freedom. A meadow calls to her, she can smell the green fields. A tree in the middle of spring, bursts of pink blossoms in the air. Strange worlds. Galaxies with planets encircled by moons, numerous suns blazing like infernos. She claws against the rock walls.
She can’t wait any longer. She pulls the kitchen knife from her hip, and giggles escapes her throat. They escalate into a full-on maniacal laugh. Jenna laughs with her. The crimson welling from her finger burns into her retinas. And it’s real. Too real.
The knife slips from her fingers, clatters to the ground.
What is it?
“No,” she gasps. Her lungs feel heavy. “I can’t.”
But don’t you remember…
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The bottles cover the floor. A shivering creature shudders in the corner, a deer in the head lights. The mass of fear is a girl.
“Where… is… my… money!” The verbal punches come between the physical blows.
She can’t find the words to explain that little girls need food , don’t they? And school supplies comes before his alcohol.
"And even she didn't want you," he slurs. The meaning is obvious. She can remember her mother, standing in the doorway, eyes bloodshot. "I can't deal woith this!" she had shouted. And then she'd left. Left Katy behind. Katy tells herself still that it wasn't her mother, that was drugs talking, the cocain with a mouth of it's own. But she hears that thouse who are under the influence of such substances speak their mind. Speak the truth.
But it’s pointless. She closes her eyes, and waits for the pounding to end.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And suddenly the crimson seeping from her finger is inviting. “Can’t I leave now?”
Farther.
She obeys. “So many paths…” Katy whispers. Which one to enter?
You cannot enter until you’re ready.
“Will I know?”
I think you will.
Katy pulls out the weapon, runs it down her arm, pulling the bruised skin off, exposing the veins. She watches with fascination as her body betrays itself, each beat of her heart pumps more life out. The black closes in, and she’s slipping, falling…
Free.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meh. I really don't like it much.
Thanks for reading!
--Antigone
) Or have it revolve more about the MC herself than what her body parts (muscles, blue orbs, breath) are doing.
All in all, I did think the effect came across nicely, but you could run a fine-tooth comb through this and rephrase some sentences so that the overall feel is more natural, more flowing. You may be going for a disjointed feel, which I think does work well, but some sentences (especially in the beginning) seem forced. Work on those, and you'll be good! ^_^
So I totally forgot that kids had mothers. Tee hee.
Gender:
Points: 3225
Reviews: 365