"Where have you been?"
The lights in the living room switched on as soon as she felt the benign presence of her step father.
"I was at practice. It ended around seven." She closed the door behind her and quickly headed for the stairs.
"You're in a rush. But I think staying down here will be best, your mother is at work. And Matthew's laying on the bed waiting for you." Skaii winced at his words, as he spoke. Then she turned to him. He was propped up on the couch, with his legs folded and a newspaper in his hand.
"God knows what he's doing now!" Skaii shrieked and ran her hands through her hair in frustration. Mathew was her step brother. And an annoying and manipulative bastard that got everything he wanted. His father spoilt him with cars, cash, jewelry and women; blatantly wanting to include Skaii.
"Sniffing your lacy little drawers, darling." Someone piped in. Skaii glanced up, her breath hitched when she saw Matthew at the top of the stairs. He was waving one of her underwears in his face. He grinned when his eyes met Skaii's.
"You sick f*cks!" Skaii screamed, the tears she fought hard to hold in were streaming down her face.
"Ha," Her step father tsk. "Keep your voice down, wouldn't want to wake the neighbours." He looked up from the paper he was reading and winked.
"I'll wake the whole neighborhood if you don't let me go up to my room." Skaii warned, but her voice did her no justice.
And they knew that.
Her step father scoffed and threw the paper to the floor. "Where were you? I called the school, they said practice ended at six."
Skaii gulp as her uneasiness mounted. She dreaded that if they knew she visited her father and brother, the results will be unpleasant.
So she lied.
"I was at a friend's house."
"Bullshit, I know how you are at school, you don't have friends." Matthew hopped down the stairs, almost playfully, one foot after the other.
Skaii was silently praying for him to fall. But her hopes were shattered when he came off the last step.
"Yeah, well this friend is special, unlike you." She gritted out.
"What did you just say?" Before she could open her mouth to speak, he grabbed her by her throat and pushed her back to the wall. She held onto his hands, trying to pull him off, but like so many times before, she failed.
She couldn't speak or breathe. But even though he was choking her, she would've told him to kiss her ass.
"If you think that you can disrespect me while in my own house, you are mistaken." He gritted out and squeezed her tighter. "I own you, you should understand that by now."
"What the hell is going on in here!" Her mother shouted as she walked in. She looked between Skaii and Matthew and her eyes ablaze.
Her presence should have made Skaii feel better, but it did not. Her mother didn't really have a say in what goes on in the house, she never did. And all her presence did was call off her dogs, for now.
"Are you alright sweety?" She asked kindly and touched her face as soon as Matthew moved away from her.
Skaii pushed her hands away and shook her head. "I will never be okay as long as I live with you." She grabbed her bag from the floor and ran up the stairs.
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Dear Mr. Nobody,
It has happened again. My evil step father and step brother have made a fresh cut. My mother would be the person I vent to but now she has fallen deeper for his charms and money. She sees that he hurts me, but she loves him more. Does she even love me at all?
I can't spend another day with them, I can't bare to think that I live with them.
S.H
Skaii clicked her pen and opened her bag to stuff her notepad inside.
She was sitting in the girls' locker room. Everyone was dabbing their faces with makeup and putting on their outfits on. Some were talking just to get prepped for the game.
"Girls, this is it. Try to find your happy place. " Skaii spoke up over the noise and a silence instantly engulfed the room. "Alright, you all know the routine by now. If you mess up, people will think that I'm a failure, because I'm the one who taught you. So please try your best and not be a chip on my shoulder okay? You know what happens when you do. So hurry up and finish getting dressed." She clapped her hands together and they immediately scrambled to slip on their uniform.
Skaii pulled out her own uniform and stared down at it. She was just a junior when she started wearing it, and that uniform made her feel like the whole world was paused, and only cheerleading existed. It was her sanctuary.
Remember everyone loves you. You're beautiful baby. She thought with a smile, maybe even referring to herself as well.
"Skaii, the game's about to start." Melinda nudged her side with her elbow.
"Okay, everyone leave now!" Skaii snapped. The talking died down for a moment, then it started again as when the girls stalked through the door.
She turned to face the mirror at the corner of the room. And then quickly began to apply concealer to her neck. The bruises that Matthew left was still there.
In no time, with a lot of concealer, the purple marks were hidden. But unfortunately Skaii knew that no amount of makeup can fix the amount of damage that was done to her soul.