Fan Fiction ❯ From Rags to Happiness ❯ A Night in Hell ( Chapter 2 )

Once again, WARNINGS: Refer to Ch 1! I'm not gonna do these over and over again!

Disclaimer: Do I really need one of these? Seeing as this is MINE!! For once....-^^-'' Anyhoo! So, if you wanna borrow a chara or archive, or sumthin, ASK FIRST!! All I ask of you! I wanna know where these stories go. And if ou tell me, I'll be able to advertise for you!

Feedback: I have made one of my famous mind changes! I honestly don't care if you review or not. I know ya'll prolly won't. It's still a nice thing to do, though. Give me a pat on the back. I wanna know what you think. If only for my own gratification so I dun have something else to add to my depression list.... Not needed, but appreciated, let's say.

It was much later she got off the city bus two blocks from her home. She walked through the quiet meighborhood, watching the low sunlight playing through the tree branches laced above the road. The patterns were beginning to blend with the pavement.

The colors were just beginning to band across the sky when she slunk into her house. She placed the unused keys silently on the counter and placed her bookbag on the kitchen tile. She had even almost made it to the hallway before anyone stood in her way.

She wasn't very surprised to see a tallish figure guarding the door stiffly. She could tell it was a brother by the build. It was her youngest, still older than her, but younger than the other two. She slowed as she approached. The look on his face was severe. She could usually persuade him not to do things with money or the promise to do something for him. He didn't look to be in a bargaining mood. His features were set into a dark frown and his eyes were frozen and fixed on her. His gaze picked out the dust stains on her coat and jeans and took careful notice of the dulled fear.

"You're late." Even his voice was stiff.

She just nodded cautiously at the floor. The carpet was clean, someone must've been doing her chores while she was on the bus. That wasn't good at all. She felt another person move next to her brother. It was another one. He was the oldest of the three. He looked much different than the rest of the family. Her father suspected his former wife of cheating and kept her in suspicious regard up until the birth of the last child. The new threat picked up his postition a little closer to his sister. He held her in much the same regard as the first.

"You know I had to do your chores for you, dontcha, squidge? I had to miss meeting up with the team to do the laundry."

Her back was getting rigid with the fear. They were going to really mess her up this time. She probably wouldn't be able to move till tomorrow if their voices were any way to gauge the beating. A small shiver made its way over her body. She was chanting a protective mantra in her head so they wouldn't call her father or other brother. It seemed to work, as the two assembled were the only ones coming towards her.

She gave a fleeting thought to trying to run, but it was quickly quashed by the menace in the boys' steps. She shrank back a tiny bit and curled into herself. It didn't do much good.

The older grabber her by the hair, pulling her up. After he had sufficiently gotten her upright, he changed his grip to her neck and applied pressure. She found her breathing restricted more and more with each passing second. Eventually she couldn't draw any air at all and she dangled helplessly in her brother's grasp. The younger was leaning on the couch, waiting for his chance to join the fun. Her eyes began to bulge a little and she flitted her gaze from one object to another, frantically trying to find something to focus on. There wasn't anything.

"You know, squidge," began the leaning brother, "this is what you deserve. Making us do your work like common animals. You have nobody to blame but your own selfish self. We're only doing justice. And if you tell anyone, you know what you'll get. Don't even consider it," he bit off.

Soon, when her lips began turning colors, her brother dropped her altogether. She crumpled into a heap, sucking in breath after rattling breath. She coughed a little. She could feel the vibrations of both coming closer and she felt like bolting. The fear and pain kept her riveted to the floor. She could hear a little whoosing noise as some body part was drawn back

And her head burst into sparkles as two heavy feet slammed into her ribcage. Before she had a chance to recover, they did it again and again, moving anywhere between her collarbone and breasts to her soft stomache. Each blow brought on its own set of brightness dancing through her mind. The kicking was reduced some and a muffled command to stand up was heard. She struggled to obey and made it into a kneeling position before a sharp kick to her back made her collapse again. She could almost hear the angry words directed to the one who did it before she struggled up again. This time she made it into a wobbly stand.

Her breathing was ragged with little sobs at the end, but she didn't cry. She learned that lesson early on. Crying made it worse. They let her stand a minute as they stood close to figure out what to do next. They moved back in and bagan to rain fists, open and closed, and a kick or two to any area they could reach. A punch or two might have knocked her down had it not been for the boy behind her holding her up by raining blows of his own. Every hit made her ears ring. She was pretty sure it was blood trickling down her face and it hurt every time she dragged in a breath.

Her eyes were slammed shut, trying to get as little of the impact as possible. Eventually they got tired and let her slump into the arms of someone. There were murmers above her. Then she was being dragged into another room. During her beating, the coat and blazer had been ripped from her and the rest of her shirt was flapping uselessly around her arms and strung in shreds over her torso. Her jeans had gotten several nasty tears and weren't doing much below her thighs than clinging to her skin. Both shoes had come off and one sock was missing.

The cold tile under her foot told her they were either in the bathroom or kitchen and running water specifed it as the bathroom. Though what they were planning for in here was a mystery. Usually her brothers by themselves were worse than her father because they blamed her for their mother. And she had never had them drag her to the bathroom before. When they dropped her on the floor, she blacked out for a minute.

They got her to come to by smacking a wet washcloth on her cheek.

"No sleeping, squidge! If you think that'll get you off easy, you're stupider than we thought. Stupid bitch."

Her wounds were making themselves plenty clear by now. Everything hurt. She wasn't even sure her face was even remotely face-like anymore. Her sides gave a sharp protest at every tiny shifting. Her eyes flitted slowly throughout the room, trying to find the next torture. She spotted the nearly full bathtub.Not good. Her eldest saw the fear aimed at the water and gave her a cruel twist of a smile.

He motioned for his brother to help and dragged her to the bathtub, laying her down next to the smooth container.

"Okay, squidge. We thought of a game. We know you used to like them, and we think you'll like this one too. It's called 'Lie Detector' and this here bathtub is the lie detector. And we'll ask you questions and use the lie detector to find out if you're telling the truth. Make sense?" He didnn't even pause before launching into it. "First question: Are you a worthless piece of shit?"

She had time to gasp and get the first syallable of her answer before watching the water hurtling at her before she was submerged. It was freezing! She gasped at the sensation before realizing that that was the last of her air. She began to buck under the hands that were holding her under. There wasn't anything there to sustain her body. Her lungs were burning! She couldn't breath! Her body was screaming for relief, but the hands remained rock-steady. There was no air! Things were getting a little fuzzy around the edges and she did the last thing open to her. She sucked in a huge breath

And almost choked as she was yanked out of the water, some of the water she had almost swallowed dribbling out of her mouth. Now her ribs were on fire! One of the boys was squeezning her there and it hurt! The yank didn't stop when she had been freed, though. She fell all the way backwards onto the tile, her youngest falling partially on top of her and causing her legs and gut to scream.

She looked for the cause of this new disturbance and saw her father towering above the three of them.

This was worse than before. She looked with a blinding terror at the beefy man in the doorway and realized the trouble she was in was unfathomable.

So it was incredibly confusing when he pulled the two away from her, shoved them into the hall, and sent them elsewhere with a loud threat.

Her eyes were crossing and her brows were knitted as she stared at this most unlikely of saviors. He stood there like a king, giving her an icy eye.

"Get up. Go to bed. I told those shits not to do this tonight. They'll get theirs. Now go." He always spoke in clipped sentences. Now he just strode stiffly into the living room, tossing her shredded belongings back towards her to dael with it. Somebody important must be here. Maybe it was that guy from the firm. Certaintly he'd want her gone for this. She laid on the warming tile for a moment longer before making any kind of effort to rise. Her ribs reminded her not to overdo anything, so she crawled on her knees to the tub. She stared a moment before plunging her hand towards the stopper and unplugging it. She pulled he hand back just as quickly as if something venemous had bitten her.

She traveled to get her things in much the same matter, gently hugging her trenchcoat. She had had the sense to throw it from her before the beating, so it was uninjured except for a few scuffs. That was okay. She still loved it as much as ever.

She eyed the stairs wearily before mounting them. She could only take a few at a time before stopping to clutch at her sides. It took her a while, but she got into her room okay. She placed her coat lovingly on the footboard of the bed, the place it had dutifully occupied for two years. It was always at handy reach. She pulled the pillows from her bed and arranged them comfortably on the floor, not wanting to go throught the effort of crawling out of bed in the morning. She tugged off the reamains of today's outfit and tried avoiding a glance at her body.

It was almost entirely mottled dark with bruises. Her ribcage seemed lumpier than usual, but she chose not to dwell on why. She arranged herself as best she could and eventually dropped off into a dream filled slumber.

I have no idea how good that was. I'm not very violent and this was hard. Hopefully it's long and believeable enough. All right! Sumthin I know sumbodyz gonna fuss about. I haven't given this kid a name. How very observant of you! We should give you pocky! The reason is because it doesn't feel right for me to give anyone a name yet. Weird, yes. But then I might actually lose sight of the chara and I like them as they are now. When I'm done, I'll possibly edit it so everyone has a moniker. Until then, please bear with me. There is only ONE "she" so it should be okay. Okay? Okay! Now that I've made you loose all interest in continuing to read this, buh-bye for now!

Tris: Thank God!

Chibi: ::pulls out new mallet:: Shut up!

Tris ::looking scared:: eep! Violent child!

P.S. Tris: Chibi's makin me do this while she holds my pocky...ebil....Anyhoos! She wants to thank those who have reviewed. She honestly had no idea she'd have two positive reviews in so short a time-span. Mucho thankies!