Sophie

December 8 7:30am
It’s worse. They overreact, it’s not even BAD. I can’t believe how many people she tells!! I’m pretty sure now that she’s just doing it for the attention. At first, I was thinking, Alright, she has problems, but now I know it’s just for show. I wonder what’s actually going on at her home. Yeah I’ve been over to her house but every family can put on a good show. Like mine, for example, and how people think my dad is cool. If only he was like that when it’s just me and him. Ugh, well, I have to run; otherwise I’m going to miss the bus. I’ll write if it happens again. And by the way, I’m not worried about Allyson. Nothing will happen to her. Plus what’s the big deal about it?

...

Putting the small notebook in her bag, Sophie runs out of the room, downstairs, and to the door, hoping not to see her father, but to no avail. He was sitting on the black couch in his black leather jacket eating his black cereal in a black bowl. At least, this is how everything looked--black and white. “Goodbye sweetheart.”
Sophie wants to scream at him, ‘Don’t play that game with me!! I remember last night! Just because I fainted doesn’t mean I forgot!’ But, she restrains herself and says simply, “Goodbye Dad.” Her tone is plain, even, and maybe empty, but not revealing any of her anger toward him. She runs out the door but she isn’t that lucky.
“Sophie!” she stops in her tracks at her father’s voice and walks back inside. “If anyone asks…tell them…tell them you ran into a door.”
“Yes sir.” She knows he is referring to the redness on the left side of her face because he is stroking where he had slapped her. “Damn that door. Why are you so clumsy, love?” Really, Dad, before school? He should stop. The door is open.
As if he had read her mind, He clutched her arm and pulled her inside and muttered, “No school today.” Guess he is tempted… Sophie has learned not to ignore her father when he gets in one of these moods. He has no one but her, so he loves her and beats her if she doesn’t love back.
What surprised her was that he was so distracted that he didn’t notice the millions of scars along her arms and legs. She never even fought anymore. What was the point? She wasn’t worth anything but the slashes and sexual abuse…

* * *

“Did you do it again?”
“No, where’s Sophie?”
“Are you lying to me??”
“No, where’s Sophie!?”
“Who cares!? Prove that you didn’t do anything.”
“I don’t have to show you anything. Have you seen Sophie?”
“No,” John sighs, obviously upset, at Allyson.
Allyson, searching for Sophie, rubs her wrist unconsciously. John stares at it but says nothing. He follows her as she spots Sophie walking into the 8th grade hallway, her eyes empty, hiding the morning’s event. Someone bumped right into her, knocking her books to the floor. She contemplated just leaving them there, but decided against it, and bent down to pick them up.
Two pairs of feet stopped in front of her, and she looked up to see John Coleman, short, brown, surly hair and round, thin glasses; and Allyson Spike, Long brown hair, thick square glasses. She had her hand on her wrist which meant she did it again. John probably already knew. Sophie gave her a sort of skeptical look, and then Allyson pulled her to the bathroom and into the big stall. She pulled her sleeve up and Sophie saw 3 small red cuts on her wrist. Sophie groans and runs out of the bathroom. Allyson is too shocked to move. Sophie doesn’t see her again until lunch, and she could tell she’d been crying.
Allyson tried to say something to Sophie at their table but she pretended to talk to someone else. Then suddenly, she heard John tell Jared, “Yeah, she did it again.” Allyson mad an odd little gasp and said, “I did not!”
“Alright,” A girl states from across the table, “Then prove it.” Ally looked down at her trey and picked at her bread. John reached out and pulled her sleeve down quickly to reveal the marks and Ally squealed, pulling her sleeve down. Sophie got up to go to the bathroom, pretending nothing happened but Ally got up and followed her.
Sophie stops in the bathroom. No, I can’t tell Sophie. I can’t tell anyone. “I’m just going to the bathroom, you know.”
“I needed to get away from them….ever since John figured out, he won’t stop.”
“Figured out!? He didn’t ‘figure out’ you told him. There is a huge difference.”
She stared at Sophie, shocked. “You know what? Now that I think of it, I’ve never seen you arms. Do you-?”
“Get the hell away from me!” Sophie ran out of the bathroom and tried to look natural for the lunch table. It worked, of course. She had mastered the lies and masked face in the last few years. For the rest of the day, Sophie and Ally avoided each other.

...

December 8th continued 4:00 pm
I knew something would happen today!! But, how I knew, I have no clue. First of all, this morning, Dad did it again. Yeah THIS MORNING. He made me late to school! I wish I could have just stayed home. Ally did it again. And everyone at the lunch table now knows. Ally’s probably going to figure out about me sooner or later. She asked today, in the bathroom, but I ran as fast as I could back to the lunch table. That was stupid. I avoided her for the rest of the day…Dad’s coming!

...

Sophie stuffed the dark gray notebook into her desk just in time. Her dad didn’t see. He smiled at her and said. “Honey, I have got news for you.”
“Shoot.”
He smiled. “You‘re not going to school tomorrow,” Sophie suppressed a smile. “You’re never going back to that school. We’re moving.”
Her eyes widened. “Why??” Her father proceeded to tell her about the new job that would get him a better pay. “Well, why so sudden?”
HE hesitated and then told her not to worry. “You can have a day of school to say goodbye to your friends if you want.”
“No, no.” He looked at her with suspicion in his eyes; her words had come out too quickly.
“Did something happen at school?”
She didn’t rush this time, “No, everything’s fine.”
He smiled again. “Well that’s good, my love.” He stood up and said, “Dinner will be ready in just a few minutes.”
Sophie nodded and awaited his departure. He closed the door on his way out and she sighed deeply. She sat in silence, waiting for the call of dinner time. When he yelled for her, she had fallen asleep. He stalked upstairs to her room.
“Sophie!!!” She woke with a start and pleaded to him. “I’m not going to take your apologies, you worthless little girl! You shouldn’t even be called a girl!”
“Father, I’m sorry!” She needed him to believe her. It was too bright in there for the beatings. He’d see the scars she had made. “Let me make it up to you!”
“Tonight, you will have no dinner, but I shall bring you up a water bottle. You are to stay in your room until I call for you. I will have a surprise waiting for you. When you come into my room, you will see a note. Do everything it says or else!” He slammed the door closed.
No dinner? I can deal with just that…But then, I didn’t have lunch or breakfast today either…. Her stomach growled then and her door opened, a water bottle flying through it. She put her hand up and caught it just before it would have smacked her in the face. She chugged it down immediately and her stomach gurgled.
By the time her dad called her name, she was exhausted and so not ready for it. Her father had set lingerie out for her. Oh, no. She had to obey him; it could be worse. Who knows what he could do to her? She shivered, not wanting to think about that as she slowly opened his bedroom door….