Strawberry Scars (Not Finished)

With matted black hair and only her pajamas on, Anabel sleepily got up out of bed and lazily dragged her feet across her black fuzzy rug as she walked out her door and into the bathroom. Tossing off her pajama bottoms and her “Baby Girl” tank top across the room, she hopped into the steamy water of the shower. Anabel quickly washed up and then spent the remainder of her time letting the hot water soothe her muscles. She hated getting up. Her bed was too small, too hard, and left her back sore in the morning. After realizing her stepbrother, Danny, was banging on the door and yelling at Anabel to hurry up; she just yelled back a string of profanities to him. Dragging her limp body from the warmth, she grabbed a towel, wrapped it around her frail body and stepped out of the bathroom, shooting a death glare at Danny as he ran passed her to reach the bathroom before anyone else of his sisters could take it. After reaching her bedroom, Anabel shut her shade and turned on her dim light. Opening her closet door, Anabel grabbed a pair of black flair jeans and looked in a drawer for a shirt. She found a pink long sleeve shirt that showed only a little bit of cleavage and looked for her Aéropostale hoodie. It was still too big to fit her small form, but she didn’t care. Grabbing her clip, Anabel tossed her hair into a black mess of hair and grabbed her back and threw it over her shoulder. Leaving her room, Anabel made sure to close her door and went downstairs to the kitchen. She said a “good morning” to her stepmother, realizing her dad went to work just as he said he would last night at dinner. Taking an apple from the basket on the table, she walked out of the front door and started her way down the sidewalk to her school.1

“Cams!” said Anabel as she walked up the school steps. Cami had on a black “Spoiled Rotten” tank top with a fishnet long sleeve shirt underneath. Her dark blue jeans hid the scars Anabel knew she had. Cami’s waist length blonde hair was in two loose braided pigtails. Cami’s mother committed suicide when Cami was only nine and her father blamed it on her, telling her she was a worthless piece of shit, that Cami was a whore, and not worth his loving time. Almost everyday he got drunk and abused Cami. “How are ya?” The question seemed innocent enough to the outside person, but to Cami, it meant the world. Cami’s eyes left Anabel’s and looked at the ground. Anabel waited for Cami to answer, but saw the stream of fat tears rolling down Cami's smooth cheeks and instead took her best friend into her arms. Telling her it would all be okay, Anabel took out a tissue she had for her stupid runny nose and wiped away Cami's tears. Sniffling, Cami returned her friend's hug and the silently walked to the front of their school. Anabel knew what had happened last night without Cami telling her. HE did it again. Charlie. Cami's dad. He did it every night. He would silently walk into Cami's room while she was fast asleep in her dream world, the one where her prince in shining armor came to save her from him, and Charlie would brutally awake her. He would smack her across the face, hard enough to leave a mark and he would keep telling her she was worthless. He would keep doing that until tears overtook her. But he would never stop there. No, he would take Cami out of her bed and throw her across the room, hard enough for the neighbors to hear; but they never came. They, too, were afraid of him. With a bleeding lip and a black eye, Charlie would pick her up and rape her right there. Window curtains open for the world to see this defenceless little girl, abused my her own supposedly loving father. Once he left, Cami, all bloody and heartbroken, would gather up her pajamas and would sit on her bed. Taking out a knife and cut deep into her skin. Leaving blood all over her bed, Cami would then fall asleep until morning, go to school and just come home and repeat this process. Anabel was amazed she hadn't told anyone yet. But she promised Cami she wouldn't tell anyone. Anabel was jolted back from her thoughts by Cami nudging her arm. Cami's sorrow eyes told her she wanted to die. Giving her friend a sympathetic look, Anabel hugged Cami again and led the way to their lockers.2

After grabbing their books for French, they walked to their classroom talking silently to each other about what happened with Charlie. Apparently, he didn't make a repeat performance like he usually did. Cami told a worse story. "Charlie brought home a woman..." Cami said sadly. "She was a virgin, my age. A little older." Anabel understood why a young girl about their age would want to be with Cami's father. He was in a local band that almost every girl in town loved. "She was willing to come with a friend, but he told her that Sarah's friend couldn't come. He told me that I was off the hook that night. That he found 'fresh meat'." Cami looked to the ground. "He raped her. I heard her crying through our walls. He was in the living room. This morning, our white couch was stained brown from her blood. But the worse part, he hurt her really bad. He... he slit Sarah's throat and hid her in the forest. Buried her. In the woods behind our house. Her parents called this morning and when he made me answer, he made me lie about their daughter. He made me tell them that they talked with me and that at nine pm, he brought her home." Cami hated lying to people. Especially friends. Anabel knew Charlie... she had spent too many years sleeping over her house to know what happens in there, no matter who is over, he still finds a way to get her out of the room and to abuse and rape her. Entering the French room, the girls went to their respective seats across the room and waiting for their teacher to enter the classroom. Sitting through the boring class, Anabel drew on her notebooks while she listened to her teacher drone on about how to speak in the future tense. By the time Anabel was finished with her drawing of a vampire sucking the blood out of a young girl, the bell rung signaling the end of class. Meeting up with Cami, she showed her the drawing. it made Cami smile just as she wanted it to. "The girl looks like you." cami said through small giggles.3

"That's because it is me." Said Anabel. After that, they were both quiet. Ababel went on to English as Cami went on to her Gym class.4