A Day At School

• Abigail Wright, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2019

Silently I crept out of my room to find dad on the floor. Drunk. Intoxicated. It didn’t matter what the word, he was still unconscious like a lion sleeping before making his next kill. My arms were already splattered black from the punches that had been impossible to deflect. Then there came a knock on the door. Hastily, I pulled down my sleeves, hiding the fact that my family was far from perfect and opened the door. A woman stood there. She said that she was from social services. She found the bruises. She rescued me.

“Thank goodness that this girl knows where she’s going,” I thought. “This school is huge!”
We walk down the hall a little bit before turning into a classroom. The girl introduced me to the teacher once we got inside and started saying something to me but all I could hear were the footsteps echoing in the corridor outside the closed door.

The ground shuddered as his feet clomped down the hall like a storm approaching but before the lightning could respond, the thunder stopped. Right outside my room. My ears vibrated with the noise as the storm burst forth and poured into my room, bellowing at me as I curled into a ball for protection. Then the hail started. It poured down on my head, my arms, my face, as I screamed, begging for mercy.

I’ve always loved running, it makes me feel fast and free but we weren’t just running. Today we’re learning some sort of ball game but it involved running up and down the court so at least I can have some fun. Until I get the ball from someone. Catching it wasn’t hard but then someone came up to me to get the ball. I pulled away from her as she swiped at the ball. She missed. She hit my arm.

He seized my arm, pulling me up so that my feet dangled slightly above the ground, leaving me shrieking in pain and trying to get away from his vice-like grip. Finally, he dropped me, leaving me clutching my arm but he barely noticed as he gripped it again, flinging me across the room and knocking me unconscious.

Finally, it was the end of the day and I ran from the building to the car. She sat there, waiting with a smile. She asked how my day was. I only had one response. Exhausting. The second we got home I plodded slowly to my room, dragging my bag behind me and laid on the bed. Closed my eyes. Trying to get away from the flashbacks that had tortured me all day. But it was no use. He is, and will always be, permanently stamped at the front of my brain.