Chapter 3

That pathetic excuse for a man had already run to Jack and Marilyn and told them what happened at the diner. I knew that he would, but I didn’t know it would be so fast. But it was already done, and now I was looking into the all too familiar anger on my mother’s face. The one that told me I was in for it and she wasn't taking any prisoners. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you really that much of a weirdo that you need to attack Jack’s friend like that?” She yelled. No wonder everyone else thinks I'm a weirdo. If my own mother thinks that about me then I don't have much hope for the rest of them thinking much higher of me. “Is that what he told you?” I asked, starting to feel a little faint. “You are so fucking weird. It’s no wonder you don’t get any respect from anyone. Why no one likes you around here. You don’t deserve it.” Marilyn yelled. I pulled my hand down and saw that it was completely covered in blood. It needed to be bandaged, pretty soon. Jack walked over to me with his fake smile like he was trying to be nice to me. Trying to be the hero and drive a deeper wedge between me and Marilyn because he knew that she hated it. “Do you need some help?” He asked, sweetly. But my eyes just glared angrily at him. I hated him so much. This is what he wanted. I looked back at Marilyn and her face was going red. His plan was working. I had to admit, he was good at playing it. And this would give Jack more opportunities to be alone with me. She worked nights as it was. He didn’t need to give Marilyn an excuse to hate me, he was always alone with me in this house. “Are you just going to stand there? You aren’t going to say anything?” Marilyn yelled at me. “What’s the point? She’s not going to believe you.” Ava said. “I know.” I said. “Would you say something? What the fuck is wrong with you, you idiot?” Marilyn yelled, getting closer to me. But I just pressed myself further against the wall trying to get away from her. “Marilyn. Calm down. I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems. Tony has a way of over reacting.” Jack said. “You’re defending her? She attacked your friend.” Marilyn yelled. “I know. And I’m pissed that she hit him. But this isn’t going to solve anything.” Jack said, turning to smile at me while he was trying to calm Marilyn down. I was still glaring at him though. I wasn’t saying anything to either of them because neither of them could be reasoned with right now. They are both out of their minds. But I didn’t say anything else because Marilyn had that murderous look in her eye right now, so I just picked up my bag that had fallen on the ground and I walked upstairs. “Just calm down sweetie.” Jack said to Marilyn. “How the hell can I calm down? Look at what I’ve been putting up with for 17 years.” Marilyn yelled back. “I know. But she’s a teenager. What do you expect from her?” Jack asked. I heard things being thrown around in the kitchen while Marilyn was having her little tantrum. I tried to block out most of it. It wasn’t the first time she spoke about me like this. I knew that she hated me. She has never given me a reason, but when she was drunk once, she did say something about my father. So I’ve always assumed that’s why she hated me. Because my father left her while she was pregnant with him. He’s the one that she should hate. I didn’t ask to be born into this. And I didn’t tell him to disappear on her. Apparently that’s exactly how it happened. He just disappeared. He never said goodbye to her or anything. Just left. And she blames me for that. I finally heard the front door downstairs slam shut, so I knew that Marilyn had gone to work. I grabbed some clothes and I went to the bathroom and I locked the door. I took off my blood stained clothes and I examined my cut in the mirror. The bleeding had slowed down a lot but I knew that there was going to be a scar there. Not the first one I’ve gotten from her. Probably won’t be the last either. I just wish that she hadn’t gone for the face. I grabbed a rag and I held it up against my head until I was sure the bleeding was under control. I got in the shower to start washing the wound and getting the blood out of my hair. It wasn’t long before I heard the creaks coming from the stairs which always told me that Jack was coming upstairs. I quickly got out of the shower and I wrapped a towel around myself. I checked that I locked the door from the inside. But I heard his heavy footsteps walking towards the bathroom and his shadow stopped right outside the bathroom door. I backed away from the door until I was leaning against the wall. I turned to look out the window of the bathroom, but that was pointless. There was no way I could get down from here. And no one could hear me screaming from here either. My heart started beating so fast that I thought it was going to explode out of my chest. I started sweating and my hands were shaking as I slid down the wall until my knees were under my chin as I was hoping that Jack couldn’t get past that lock. I could hear him breathing really heavily on the other side of the door. He touched the door handle, but found that it was locked. I heard him chuckle, like it was a game or something. Like I was enjoying this. I knew that he was. “Ella. Open the door.” Jack said, trying to sound nice and sweet. But I just sat there, not moving, trying not to even breathe heavily. But that was almost impossible. “Ella. I said open the fucking door.” Jack demanded, a lot louder this time, hitting the door which made the worst cracking sound like he was going to break the door in half.