Cargo pants with a grey hoodie with the hood down. Airpods in both ears, one of which had 4 ear piercings and the other with 2. She ran a hand through her scattered coloured purple short hair in an attempt to make them sit in an orderly fashion. Her sapphire blue eyes expressionless and hard, her eyelids covered half of them thanks to the lack of sleep she had been facing since as long as she could remember.
Although the store was filled with noisy people, occasional shouts and screams from children, all she heard were the deep bass beats blaring in her headphones. The electric guitar sound complemented singers voice. Setting the bottle on the counter and dropping a dollar bill beside it, she let with it after ripping the label off.
She put her hood on and walked down the dark alley she always did. To one, it seemed like a place which spelt nothing but trouble, but to her, it felt like home, her entire life always shrouded with darkness. She sat down in a corner which she had reserved for herself, put her AirPods back into its case and rolled up both her sleeves. Covered in red streaks that burnt to the touch, she dragged a finger along it, the pain making her feel normal.
If she didn’t feel pain, she wasn’t normal.
She uncapped the bottle and, using 2 fingers, scooped out a little of the thick lotion inside and applied it on her arms to cover the wounds. Pain flared hot and bright inside, yet her lips twitched upwards to form a half smile. Not in the past 20 years since that traumatic event that mentally scarred her for life had she for once never felt pain. The lotion dried up, leaving behind what looked like a lump of white clay that blended in perfectly with her skin texture. She took out a bottle of concealer from her pocket, and smoothened it over the lotion. The concealer blended with her natural skin tone.
If she didn’t feel pain, she wasn’t normal. That’s what she thought.
She had felt pain her entire life. It felt as normal as a child using a stuffed toy as a friend.All thanks to someone who she feared the most, not because of the pain she caused her, but because of the threats she had placed before her. She dared not to back away from her, knowing that doing so could hurt the one at stake.
She hid the bottle in her pocket, and continued her journey back home. She tugged her hood further down, leaving no chance for any of her admirers to chase after her. Upon reaching her apartment, she took a deep breath and opened the door
“Hey y’all! What’s cooking?” She asked cheerily as the smell of baked goods wafted into the hallway.
“Hey Zipp, just baking mac and cheese for dinner, you ok?”
“Yea, any reason i wouldn’t be?” she asked, shifting her short messy hair from the left to the right nonchalantly.
“Jeez, i just asked, whatevs…” her sister replied before stalking off.
She trudged up to her room, and locked the door, all 13 locks. She switched on the light, and slid her phone out of her pocket. She placed it on her table and used a book behind it as a stand. She clicked the record button, and rolled up her sleeves, exposing her arms, looking completely unharmed. She rolled up her hoodie from the stomach area a bit and showed the very faint red lines on her stomach. She stopped recording and sent the video to someone before leaving her phone in her room.
Every step she took, every time she moved any part of her body, agony coursed through her veins. She had learnt to bear the pain and keep her mouth shut.
“Oh my gosh guys, look, this i like such an old pic of me and my mom, it’s so cute,” her sister said as she showed her phone screen to her friends. She looked up from her own phone and as the image of a young woman with a chubby little girl filled her view, a memory tucked into a corner of her mind came flooding her like a tidal wave,
“You’re just like your father, useless”
“Do i look like i have they fucking time to deal with you?”
“You’re beneath me, idiot,”
“I will desecrate you”
“You get those shit brains from that ass of a father you have,”
It had never happened to her before. She became trapped in her own head, as the screaming and shouting grew louder.
“You think you’re very smart don’t you?”
The crack sound of the cane came clear and distinct, yet she remained still. She could feel her friends shaking her to snap her out of her trance
“You are the reason im so miserable today,”
“I hope you burn, you pathetic idiot,”
“You’re useless and pathetic, just like your father”
“This is what you get, you hate-filled liar!”
Suddenly, all was quiet, everything was a blur, and everything turned black.
She gasped as though she had been drowning as she sat up on the carpeted floor. Her friends surrounded her, all wearing a worried expression on their faces.
“A-are you okay, Zipp?”
“Y-yea, im g-good, d-did I say anything while I was out?” She spoke in a fearful voice.
“You started repeating ‘No, no, leave her alone’ about 4 times,” Pipp replied, still confused and worried.
“Oh, thank god, are you guys ok?” She said as she let out a breath she had been holding in.
“Yeah, but what’s the ‘Thank god’ for?” Hitch asked with suspicion
She had been caught, or so she thought.
“Oh y-y’know I thought I was screaming bloody murder or something freaky, I’ve read those kind of stories before, y-y’know,”
She stood up quickly and asked, “So, is dinner ready, im starving,”
“Yup, it came out the oven as soon as you passed out,” Izzy said cheerfully as she scampered into the kitchen.
The sudden change in topic was as obvious as a pear among apples, but only to Hitch, the rest didn’t suspect a thing.