Abuse

by Hazel_Hester777

Death of Innocence

A young girl opened her eyes to the sunlight. Her hair was black and her eyes were hazel-nut colored, giving her name. She wore a pair of pajamas decorated with teddy bears on the design. A small ribbon and two smaller buttons were at the collar area of her shirt. She got up from her pink bed to get dressed and ready for the day. She put on a pink dress with red lining from the wardrobe and wore her pink slippers. She picked up a small brush from her desk and combed her hair into its straight form.

Her room was a shade of pink. There was a window with a veranda nearby. Beside her bed was a closet with her clothes. A shelf containing various figurines of various creatures and characters sat opposite of her room. The desk she got her comb on had a mirror to allow her to see her reflection.

She exited her bedroom to begin her day. The hallways were long and well-decorated. There were picture frames every now and then of the family, but they all had one thing in common: her mother was in all of them. Underneath some of the pictures was a vase on a table. Some the doors had the names of who slept in them written on a plank that hung on the door.

The staircase was spiral with white steps. The kitchen was white with a sink and the table for making dinner and the oven nearby. The dining room was nearby. It had a lantern hanging above the table.

It was Saturday that time, which meant there was no school for her. She went downstairs and began to have her breakfast of jelly sandwich and cocoa. It was yet another day in her fourth year in life. She had grown up with many changes, but she could never get used to them.

“Early riser, Hazel, that’s a good girl” her mother called her name as she noticed her daughter had already been up early. Her hair color was a cross between brown and blonde. Her eyes were black. She wore a purple dress with flaps on the collar area. Her shoes were lavender. Her name was Deceptive Beauty.

Hazel Nut Vine, or Hazel for short, was part of a family whose mother was very unbelievable. Out of the three, Hazel herself was the youngest. Her brother was the firstborn and her sister’s birth soon followed. She grew up without a father, but her siblings were lucky to meet him. Around public, they all act as though there’s nothing wrong and they’re a perfect family, but it’s all a lie. When they’re all alone at home, that’s when the freaky stuff would occur.

“After you brush your teeth and have your shower, go and wake up your brother and sister, would you?” her mother asked as she prepared her own breakfast.

“Yes, mother” Hazel whispered in a shy tone as she finished washing the dishes and went up to wake her elder siblings.

Hazel made her way up the staircase and prepared herself for the day. She finished brushing her teeth and taking a shower and went to go to her brother and sister’s rooms to wake them up. She first head to the room of her sister, Spring Meadows.

Her sister’s room, though the lights were closed and the curtains were shut to avoid light come in, Hazel could still make out the room by heart. The room was colored spring green. It was very similar to her room, except for the fact that a desk had pictures of her sister standing next to a boy who looked like he could be her boyfriend.

Spring Meadows was sleeping on the bed. A nightcap covered her eyes as she let out a small snore. Her hair was lime green.

Timidly, Hazel made her way to her sister. She was hesitant and scared at first, but she finally started to shake her sister delicately. She then began to whisper, “Sis? Sis, wake up”

“Mm” Spring mumbled as she lifted her nightcap and opened her emerald-colored eyes.

“Mother says it’s time to wake up”

Spring nodded before stretching. “Okay, I’m up”

Hazel went out of the room and closed the door behind her as her sister went to get herself dressed. The youngest child made her way to her brother’s room. Loud snores were heard even from the other side of the door. She had to open the door to complete her task.

The room was cold blue in color. Unlike the other two, this room was all in a mess. A pile of used clothes were stinking in one corner. Hazel herself had to be careful of her step. She finally made her way to her brother, Trey Strongheart. He was sleeping and his tongue lolled out as he snored.

Hazel shook him gently before trying to compete with his snoring. “Big bro, time to wake up!”

“Just five more minutes please” her brother mumbled.

Hazel sighed. She knew there was only one other way to wake her elder brother up. She went over to his messy desk and found it right where she left it the last time it was used. She picked up the blow horn and brought it with her to her brother. Taking a deep breath, she put the horn to her mouth before blowing it as hard as she could. She was out of breath afterward; her body was almost always weaker than her mind.

Luckily, the sound was loud enough to wake Trey up. “Okay! I’m up! I’m up! You had to use the horn again?”

“Sorry” Hazel whispered before putting the horn back where she got it. No doubt, if she needed to use it again, it would still be there. The black- haired girl ran out of the room and closed the door behind her so as to avoid seeing her elder brother in his underwear.

Hazel didn’t care that much about things. Being only four years old, she still had yet to develop her mind. Nonetheless, she could already read and speak. The reading probably came from her bumping into some encyclopedias that must’ve been purposely left by her mother for her to learn about; the animal section was practically her favorite. The part with speaking: It must’ve come from the TV when it played cartoons. She would always listen to those in English and soon learned to speak their words and adopt their fluency.

Hazel soon made her way to her pet, a small rabbit she called Bunny. It was probably her first pet, and she loved it dearly. Whenever she was awake in her cage, she would look at her with its red eyes and wrinkle her nose and whiskers. Hazel, in turn, would just stare at her contently and think it was cute. Though she wanted to touch her or take her out of her cage, her mother wouldn’t allow it.

“Hi Bunny, I brought you some cabbage” she whispered as she put the leafy vegetable to her pet. She didn’t really know if that was cabbage or lettuce, to her those both looked the same and she had yet to learn the difference. Nonetheless, Bunny took it and nibbled it while staring at her.
Hazel gave a faint smile before she heard her name called again.

“Hazel! Come here!” her mother’s voice cried out. She already knew where to go: the kitchen.

“Coming, mom” she then turned to Bunny. “I’ll be back later, okay?”

Her rabbit twitched an ear while eating her treat.

Hazel soon made it to the kitchen and was greeted by her elder brother and sister. It was just sometimes weird around her family, even at breakfast. Her sister was wearing a rosy dress with lace and her slippers had a matching shade with ribbons on the top. Her brother was just in his underwear.

“Hazel, there you are!” her mother called to her. “Come on then, it’s time to dress up”

Hazel nodded silently while waving to her brother and sister before her mother grabbed her hand and dragged her to her room. Compared to the other bedroom, Deceptive’s room was extravagant. It had fancy curtains that had crystal-like roses holding them together. The lantern in her room was decorated with gemstones. The walls were a shade of lavender and the bed had a veil on it. The closet and desk with the mirror was opposite of the room.

On the desk was a lacy white dress with black ribbons. There were supplies for make-up and a ribbon for hair. There were also hair sprays and combs. Beside it all was a camera.

“Put on the dress and I’ll work on your face” Deceptive told her daughter.

Hazel just obeyed meekly. Due to the fact that she was merely a child who still had to develop her mind and was innocent in the head, she was disturbed about the fact that her mother made her dress up infront of her. The dress on, she sat on the bed and let her mother do her face. Her face soon had some bluish eyeliner and she had peach lipstick. Her hair was tied up in a bun. Finally, her mother added a small tiara on her.

“There we go, now give me a smile to the camera” Deceptive said as she positioned her daughter in the area of the room. Her daughter meekly obeyed. She had to do various poses every now and then. The smiling was forced but she tried to make them cute.

It had been like this for a while now. Ever since she started to develop a mind, Deceptive Beauty would enter Hazel into beauty pageants to gain chances of earning money. So far, all it did was make her surrounded by people for photographs. They would parade around her and the other children. But now it was leading to the point that Hazel’s confidence was dwindling from the many cameras. Despite her efforts, her mother still made her join.

“Good, now and clean yourself to normal” Deceptive told her sternly as she started to scan the images.

Hazel washed herself up until she looked back to normal. The make-up was a challenge, but she eventually got it all off her. She combed her hair back to its straight form and put her own clothes back on before returning the dress to her mother.

Later that day, she was walking in the house, about to pick up another book from the shelf when she heard something. It sounded like a creature crying for help, and it was coming from the room they kept Bunny in. Scared, she took a few steps to the door and, with shaky hands, opened it to see something that made her drop the story book she held.

There, infront of her, held by her sister and mother, was her pet rabbit Bunny. She was barely moving anymore, just faint twitching and weak kicks from her left leg. She was bleeding. Her mother held a brush with blood in one hand while her sister held the rabbit.

Hazel let out a faint scream as tears filled her eyes. Bunny, her first pet was dead. She killed at the hands of her own family, the reason she had yet to learn. The little girl tried to run, but she had very small strides. Her mother caught her easily. She had a bottle of a drug in her hand as she held her daughter in place with the other. She forced the drug down through Hazel’s throat, knocking her out unconscious. The last thing she saw before passing out was the remains of her rabbit.

When she woke up, she couldn’t remember a thing.

Author's Note:

RIP Bunny