Escape

“I remember, I remember everything,” I said clutching my head tightly.

“What do you remember?” asked a tall man wearing white coat.

“What they did to me” I replied

Then it happened again. Flashbacks. 

My stepfather always hated me. When my mother married him and he moved into our house, my life became a living hell. He found fault in every little thing I did and was constantly calling me worthless. In his eyes, I could never do anything right.

Pretty soon, all of the chaos at home began to affect my school work. I found it extremely difficult to focus and my grades started slipping. Gradually, I secluded myself and stopped hanging around with my friends. 

Things got bad faster than I expected. I became my stepfather's punching bag. He started beating me at the slightest excuse. He was a strong man and I was too small to fight him off. Each punch and kick he delivered hurt me emotionally as well as physically. It wasn’t long before I was diagnosed with depression and the doctors put me on medication.

Through all this, my mother stood by and refused to intervene. She chose her new husband over me. That hurt me more than anything else. I gave up hope and prayed for the day when I could escape. 

I couldn’t take it anymore and ran away from home. I made it as far as the city, when the police found me and brought me home. When they took me back home, my stepfather was standing at the door waiting for me. His face was twisted in anger and rage.

As soon as the police left, he turned to me and said, “Did you think you could escape?”

That night, he beat me twice as hard as before. I cried myself to sleep. After that, the violence escalated. Every evening when he came home from work, I tried to avid him but it was no use.

Eventually, he went too far. One evening, he beat me so badly that I couldn’t move. I just lay on the floor of my bedroom, staring at the ceiling. I didn’t know at that time, but I was internally bleeding. 

It was New Year’s Eve, they had gone out for a party. It was a perfect chance for me to escape. Everyone would be busy and would not bother asking about me. I knew he would track me so I left my card and keys to my car and my passport on the side table. I wish I had enough  cash which would help me fly to another country. 

I kept on running, until I found myself on a road that seemed to have endless darkness. The street lights were not illuminating much light leaving people with their imagination. And I could only imagine what was lurking in the darkness. I was tired and my feet demanded rest but I knew I couldn’t stop. With every step that I took, my feet gave up more.A shiver ran down my spine when a gust of wind went past by me. Suddenly, I could hear shuffling behind me and the fear of being sent back home raised. I turned around and all those things I was running from came haunting towards me in the form of flashbacks. I let out a scream and then everything went black.

Now, here I am, sitting on a bed, surrounded by white walls which I think is a hospital room. I was busy in my own mind, thinking of everything that had happened and wondering how I ended up here. Taking some time, I lifted my head to ask how I ended up in hospital. 

I was met with two pairs of eyes. A man and a woman were staring at me. They were smiling from ear to ear. The man leaned down and touched my cheek. 

In a gentle voice, he said, “Did you think you could escape?”

-DC