Free The Corner II by Alex Richardson

didn’t see the curtains flapping from the breeze that had been blowing into her room—the window had been closed.
    She wanted to yell out.
    She wanted to scream.
    But knew what the consequences were.
    “Take your clothes off,” the voice from the devil penetrated her ears.
    LaTanza tried to play sleep then felt the covers being yanked from over her body.
    In a drunken slur, Jack repeated, “I’m not going to tell you again. Take your clothes off!”
    He stood at the side of the bed as LaTanza slowly took off the t-shirt and shorts she slept in. Jack sipped his brandy on the rocks and watched.
    LaTanza pulled the t-shirt over her head. Usually she would take her time hoping that her stepfather would change his mind and leave or pass out drunk. But she was to the point that she was too tired and beat down to hope and pray like she usually did when he started molesting her. It all started years ago when she was ten. He would make her touch him and he would touch her. As she got older and filled out more he told her that she was a woman and started penetrating her at the age of fourteen. He did this six times a year for the past three years and lately he had been forcing her to perform oral sex. His primary hold on her was fear but some was mental. For years he hammered in her head that if she ever told anyone that he would kill either her, her sister or her grandmother. She believed him and also didn’t tell because she felt as if no one would believe her and if they did, they would somehow blame her so she just put up with it but now she was tired, mentally gone and used to the abuse.
    When Jack noticed that she wasn’t shaking and tears weren’t streaming down her face he became pissed. “So what? You and that Spanish fucker I done heard about doing it? You’re a fucking slut just like your mother.”  He dropped his drink on the carpeted floor. He wasn’t worried about a stain. His Cinderella would clean it up. He started to unbuckle his jeans and within seconds they were on the floor.
    LaTanza tried to picture Carlos as Jack pounded ferociously. But she couldn’t because he talked through the entire ordeal. Told her how he did it to her six times a year because that’s how many times her mother rationed the sex to him after she was born. He told her that she was a whore just like her mother. That she deserved what he was doing to her. That she wasn’t his child and that he hated taking care of some other man from across town child. How she wasn’t shit and how she would never leave him. That she owed him and this was how she was going to pay. He flipped her over on her stomach then forced himself inside her. She wanted to scream. It hurt so badly but she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting her. She buried her face in her pillow until he was finished and at that very moment the chemical imbalance in her body took form—and without medication her mind and emotions would never be the same.
    When Jack left her room, in a calm demeanor, she went down the hall to the shower. She locked the door even though his rule was not to lock any doors in his house. She took a hot shower for almost an hour only stopping because the water had turned cold. She dried herself off and lotioned her body as she smiled and hummed a tune. She could still feel a little of the pain but blocked it out. A switch had been triggered. She vowed that she would never again let anyone treat her the way she had been treated for years.
    She slipped on a fresh pair of shorts and a t-shirt. She put her hair in a ponytail and looked in the mirror and smiled. Her stepfather had finally hit that switch. She walked past his room and saw him sprawled across his bed asleep. He was still clutching his jeans in his hand. LaTanza continued humming a tune as she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a carving knife. She smiled wickedly as she looked over the sharp blade as she headed to Jack’s room ready to slit his