Free Haven from the Storm (Storms of Life #1) by Sarah Dosher Page A

be so rough.” He stood. “I’ll be expecting my money by this time tomorrow and you'd better make it enough to last me a while because I'd hate to give you a refresher course so soon. Oh, and little one? You better keep your word and stay away from that worthless boy. If I see or hear otherwise you’ll both pay and you should know by now that I follow through with every threat I make.”
    I laid on the cold ground until I heard his truck pulling away from the house. I tried to sit, but my head was throbbing so I laid on my back and stared up at the sky. Sometimes I couldn’t fathom how my life had turned into this. I always knew my family had issues, but I had been too young to see how my father truly was. His comments made me think back to numerous times he would fight with my mother. I had just assumed it was normal. Now I understood their relationship must have been exactly like this, but she had apparently learned how to please him and avoid his abuse. I tried to remember if my mother or Easton ever had any marks or bruises on them, but I wasn’t able to think of a single time. Maybe this was my punishment for still being alive, for being here when those I loved were dead.
     

     
    I was awakened by Red shrieking. I was still outside, lying on the muddy ground shivering from the cold; I must have fallen asleep. Red continued to scream at me from his perch on the fence post a few feet away. I picked up a rock near me and tossed it toward him. I think he got the point because he finally shut up.
    I tried to stand, but my muscles ached from the struggle with my father. Every inch I moved, I felt my muscles pull tighter. The cold had seeped into my body and made my young joints creaky. I could feel my eye swelling and I guessed that by tomorrow it would be a lovely mix of black and blue. My lip felt busted and I could still taste the nasty metallic blood in my mouth. I ran my tongue across my lips and felt a sharp pain shoot through my whole face when it touched the gash.
    I inched my way to the door and opened it slowly, poking my head into the room to look around. I was afraid of what might be waiting for me on the other side. It was exactly how I’d left it, but better safe than sorry was still the best option for me. Red flew toward me and landed on the windowsill to my right. I could see his yellow eyes looking over my bruised face and body.
    “Thanks for waking me up,” I said, as I turned my head from side to side mimicking his movements. He let out one last small scream, then flew away. I noticed a feather fall on the step near my foot and picked it up. I’d add it to my collection of Red’s pictures on my wall.
    I really just wanted to go to bed. I started to remove my filthy clothes and saw clumps of dirt fall to the floor. I had to take a shower. I was covered from head to toe with crusty mud and the warm water would probably help with my soreness. The clock on my bedside table told me it wasn’t quite midnight so it wasn’t late enough for my father to have drank all my money at the bar - I should be safe. I quickly gathered what I needed and made my way to the bathroom across the house.
     

     
    I was awake long before my alarm beeped at me. After my shower last night I couldn’t get comfortable. My entire body hurt. I finally took a pain reliever, but it didn’t seem to help at all so I was awake long before the sun, trying to hide the damage to my face. It really didn’t look so bad. I'd definitely had worse. I knew that no matter how much makeup I caked on my face, everyone would still see it. But I also knew no one would really care because it wasn’t like this was something new.
    My eye was swollen and showed definite signs of black and blue. The amount of dark grey makeup I put on helped camouflage it a little. Okay, maybe that was just wishful thinking, but I had to at least try to cover it up because that’s how we played the game. I got hit, turned varying shades of black and blue,