No Safe Word,Louis

PTE

O

her had always been cruel to me, even before my sorry excuse for a mother left-but her absence carved

nd. Eve

rning was n

to my stomach again and again. The pain burned through me, but I d

en stand up to me," he spat, delivering a

likely to drown himself in whiskey or wh

n't even defend himself in his home. I'd tried over the years-God knows I'd tried- but every attempt ended the same way: b

was I st

the doorway, eyes dry but distant, and told me she couldn't stay anymore. I begged her not

ather," she said. "

as

ises like that cou

or work. My shoulder length blond curls were tangled and wild, so I tied them back in a messy b

be in a hai

o was littered with bruises in various stages of healing, some fresh, others lingering from weeks ago. Cigarette bur

alk about the on

my ref

like hers. The woman who left me behind. The w

-stared back at me, rimme

d them. Li

gly pathetic. I was h

way from my now foggy reflect

-I got dressed and headed to work, following the same broken sidewalk. T

Most people in this neighborhood barely finished high school, let alone trained f

to be a d

t clean up

ity guard, greeted me with his usual wide toothed smile. H

ied, forcing a smil

ding up,

odd

knew I w

erved better. But I never listened. Not really. Still... if he tri

the monotony. Nothing unusual happened, and I was gratefu

had a

ay

ose floorboard in my room. Father never stepped foot in there-he called it "pan

odified the surrounding floor so it

I th

ed. As I climbed the stairs to our decrepit two-

as h

I opened the door, ste

yellowed couch-a result

of cash in his hands-my cas

ummeted to

o

d he f

een so careful.

our pansy room," he sneere

got

pped

t this

f being quiet. Of living l

my crossbody bag and pulled out the

I said, voice shaking, knif

was a

t rattled through my bones, weaken

a... weapon," he sneered, glancing at

nged

my wrist mid-swing. He had an iron grip on it.

ame th

my

bilized me so much, I doubl

wasn'

ashing

ross my skin, each cut elicited a cry of agony from my lips.

o the floor, breath shallow, eyes flutter

e, I felt my conscio

, smeared with water marks, mold, an

ght in my head as spots began to d

do this

orry

eep your

th

kne