'Tsubaki' Preview

" " = speaking ' '= thoughts

A flower without a fragrance. Its petals bloomed silently and withers just the same. Right beneath your feet. It wasn't of importance. A flower that was stepped on countless of times and was left to heal on it's own. Alone. Worthless. Untalented flower.

Misty Tsubaki Waterflower. That's what I am.

"You know, mommy named you Tsubaki for a reason. She knew what you were 'fore you killed her."

'Stop...'

"Daddy couldn't even look at such trash, you're the reason he left!"

'Please. I don't want to hear it again.'

"Why are you even a part of this family? You should have never been born!"

'Don't make me remember.'

"It's all your fault! You broke our family. You are the reason why we can't see our mama!"

'Just shut up!'

"You stupid runt!"

Breaking glass. That familiar clinking noise rung in my ear. My bare feet felt multiple sharp stings. Blood-stained the wooden floor.

"What happened?" rushed in my Aunt Diane with a worried but sharp tone.

"Misty broke the glass again," cried one of my sisters.

Aunty gasped, shot a quick glare at me and left for the kitchen. She came back with a rag and the first aid kit.

-

I was back in that bedroom, that dull, dark, cold bedroom, sitting on that hard stiff chair.

"Misty, this is the third time this week you broke a glass cup. You know how expensive those are." She tilted the alcohol bottle on to the rag.

'But it wasn't me.'

"Why are you such a difficult child? Do you want more attention? Is that it? Despicable." She wrapped the rag around my foot. Causing tears to prick my eyes and my teeth to clench in pain.

"Well every bad deed comes with a punishment." she unwrapped it, revealing me from the striking pain, replacing it with a soft brown sticker. Making it about the 3rd one on that foot.

Aunt Diane stood up and walked towards the door. In my mind I kept begging her not to leave, praying that she wouldn't say those words, but to no avail. They always came.

"A despicable child like you deserves to disappear from sight. This is your punishment. No dinner and you'll sleep here t'night."

Then the door creaked close and the bit of light source I had vanished. I was alone again.

The first time I was put in here I thought it was much better than the belt, but I soon came to realize that wasn't the case.

I curled my body into a tight ball, trying to conserve heat. Nuzzling my face into my knees, I hid the monsters from sight. I sang in my head to drown out my thoughts and the bitter silence.

Banging on the door and wailing to be let out would not gain me anything besides a bruised hand and a sore throat.

My stomach grumbled, and my throat started to feel dry by the second hour. If it wasn't for the pain in my stomach I would've fell asleep an hour ago.

"42 bottles of beer on the wall. 42 bottles of beer." I whispered. The farthest I've gone from starting at 900. Though that's the farthest I would get that night. The thoughts started jamming through the wall I had tried to build. It was like demons tearing their way through hell and being unleashed on the earth. Ready to cause destruction.

Every insult, criticism, filled in my head. All the judgment, and cold stares hit me like nails scraping at my skin.

'No. Please go away.'

'Stop?' a foul cackle echoed in the room. 'These are your thoughts. You can't send them away. You brought them here. You want them to be here. To hurt you. To punish you; you despicable child.'

Whispers of disapproval surrounded the biggest voice, the same ones that surrounded me when I walked through town.

It came. My true demon.