Act 1 | Chapter 15

The next time I woke up, it was from the sound of loud knocking. I looked up and over to the apartment door.

"Is that the food?" I asked Riley, who was sitting down on the couch near my feat. Without responding, she stood up and walked over to the door.

"Yeah, it's the food," Riley said, peering through the peephole, and opening it up. I smiled weakly and let out a weak 'hurray' soon feeling that the ice pack I had been holding against my eye had warmed up. Once Riley finished paying the delivery man, she closed the door and started walking back over to me. No sooner than a minute later, the door opened again, this time with Riley's mother, Hope Blackmar, stepping through it. She was a really tall woman, being no taller than Riley or I. She, just like Riley, had short black hair, though her's wasn't dyed. It was neater and definitely treated better. Miss Blackmar was wearing her uniform still, the white doctor's coat with whatever she wore underneath.

"Hello, Miss Blackmar." I groaned, holding my hand up to wave at her.

"What happened to you, sweetie?" She asked worriedly, dropping her purse on the counter and walking over to me.

"Oh, I just had some problem with someone at the mall," I responded. Miss Blackmar grabbed my face and gently tilted my head so that she could see the bruise better. She lightly pressed her finger against it, causing me to whence from the sore pain that it caused.

"Well whoever it was, they hit you quite hard." She said, "It's nothing too severe but it will take a while to fully heal." Miss Blackmar gently let go of my face and nodded. "Are there any other places that hurt?"

"No. I'm fine."

"Alright then." She pats my head, "For now, get a new ice pack and keep it pressed against your eye, but don't put too much pressure on it. You'll be fine in a few day's."

"I will, thanks." I gave her a smile and sat up. It felt nice to have someone take care of you. Miss Blackmar cared more about me than my own mother, which is probably why I like her a bit more. She's nice and has let me and Riley get away with tons of stuff when we were kids.

Riley was setting up the table for us. She had opened three boxes of rice chicken with vegetables and set them around the kitchen table. Miss Blackmar helped me up and over to the table.

"Thank's Riley," I said, sitting down. Riley and her mother sat down beside me on both side's and started eating along with me. "How was your shift, Miss Blackmar," I asked, after taking a few bites of rice.

"It was pretty quiet." She simply replied.

"Hm. Not a whole lot happened then." I went quiet and looked to Riley, "Do you still want to watch a movie."

"Sure, we can just watch something on TV."

"You girl's went to the movies?" Miss Blackmar asked.

"We tried, but..." I stopped speaking and shook the image of Maria and my brother out of my head.

"Zoey's classmate attacked us. The one that really hates her." Riley explained, helping me out.

"Maria? Why would she do something like that?" She asked in a concerned voice.

"She doesn't like me. Maira doesn't want me to enter the art contest."

"That may be so, but that doesn't give her the right to hit you."

"No, but she did anyway."

"Are you going to continue your work?" Miss Blackmar asked.

"Of course. I'm already done planning it. I just need to paint it."

"Good." She replied, taking another bite of the rice, "Just be careful. If this is what Maria did to try and stop you, I don't wanna know how far she'll actually go."

A couple of minutes later the three of us all finished the food and tossed the empty rice box's into the trash. Riley and I sat down onto the couch to watch a movie, though no matter how much I tried, I couldn't shake the feeling of being worried when my mother would see my black eye.

***

"Zoey!" My mother yelled, staring at me as I walked through the doorway the next day. I had just gotten back from school, and she was already home?

"What did you do to your face?" She asked, walking over to me quickly, and grabbing both sides of my head, and pulling it closer so she could see.

"M- Mom, I didn't do anything." I tried quickly explaining.

"Bullshit, you ruined your smooth face." She yelled at me, sounding very pissed off.

"Mom, I didn't do it, Maria from school-"

"I don't care about her. I care about your face. You know why it can't be ruined and now look at you. I have to wait for that to heal before we can body paint again."

"I... I'm sorry." I looked down, defeated. There's no point in arguing with my mother. She was completely unreasonable. It didn't matter if I hurt myself or someone else hurt me, if there was a cut, scrape, bruise, or anything on my body, she would scold me for it. I can't beat her, and it's just better to get her punishment over with.

"You better be." She said. I'll spare you the details of my mother yelling at me for an hour straight, but once she was finished, she grabbed my jacket and pulled it off. Then, she started stripping me of the rest of my clothing until I was completely naked. Mom usually never did this, but I knew in this case, she would take advantage of the fact she can physically punish me while my bruise healed. My mother grabbed both my hands and bound them together behind my back with duct tape.

"Mom, please no," I begged.

"Zip it, Zoey!" She tied a string of duct tape around my head and covering my mouth. Once I was muffled, she grabbed me by my hair, and started dragging me over to her 'closet'. It was in the basement and was more of an old wardrobe. Even then, I tried pleasing, though the duck tape muffled my word's, and made it impossible for me to speak.

"I'm going to have to remind you of what happens when you do something like this!" She poked the bruise on my eye, causing me to wince in pain. My mother grabbed the ruler from her basement desk and bent me over her lap. Repeatedly, she spanked me with it.

"Your bruise will take time to heal, but this won't take as long!" She growled. I started to cry with each spank, my behind started to burn and sting after a minute or two of her doing this. Once I was crying and shaking, she lifted me up, tossed me into the wardrobe, and locked me inside.

"You're going to stay in here for the rest of the day!" She warned, before leaving me all alone in the darkness. I sat down in there, crying as I was bound up, and prevented from letting out any sounds. I hate my mother sometimes. It was rare that I would end up getting an injury that took more than a week or so to heal, and in those times, my mother relished in the opportunity to properly punish me. This was one of those times.