NIGHTMARES I

"Why won't you speak? Speak!" the evil woman slapped the child's face brutally again and again, that it was swollen and purplish-black in color, still the child didn't speak.

A five year - old child, small and delicate in stature but her eyes showed strength despite her age. Determined not to cry or speak to the evil woman. Since the time she learned the ways of the world, it was this woman and her partner who she first recognized.

At night, when the evil man came home, he would punch her and flung her to the wall. Not a single day had passed without bruises and wound inflicted on her small body.

She didn't know that these people were her parents until her neighbor who would usually helped her told her that they were her parents, but she never uttered 'mommy' or 'daddy' to address them. Not even once. Or nothing that she remembered.

"If you won't speak, I'll kill your cat in front of you. Speak! Where's the money that I saved here?" the evil woman slapped her again. Her lips were now bleeding.

She didn't speak. She watched the woman walked around, and when she was out of sight she threw the cat out of the window, urging it to go away. When the woman came back, she got a knife from the kitchen and was currently looking for the cat.

"You won't find him." was her simple statement. Soft but cold.

"Darling, you let him go. That is sad, then I'll do you." the woman was mad and her eyes were full of greed and viciousness. She grabbed the child's face, letting her feel the coldness of the knife on her left cheek. "How about this?" without much time given, in a blink of an eye, a big gash of wound appeared on the child's left cheek. However, she stood still, not showing any sign of emotions.

"Cry! I want to hear you cry! Cry!" the evil woman pounded the child's head on the wall. Blood was dripping on her clothes. She saw stars circling over her, her small hands were trying to reach them.

"I won't cry. I won't tell you where the money is. I will never cry!" she yelled and screamed at the top of her lungs, startling the woman from the sudden outburst.

"Then don't. Boring." the woman left her and locked her inside her room.

Instead of saying it's a bedroom, it was more like a storage room with all stuff strewn on the floor. There was no bed but an all-togther-patched blanket that was covered with dried and fresh blood.

The child sat there wiping the blood from her face using her torn shirt. She didn't know how much time had passed when there were movements outside her window. She looked outside and saw her cat with a plastic dangling from its mouth.

"Meow. Meow." it was climbing the wall toward her, leaping from wall to wall until it reached her window.

"Why are you here? The woman will kill you if she knew you're here. Go away and don't come back." She whispered to the cat and the cat stared back at her as if understanding what she meant. The cat rubbed it's head on her arms and put down the plastic that was dangling on it's mouth.

"Meow meow meow." the cat sounded sad calling out to her.

"I will live. I will come find you." the child rubbed the cat's fur gently. She reached the plastic and saw a meat bun, a small plastic with water and a note. 'I CAN ONLY LET YOUR CAT BRING THESE. I CALLED HELP ALREADY.' it was from the lady who she helped fetch water or wash clothes sometime.

"Meow?" the cat was tilting its head looking at her with those confused green eyes.

"There is still beauty in this cruel world, a beautiful cat like you and a beautiful lady like Ms. Maine." the child sat on the floor again and started munching on the food she received. She gave half of it to her cat, but the cat turned it's head away so she ate all of them.

She was eating silently when the world turned dark. She couldn't see anything not even her own hands which was right in front of her. She couldn't hear the cat's voice nor feel the food she was holding earlier.

A sudden coldness brush past her spine. It was terrifyingly cold. She curled into fatal position and covered her ears. 'He's here.'

In the dark, the child saw a moving mask of cruelty. It's claws were reaching out to her. She wanted to scream but her voice were stuck in her throat.

Compared to the woman, she was more afraid of this man with a switch on his brain. One second he was fine, the next second was her lying on the ground.

"Baby, papa is home." his voice was gentle. He was holding something but she couldn't see it clearly.

"Welcome back." her voice was trembling but she tried to make it sound soft and happy.

"You won't get up? You don't miss me?" the man's voice changed but he stayed on the spot where he stopped reaching for her.

"I want to sleep. I didn't tell her you took the money." she meant the woman which was the wife you battered her earlier.

"You didn't? She told me you did? She accused me of stealing her money in front of a crowd. You told her didn't you?" the voice was turning colder.

"I really didn't." she was trying to hold back her sob, afraid of what might happen this time. The mask was now smiling at her and the child found it creepy amidst the darkness.

"You did! You told her! This bastard! You did! Why else would she find out the truth?" he grabbed wrung her neck and threw her back on the floor.

The child curled up trying to protect her head. She stopped speaking and was whimpering in pain. 'I want to live. I want to see my cat.'

"Why won't you die? I want you dead!" the man grabbed her and let her stand. She was shivering from cold and pain. It was really dark. All she could see was a mask moving and the next moment was a hot and scorching water splashed at her.

"AAAAHHHHHHH! IT HURTS. IT HURTS. HELP ME." she was back on the ground screaming and this time her tears rolled down her cheeks. She cried and cried, the tears she was holding up all this time, burst out like a dam. "It really hurts."