From the horrors of abuse, she learned to be an angel. |
The world always seemed so dull to Marie. Light never seemed to shine on her path no matter where she was in life. She was only a little girl of the age of ten. She lived alone with her mother in a small, old home. They lived down a old dirt road that seemed to never end. Life was odd for her, and mysterious. Her mother always seemed to come home and drink every night after work. That's when the 'episodes' would begin. Marie heard the wooden door to the house slam shut, the wall connecting to it shaking. A little debris fell from the tattered white roof as her mother trudged into the living room and plopped herself down on the brown tattered arm chair that she always sat in. It was the only piece of furniture that donned the large room that connected to a small kitchen. There was a small hallway that held two doors. Through the door on the left little Marie trembled in the corner of her room, trying her best to keep her little sobs quiet. She was never educated so she didn't know how to read, she didn't know the science of the world around her, she didn't know anything except for the little English she knew....and the terror of her mother. She could hear the tab of a can pop open and she knew that this was the start of her mother's episode's. She would drink one beer, two beers, three beers. She would count from each little pop that sounded through the quiet home as she continued to tremble in her corner. She then heard the creaking of the chair as her mother stood up. Marie gulped, holding back a fresh wave of sobs. Loud footsteps resonated down the hallway as the slowly came closer, and closer, and closer to her door. She saw the shadow of her mothers feet from the crack under the door. She only trembled more. The wooden door slowly creaked open, making a screeching noise across the concrete floor as some of the wood scraped across the floor. It only sent more terror through the little girl. Her mother walked in with a faltering step as nasty hiccups came through her nasty, cracked lips. Her lips held a disturbing smirk that held only the ugliest intentions. A wine cooler bottle now rested in her hands, only half full. Her mother took another sip as she staggered over to Marie. She knelt on the floor to Marie's height as Marie hid her face in her knees so she didn't have to look at the ugly face of her mother. "Look at me." She had said calmly at first. Marie didn't comply. "Look at me." Her mother said more sternly this time. Marie only shook her head as little tears streamed down her face. She didn't want to look, she didn't want to see into the eyes of the source of her terror. "I said look at me!" Her loud voice barked as she slammed the bottle over the little girls head. Marie felt a large pain shoot through her head as she now clutched the back of her head. She could feel the blood as it started to seep through the open wounds. Her mind became a bit fuzzy and all she wanted was it to stop. Her large, brown eyes met her mothers nasty grey one's that were surrounded by wrinkled skin. "See? That's better." She snarled at the little girl as she stood up, looking down at the now broken bottle. "Great, you made me waste good liquor on your pathetic little head." Marie's mother then grabbed her by the long, ratty brown locks of her hair and started to drag her out of the room. Loud screams only came from the girl as she scratched and scratched at her mothers hand and arm. Her attempts were futile as her mother threw her against the hard, cold tile of the kitchen floor. "Get me another one!" She screamed once more as she went back and sat in her chair. Marie weakly stood up, walking over to the dusty white fridge. Grabbing a beer can she staggered weakly over to her mother. She glared at her, "I didn't want this! I wanted a bottle!" She then slapped the little girl across the cheek. Marie fell to the floor, hitting her head against it as a sharp pain took over to left side of her face. She only cried more as she got back up and went and grabbed her mother a bottle. Her mother patted her head roughly as she took off the cap and gulped down the contents. She then smiled at the little girl and said the line she always told her after she was done with her. "You are my little Angel...Now go!" She screamed the last part as Marie weakly walked back to her room and fell onto her bed, passing out. In the morning she awoke to the sound of the wooden door slamming shut as her mother once again left to go to work. Marie looked out the old dusty window and at the dark sky that was tainted with gray clouds. She put her tiny hand to the window that was stained with dried blood from the night before. Her face and her head pulsed with pain but she only ignored it, due to being used to it. "One day, I will be able to be a real Angel." She always muttered that same line, but today was the day. She wanted to be a real Angel. She unlocked the window and weakly pushed it open, listening to the high pitched scratching noise it made as it scraped across the metal sides and over the other half of the window. She slipped one leg out, then another. She fell out the window at least a foot down and sat up. Her eyes burned from the fresh air that washed over her senses. And the bright light that found its way into her vision. She blinked and noticed the ladder that she had set up next to the house a while ago. She was amazed her mother had never noticed it, or if she did, moved it. Yet it still stood there, connecting to the flat roof of her home. She found herself pressing her little hands on the cold metal as she looked up, and gulped. Then slowly made her way up the ladder. The wind blew her hair around her face as she now stood on the roof, looking over the one acre of huge weeds and high grass that led to the edge of a dark forest. She sat there for who knows how long until she heard the loud crumbling of the tires as they came down the gravel driveway. She looked over to see her moms rusty black old Volvo pulling in and then the sound of it as it turned off. Her mom stumbled out of it, slamming the car door shut. Cursing as her duct taped mirror now fell off. "Mommy!" Marie called before her mother made her way inside. She looked up, putting her hand slightly over her eyes to cover them from the sun. "Marie?! Get down here! NOW!" But Marie didn't listen she only smiled at her mother. "No." Was all she muttered yet her mother heard. "I. Said. Now!" But still Marie didn't listen. She was a very stubborn little girl, and she wanted to be an Angel. "Mommy, you always said I was your Angel. But your wrong." Her mother looked confused and angry. Groaning as she was too sober to deal with the little girl. "Yes, yes, now get down here before I drag you down here myself!" Marie only smiled as a single tear escaped down her small, muddy cheek. "I'll be a real Angel now mommy." Her mother's eyes widened in horror as Marie stepped off towards the edge of the house. She took one last look at the beautiful sun as she fell backwards off the house, and on her way down, she smiled. Because she knew that no longer would she suffer, she would be, an Angel. A loud sickening crack was sounded from Marie's neck as her now limp body hit the gravel. Her mother screamed and jumped back from the horror in front of her. And that was the last thing anyone saw or heard from the little girl, who wanted to be an Angel. |