The Warrior Within

"You are a monster," I cried out, slamming my fist into his chest. "You are a backstabbing, hideous-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Ben had grabbed my arm and twisted it, rendering me silent.

"Shut up you stupid girl," he hissed in my ear, twisting my arm more with every word. "You are not the center of this universe and you never will be."

I sobbed silently but stayed silent. When my step-father got like this, I knew that it was wise for me to stay silent.

"Now listen closely you little bitch," he hissed, grabbing my neck and forcibly wrenched my face next to his. "If you breathe one word of my affair to your mother, I will skin you alive. Do you understand me?"

I nodded, closing my eyes as I tried to keep the groans of pain inside of me. The little voice in my head screamed at me, telling me to speak up and fight back. But I couldn't. I was too weak. I have always been too weak to stand up to him.

"Great," he hissed, spilling me back onto the floor. I waited on the floor for a bit, wishing that the earth could swallow me up and I would never have to go home. Unfortunately, by the time he left I was still on earth, crying and shaking.

Slowly, I got to my feet and limped toward the bathroom. Seeing my reflection in the mirror brought anger into my veins.

I was staring back at a sniveling coward. Her brown eyes were red with tears, her blonde hair was a tangle of curls that rested on top of her head, and her makeup that she had spent hours perfecting was now ruined. In short, she was a freak.

"Fuck," I grumbled to myself in the mirror. "That son of BITCH!"

Shouting the last words, I slammed my good arm on the sink and cried.

I don't know how long I stayed there, but eventually I knew that I would have to get cleaned up and go home.

I didn't want to go home. I couldn't stand the thought of being in the same room as that monster. I knew that I would spill the second that my mom asked me what was wrong. I couldn't lie to her, not after everything that we went through.

Instead, I called up my best friend and ask if I could spend the night. His answer was always the same.

"Yes Kiki, whatever you need."

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I walked out of the bathroom, feeling and looking like a distinct person. A person who had not just been a victim to her step-father's abusive ways. This was the person I wanted to be.

Making my way towards Ali's house, I looked up and down teh street. Although I didn't admit it to myself, I knew that I was searching the faces for my step-father. I hated how he made me feel. The mere thought of him brough chills to my bones. One day, the feeling of fear would change to anger. Any day it would change.

As I walked up the familiar steps to Ali's house, the tension and exhaust that had been building up on my chest went away.

"Welcome back," Ali's voice called out to me from somewhere in his house. "Just take off your shoes and meet me in my room!"

Smiling, I did as I was told and made my way towards his room.

On the way, I heard crying coming from his sister's room. Frowning, I walked towards her room and peeked my head in.

"Sasha?" I called out quietly, looking around for the youthful girl. "Are you okay?"

"Kiki?" the girl cried in delight, all traces of sorrow gone. I smiled as a junior girl came into view. With her long black hair, tan skin, and emerald eyes, Sasha Storm came running at me and jumped into my waiting embrace. "Kiki I didn't know that you were coming."

"Neither did I my little thunderstorm," I said to her, using the nickname I had given her years earlier. Once we separated, I stared into her red-rimmed eyes.

"Sasha are you ok?" I asked her. "Why are you crying?"

Sasha shook her head and looked around the room, her eyes refusing to meet mine.

"Sasha?" I tried again, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Sasha you know you can tell me anything right?"

"No, I can't!" she unexpectedly blurted out, hustling me away from her. "You are not a fighter so you can't help me."

Sasha's words hit me like a brick, causing me to sway a bit in my place. I didn't know what I would have responded because at that moment Ali appeared, and from his expression I could only assume that he had heard what his sister had just said to me.

"Sasha you will apologize to Kiki at once!" he scolded his sister, giving her a death stare.

The youthful girl wavered underneath his stare, and for a moment I saw myself in Sasha. The scared girl who didn't have the guts to stand up for herself. At that moment, something snapped in me and for the first time in my life, I knew what I had to do.

"Ali I have to go," I blurted out, not exactly sure what I was doing. "I'll see you later and just go easy on Sasha ok?"

Before either of them could respond, I was running towards the door and headed home. Nothing in that moment mattered, for I had one mission in my mind. One action that will change my life.

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"Hey sweetie!" my mom told me as I rounded the corner to our house. She was outside, gardening. For a moment, I felt bad for her, because she did not understand what was about to go down. "What are you doing home so early?"

Ignoring her question, I raced up the stairs two at a time and burst into the gaming room.

My Step-father and brother were playing a game of ping pong, although they both stopped once I burst into the doorway.

"What are you doing here?" My step-father demanded, glaring at me.

I didn't respond, for it was not fear that held my words back, but the sight of my brother. He looked nervous, well more nervous than usual, and was spotting a black eye. I didn't understand how he got it, for he did not wrestle nor did he play sports. However, I answered my question soon.

"You," I hissed, glaring at the man I once called father. "You did that to him, you did this to me!"

All the anger that I had felt in the past two years boiled over and formed into words.

"You have been using us for the past two years! You were the one who made mom move, who stole our money, and beat us up! You pretend to be this nice dad but you know what? You are a fucken bitch!"

I watched my step-fathers face turn red, purple, then finally settling at pure rage. "How dare-"

"How dare I?" I screamed, stepping closer towards him. "How dare you! When you and my mom had just gotten married, you came to my room that night! You told me we would be friends and even though you could never replace my dad, you would still try to fill the gap he left in my life!"

Tears of rage, hope, and fear were crawling down my cheeks, chocking up my words, but I still pressed on.

"I looked up to you because like an idiot I believed you! I thought this would be good for my mom. I never thought she would love again, but she did! She fell for a manipulative, lying prick who didn't give a shit about her feelings! A man who she gave her soul to, only to shove it down her throat and ruin it!"

Before I could get out another word, something slammed me in the back of my head with such force that it knocked me to the floor.

"What the hell Harold!" My mom's voice screamed. Through blurry eyes, I saw my mom's figure at the door. I realized that I have never seen her that mad before. "What the fuck did you just do to my daughter?"

"She is a little twerp who needs to learn respect-" he said, but my mother cut him off.

"Respect?" she scoffed as she closed the gap between them. "You deserve as much respect as a two-year-old! You dare tell my daughter to respect someone who has cheated on me!"

I smiled inwardly, enjoying the look of pure rage and fear that had emerged on my step-father's face.

"Oh, don't give me that face," my mom spit, moving towards the side and pointed a shaking finger at the doorway. "You really think I don't know when my husband is cheating on me? Wake the hell up Harold and get yourself together! You may think your so smart but let me tell you something. You are as dumb as a doorpost! Now get out!"

For a moment, I thought my mom was a goner. The rage in his face was unspeakable. However, God must have been looking down at my mom that day, for he did not fight back. He slowly made his way towards the door, glanced back one more time, before slowly walking away from our house.

"Oh sweetie," my mom sobbed, dropping to her knees and wrapping me in a hug. "Are you all right?"

"I am," I replied, and for the first time in a while I really meant it. As my mom wrapped me into a tighter hug, my eyes wandered toward the mirror was on the wall. The girl who stared back at me, well I was proud of her.

Sure, the bump on my head would be there for a while and his presence in the house. However, the girl in the mirror had finally conquered her fear. She had made the change that she dreamt of since she was five.

As my mom and I sat on the floor, sobbing and hugging each other, I smiled a genuine smile.

I had changed my life and allowed the warrior inside of me to bloom. No longer will she be forced to hide in fear. No one can keep the warrior in once I had let her out.