Darkness invades my soul completely now. Pain, suffering, and fear are the only emotions I feel. It’s all I’ve known and been taught for the last seven years.

"STUPID BITCH!" I can hear the flesh to flesh contact from my hiding place. He’s been drinking again which is never a good thing for me. "WHERE IS SHE?!" Another hit resounds through the halls. "YOU"VE HIDDEN HER! I KNOW IT!" Slurring is evident in his voice this time.

"I don’t know where she is. Please believe me." The pleas and cries in her voice is heartbreaking, but I know if I make myself known now it will be worse for the both of us.

A body crashes into the wall next to the closet where I’m hiding. The whimpering and cries of pain are easy to make out now. She’s begging for mercy, but he will never show any. He is a monster. Uncaring and malicious are the only two words that come to mind when describing him. He is my nightmare. My reasons for sleepless nights and the reason I am alone in this world.

Another smack comes with another cry of pain, I begin to shake in my hiding spot because I know he will find me soon. Then their will be no mercy for me. He will do what he has done every night for the last seven years. There is no escape. The nightmare will never end. I am doomed to endure the tortures he sees fit to put me through each and every day.

The crying has stopped. He must have knocked her out again. My shaking and trembling body has become worse with each passing second. The panic has set in. It’ll only take him a few minutes to find me.

The knob turning on the closet door captures my attention, and I become paralyzed with fear. He has found me. In a couple of seconds the darkness will be no more as the light starts to pour in from the door opening. The light stretches slowly across my body revealing every bruise and cut that was put there by his hands. The light reaches my eyes last. The sparkle of life and hope that use to be there is gone. It’s been replaced with fear.