Scratch Online

Broken

Mariah packed her bag and jumped out the window. The faint crash of a dish breaking in the kitchen made her jump all the quicker and with more conviction. The screams, however, were not so faint and scared her away from her house that she had no right to call a home. She knew that her parents would not start the façade of looking for her until three days had gone by with no sign of her, so she ran. She needed to find a place to hide where her parents would not look and she could escape that hell forever. She could stay with her best friend, Josiline, or her boyfriend, Sam, but that was only temporary. She either needed to head for the hills or head for the city and she preferred the option of the city.

She cried as she ran, tears made her mascara bleed and worsened the bruise that was developing on her left eye. Her father was not the kindest man in the world and certainly was at his best when he kept it to one bruise instead of multiple breaks, fractures, and scars. She made it out of the trailer park and down the road before she strapped on her rollerblades. Rollerblades won out instead of the bike because they were more portable. She rollerbladed at full tilt down the road, her golden brown hair flying out behind her accentuating the image of speed.

She reached her best friends house and felt the shame set in as she rung the doorbell to her friend’s happy nuclear home. Josiline’s parents got along, the floors were not covered in debris from the latest fight, and there was not a constant din of screaming emanating from the house. Josiline’s father answered the door and Mariah quickly covered her face with her hair.
“Is Josiline home?” Mariah asked in a rasping voice.
“She is, is everything alright?” Josiline’s father asked concernedly.
“Yes, just girl stuff.” Mariah explained quietly.
“Ah…yeah, that’s none of a father’s business. Come on in Mariah.”
“Thank you sir.” Mariah said politely.
She worked her way through the immaculate house to Josiline’s messy room. She knocked lightly on Josiline’s open door to confirm that it was okay for her to enter. Josiline beckoned her in without looking up from her science text book.
“Yeah? What’s up?” Josiline asked flippantly.
“I’m leaving.” Mariah said simply. Josiline’s head snapped up immediately to look at Mariah.
“Finally! You can stay here as long as you want!” Josiline said with a great sigh of relief.
“I can only stay the night. They’ll pretend to look for me soon and it would look suspicious if they didn’t look here. I have to keep moving, I’ll see if I can spend the night at Sam’s tomorrow but for now I just need a place to bunk out until I can scrounge enough money to get out of town.” Mariah said determinedly. She stared at Josiline’s pink, fuzzy carpet, deep in thought. She did not even notice when Josiline got up.
“Here…” Josiline held a thick stack of small bills and some coins out to Mariah.
“No I can’t. I’ll just empty my account and get my last paycheque from the shop and be on my way. I can’t take your money. You worked hard for that.”
“They’re just tips Rye! Bus tickets aren’t as cheap as they look in the movies. They’re actually a small fortune nowadays.”
“Then I’ll hitch-hike. I’m not taking your money.”
“Fine but if you change your mind once you’ve slept on it just ask and you can have it all.”
“Fine. For now can I just have a shower and fix this up so your dad doesn’t call my parents?” Mariah asked.
“Sure thing, by the way, what’s the story this time?” Josiline inquired.
“It’s girl stuff, that’s all he knows. I’m sure you can think of the rest of the story while I’m getting fixed up.”

Mariah walked out into the late spring morning, placing her Aviator sunglasses on her face. Josiline hadn’t woken up yet but Mariah had left a note for her, saying she’d see her at school. Mariah arrived at school with plenty of time to spare. She fixed her hair in the bathroom then ventured to her first class to ensure that she acquired a seat in the back where the Social Studies teacher was less likely to see her bruised face and make a call home. She did some Math homework she hadn’t finished yet but packed up when there was about ten minutes left before the first bell was bound to ring.

Mr. Logan walked confidently into the room, whistling. He seemed to be in a great mood and Mariah dropped to the floor to try to avoid his eyes and dampening his spirits. She crawled stealthily towards the door when she noticed that Mr. Logan had stopped whistling. He cleared his throat and Mariah groaned.
“What are you doing crawling around on the floor, Ms. Lennux?” Mr. Logan addressed her formally but he still had a chipper tone about him.
“I…was…looking for my ring! It fell off my finger when I came in yesterday and I was hoping it would still be here.”
“The Custodian probably swept it up already dear.” Mr. Logan said patiently.
“Oh…yeah, I suppose you’re right.” Mariah said as she rose to her feet. “I mean, you are a teacher after all.”
“Yes I am. Why don’t you go put your math away, this is Socials.” Mr. Logan said in a bit of a patronizing tone.
“Yes sir.” Mariah said meekly and shrunk away from her teacher.
“Wait a second. I was joking.” Mr. Logan said raising a hand to beckon her back. Mariah flinched away from his hand. Mr. Logan was taken aback and he abruptly lowered his hand. “Did you think I was going to hit you?”
“Why would I think that?”
“Maybe because it’s what you’re used to.” Mr. Logan said. Mariah was reeling.

He knows! He’s gonna call my parents and then they’ll find me and find out I was running away and beat me up again and who knows maybe they’ll break my ribs bad enough this time that they’ll puncture a lung and I’ll die. Now that’s not a bad alternative to running away.
“Can I talk to you for a minute Mariah?” Mr. Logan asked shutting the classroom door.
“I’d rather put away my Math work sir.” Mariah said formally. She did not want to aggravate him into beating her or worse calling her parents.
“You can, just give me one minute…please.” Mr. Logan asked kindly and patiently.
“Yes sir.” Mariah surrendered.
“You don’t have to call me sir. In fact for this conversation you could even call me John.”
“No thank you sir.”
“As you wish. I was just wondering if everything’s okay. You seem more shy than usual.”
“I’m just tired sir. I had a nightmare that kind of threw me off. I’m fine, really.” Mariah attempted to throw him off the scent but she underestimated the intelligence of her Socials teacher. She shook her hair out of her face but realised too late that her hair was covering her swollen eye.
“Coffee tables just seem to bowl you over constantly don’t they?” Mr. Logan commented in relation to her swollen eye.
“No this was a bed post sir.” It wasn’t much of a lie but she didn’t exactly fall into her father’s bed post.
“Mariah, I understand that you don’t want to tell me and you don’t want other people to know but it’s not healthy to subject yourself to this abuse. How did your eye get so swollen?”
“Sorry, I can’t… I just…can’t. I’m sorry sir.” Mariah struggled to stay calm but she failed. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she shook her head, covering her face with her golden hair.
“Mariah, there are people who can help you.” Mr. Logan said kindly, brushing the hair out of Mariah’s face. She flinched a little but realised that he was not going to hit her yet but her shoulders still tensed as she primed herself for what was to come. Her father always did this. He would put on the nice act to try to get her to “trust” him and then he would take advantage of her.

Just do it! Get it over with! Just get this out of the way, touch me, beat me, and get rid of me!

“What are you expecting me to do Mariah?”
“What my father does. Loosen me up, touch me, and then beat me for pushing you away.”
“That’s what your father does?” Mr. Logan was furious now, his hand began to shake on Mariah’s face and she scrunched her face in preparation for him to hit her.  “That is sickening! I have to report this! That’s preposterous!”
“No! You can’t! Take me, do what you want with me but don’t report them! They’ll just track me down and that would screw everything up!”
“I will do no such thing! Mariah Lennux, I will not take advantage of you like your sick and twisted father.”
“Then don’t! Just don’t report them! Just…don’t…please.” Mariah said thrusting herself into Mr. Logan’s arms briefly only to wrench herself free and run out of the room.

Jaws,
I have left early. Tell Sam that I don’t think I’ll see him any time soon. I thank you for all your help and acceptance. I appreciate your friendship and know that you have always had a special place in my heart and that you shall always retain that space. I may or may not ever see you again but don’t tell my parents where I went. Mr. Logan’s on to me in more than one way and that is why I’m leaving early. Don’t tell him anything.
I love you, sister.
Mariah L.

Mariah headed out of town on her rollerblades and stopped at a house that was clearly empty and filled up two pop bottles she had found on the side of the road. She looked in the person’s fridge and grabbed a few things she could turn into a make-shift roadside meal if she had to. She abandoned the house as fast as she could without appearing suspicious. She had to beware of any police cars that might see her out during school hours.

I just had to runaway when the sun’s coming out. I should start hitch-hiking. I’d have a lower chance of getting caught.

She rollerbladed to the next small community where she bought a bagel with cream cheese to keep her going a little longer but didn’t spend too much of her limited supply of money. She was lucky to have the fifty dollars that her parents hadn’t drunk away yet. When she was looking for the correct change for the miniature meal she found a lot more money than she had expected.

I should have known Jaws would make me take it anyway. I can’t say I don’t appreciate it but I still feel bad for taking her money. It must have taken a long time for her to get that much money in tips! Mariah thought to herself as she sat in the darkest corner of the small internet café.

She was soon on her way again. Around noon she was a little ways out of the town in which she had her bagel and she came across a small stream. She removed her rollerblades and donned her flip flops and climbed under the bridge to sit in the shade. She leaned against the refreshingly cool rocks and closed her eyes. The roar of the cars rolling over her head seemed peaceful and serene. She soon fell into a light slumber in which reality tainted her dreams causing them to be confusing and mixed. She opened her eyes, what seemed like, a few minutes later but when she resurfaced the sun was already much closer to the western horizon. She looked at her second hand watch. 3:48 it read. Her eyes enlarged with terror. She was not nearly far enough from her town to be safe yet. She decided to stick out her thumb and hitch a ride to the next town. If she made the journey too big someone would suspect her as a runaway.

She stood at the side of the road for less that 15 minutes before a car stopped to pick her up. When she leaned down to the window of the silver Toyota, Corolla she saw the face of her Socials teacher, Mr. Logan.
“They’re looking for you, get in.” Mr. Logan said urgently.
“Who’s looking for me?” Mariah asked, worried. She began to panic and got in the car, despite all of her instincts telling her not to get in.
“Your parents.” Mr. Logan said as he pressed heavily upon the gas pedal.

And so began Mariah Lennux’ journey through the rough life of a child from a broken home. Her family may have been broken but that was nothing compared to how broken Mariah would always be because of how she was raised. It would affect the types of people she would draw into her circle of trust, and what she would consider acceptable behaviour from a partner or friend. It would affect all of her dreams, life goals, and how the world would look at her. She would be placed into a stereotype and have enormous stigmas centred around her when strangers would pass her on the street. No matter how pretty you are, a damaged life has the ability to make your mind ugly.