Chapter 0004

Chapter three

“Naomi!” a voice yelled and the girl lying on the bed trembled. She slowly got up as she heard the heavy footsteps on the creaking stairs and soon after, her door was thrown up and a big man with busy beard stood in front of it. His hazel eyes were staring at her angrily and she curled on her bed, using the bedcovers to cover herself. “Why is there no food waiting for me?” he thundered, his voice very loud that it sent a shiver down her spine.

“There was nothing in the house. I told you in the morning when I was leaving for school but you chased me away. I haven’t even had anything to eat all day,” she replied in a trembling voice.

“And how is that my business?” he asked, storming towards her that she was sinking in the bed, hoping that the covers would protect her from his wrath. However, he yanked the covers away and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out of the bed as she screamed. “I don’t care if you have never had anything to eat but you have to find me something to eat because I am starving.”

“But what can I do? There is nothing in the house,” she said, grabbing onto his hand to minimize the impact on her scalp.

“Then find something,” he yelled, dragging her out of the room with her hair. The wooden floors creaked on his weight and the splinters on them poke into her skin, making her wince in pain. He pulled her down the stairs, her hips hitting on the stairs with their descend. There was no doubt about it, she knew she would be covered in new blisters by morning. The man threw her into the kitchen and yelled, “you have ten minutes to find me something to eat, otherwise you are sleeping out with the wolves.” With that, he turned and stormed out. She heard the sound of his door slamming and she flinched with it.

When she was sure he won’t be back, she slowly crawled up from the ground and glanced at her thighs, she was covered in splinters and she took the next five minutes, getting all of them out. Her thighs were burning in pain. She stared at the empty kitchen counters, wondering what exactly she could prepare with literally nothing in the house. She limped to the refrigerator and opened it and just like she expected, it was empty. At loss on what to do, she slumped down by the counters and buried her head on her knees, waiting for him to come back sometime later and beat the hell out of her.

She woke up some time later to discover that she had fallen asleep right on the kitchen floor. She was cold and shivering and slowly got up to boil hot water for a bath. She was shocked to see that it was morning, that means he never came back last night to hit her, then he must have been more drunk than he let out. She sighed and quickly boiled the water and when it was ready, she carried it to her room as silently as she could. The last thing she would want is to wake him up and so she prepared for school as fast as she could and snuck out of house.

Walking to school, she covered her head and face with the hood of her hoodie, she hugged her school bag in her arms, her face looking at nothing but people’s feet. It was a long walk to her school but she would take the walk everyday over staying at home with her father. The school bullies didn’t let her off but she would always choose their bullies over his beating and harsh voice. She would always choose everything over his hard tones and the way he treats her. She never met her mother, she had died giving birth to her and according to her aunt who helped raise her, her dad used to be the most loving man she knew but the death of her mother changed him and made him the beast he was now.

He was always beating her and her aunt as she grew up and eight years ago, her aunt had ran away because she couldn’t endure anymore. She was only nine years then and had wanted to leave with her aunt but her dad had found out and refused her aunt leaving with her. At the end, the woman had to leave without her, promising to always call and check up on her but since she left that night, she has never heard from her and it’s been eight long years now.

Approaching the school, she sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing herself for the day’s bully. Walking into the school, she bumped into someone, “hey watch it,” a piercing voice said and she groaned softly. Of all the people to bump into and it was her? “Oh, it’s the psychic,” the girl chuckled.

Naomi heaved a sigh and meant to walked past her with a, “sorry, Stacy,” but like she expected, she was pulled back and was forced to look up. “I already said sorry.”

“I know, I heard you,” Stacy grinned. “If you are such a good psychic, how come you didn’t see Jeremy’s death yesterday? Or have you lost the power to foresee the future?”

“Please, Stacy, just let me go,” she pleaded.

“And why should I?” Stacy asked. “See, we are going to be good friends if you can foresee something for me,” and with that, she draped her arm on Naomi shoulders who cursed silently but still let her do what she wanted. And so, Stacy spun her around and pointed to where, Justin, the quarterback and captain of the school’s football team and a popular jock was standing and talking with his friends. “Tell me, do you think Justin is going to ask me to the dance?”

Naomi stared at the boy in question, she knew she won’t be getting any vision or whatever because she is definitely not a love expert and also, she has no control when she sees her vision, it always kind of happen. “I don’t know, Stacy. You always want me to see who your next boyfriend would be and I keep telling you, I am not a love expert.”

“A psychic is supposed to know everything.”

“I am not a psychic, how many times will I tell you that?”

“It doesn’t explain the fact of the things you did in twelve grade. Whatever you said would happen, always happen, how do you think you got your nickname?”

Naomi sighed at that, that time was the beginning of her nightmare, as if she wasn’t already having enough at home. She woke up one day and was able to see what would happen next by just touching a person or being in a particular room. She had been so terrified and when she told her dad, he beat her instead, saying that she had made him a laughingstock among his friends. It didn’t help that everyone became scared of her and even Stacy, who used to be her best friend started making up excuses to not hang out with her and along the line, she learned to keep her visions to herself no matter how gruesome it was, with what happened the day before with Jeremy as an example.

“Please Stacy, just keep me away from your love life,” she replied, shrugging off her arm on her shoulders and walking off. She waited for her comeback, for her to yell something degrading behind her back but none came and when she decided to look back, she saw why. George —one of the football players— had wrapped his arms around her and she seemed to be enjoying the attention from him.

Sighing, Naomi turned to continue with her walk but ended up crashing into a strong wall. The force was even stronger than when she bumped into Stacy. She stepped back immediately, muttering an apology and looked up to see who was in her way only to be shocked silly to see Justin standing in front of her and smiling down at her. “Hello Naomi,” he said softly, he was probably the only one that still calls her by name, except for the teachers.

“Justin, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there,” she whispered.

“I know,” he smiled some more. “Say, the class is planning on having a party in the woods tonight. Wanna come?”

“I’m not invited.”

“What am I doing?” he asked playfully. “Listen Naomi, it would be fun, besides, you hardly attend any party. Maybe it’s because you didn’t want to go to anybody’s house but you shouldn’t worry about that because it would be holding in the cabins in the woods, you can come with a sleeping bag or nothing since there are cabins. It’s Friday night and we are planning to stay till morning. It would be fun, I promise,” he smiled, showing off pearly white teeth. Some strands of his blonde hair got in his eyes and he shook it off, still smiling.

Naomi bit her lips, what was she to lose? If her father has gotten the groceries before she leaves from school, she would just prepare for his dinner and leave it for him. He literally never cares if she was in the house as long as he saw his food waiting for him and now thinking about food, her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she had had nothing to eat since yesterday.

“Are you hungry?” Justin asked, finally forgetting to smile and frowning instead.

Naomi shook her head, “I will try to come to the party if I could,” and with that, she ran off before he could stop her and all through the walk, she could feel his green eyes on her back.

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