The Last Time

Cara tried her best to come in quietly.

She did come in quietly. He already knew she’d gone and he was waiting for her.

“You thought you could hide from me,” not a question. She didn’t answer, just stood. She knew what came next, and while she was prepared to bear it again, it still made her afraid.

He was across the room in just two strides with his backhand against her face. She tumbled down to to ground, and he pushed her down further with his heel to her back.

“Get up,” he spat. She tried but his foot remained on her back and once she was on her hands and knees, he stumped her down again.

“I said get up.” Twice more kicked her back down, the last time finally stepping away. As he brought his foot back to the ground he deliberately ground his booted heel into the back of her hand slowly. The sharp heel tore through her skin and brought on new pain, adding to her throbbing cheek and aching back.

She’d learned too many times before that crying and begging just made him more ravenous for blood. It had actually been Antonia that helped her realize this. The younger girl in the schoolyard had refused to cry like the others when the bully picked on her. He tried of her more quickly and moved on.

After she’d seen this mere child show such staunch stoicism, she tried biting back her tears at home. And lo and behold, the time under his cruelty was less, shorter, quicker.

She managed not to cry out against her ripped hand, but just barely.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s see if your brother is awake.”

No. Not Champion.

She couldn’t hide the fear this time, and he growled out a sneering smile.

“That got your attention.” He grabbed her by the collar and dragged her to Champion’s room. She fought him, trying to delay him, pressing her feet into the ground trying to stop, to turn around and go the other way. It was no use.

He opened Champion’s door too fast, and it made a loud crash against the wall as it swung open. Little Champion, dear tender Champion, startled and sat straight up. He looked at his father scared, then at Cara with first confusion and then a new layer of fear.

General Bannor threw Cara down on the floor.

“This is what happens when you break the rules.”

He dragged Champion out of his bed and began to hit him repeatedly. Champion screamed and tried to get away, and Cara couldn’t stop her cries this time.

She knew with no doubt this was her fault. She antics had brought this on Champion, her gentle and sweet little brother. The one who looked up at her with curious eyes and asked questions about all the things he could see. Always thinking about how things worked and wondering about people and plants and things.

Champion was the reason she’d started seeking another way - another life. A better world for him.

But now this curious and precious soul was paying for her mistakes, her carelessness. And it wasn’t the first time. Worse, she could never contain herself when he brought his wrath down on Champion. She was extending his pain with her pleas and cries.

After it all, even as she cradled her little brother, his child’s tears soaking her clothes as they waited for their mother to come patch them up – she decided that this was the last time.

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