The Tide Began to Rise - 3. Chapter 3

My dad raced forward and grabbed my throat. He began hitting me with his free hand. He gave me slaps to my face, punches to my chest and stomach. With each blow to the chest, I gasped for air. With each blow to the gut, I tired to double over. When I tired, the grip my dad had on my throat became tighter. I tired to cry out for mom or Peter, but no sounds came out.

The whole time dad was wailing on me, he made no sound. His eyes never changed. The grip he had on my throat loosened and I took in a deep breath. I knew this was only the beginning.

He had stopped hitting me. He still had the grip on my throat. He took off his belt. He threw me to the stairs. He cracked the belt across my back. I screamed out in pain. I got up and ran to my room. He chased me, hitting me with his whip every chance he got. I got to my room. I tried to close the door, but he was there.

“Dad……………………………Please………………………….Stop” I cried out. Tear streaming down my face.

Still no sounds had escaped my dad’s mouth. There was no change in expression on his face. He knocked me down, I landed on my bed. Then he began the relentless assault on me with his leather belt. He hit my legs, my sides, and my chest. I put my arms in front of my face to keep him from hitting it. He dropped the belt, grabbed and arms and moved them out of the way. He grabbed my throat once more, and applied pressure. I blacked out.

I woke up the next morning in so much pain. It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. I got up and made my way to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror after I got my shirt off. My entire chest was a bruise. There was dried blood everywhere. I trued to see my back. It was the same as the front.

I sighed, and then got in the shower. I winced in pain from the water getting in my cuts. I almost screamed out when I used soap to scrub the blood away. I finished the shower and went back to my room to get dressed. I picked out a pair of jeans and a plain black, long sleeve shirt. Even though it is August and going to be warm out side, I wore these clothes to hide the cuts, and the bruises. I don’t want people at school to know what is going on at home.

After I got dressed, I headed down stairs. My dad was in the kitchen with Peter and Tristan. They were eating breakfast. I decided that I would grab some pop tart, and just walked to school. Peter looked at me with a look that asked me why I wasn’t going to eat with them. Tristan looked at me with a look that he knew what happened, and found it hilarious. He had a huge smile on his face.

I walked out of the house and started walking down the street to school. The whole way I thought about how I could get out of the hell whole that is my life. I tried to figure out a way if it was possible to change that way my dad acts. Does he do these thing because the stupid things that I do. Then it hit me, he know it was me that took that money. That has to be the reason for the beating.

I got to the school at about 7:30. I walked in and went to the office to get my class schedule. I looked it over. I made sure that I got all the classes that I signed for. I looked at each class and looked at what teacher was going to be teaching what class. I knew all of the teachers except one. The math teacher was new. The piece of paper said his name was Mr. Snodgrass. I guess when I get to my 6th hour class I will see what he is like.

I went over to the cafeteria and sat down at one of the tables. I just sat there a read and re-read my class schedule. After a bit, James walked up and sat down beside me.

“Hey Tyler, What happened to you last night? Why did u leave the party so soon?”

“Hey James, I don’t know. I guess I just wanted a good night’s sleep before school.”

“You are so full of shit, you stink. But I love you man. OH, and thanks for the stereo system. I was going to buy the same one after my birthday. I love it dude.”

“No problem. I figured that you would have waited until after your birthday to trick out your car. It looks like I was right.”

“Yeah you were. Everyone else got me clothes or other stupid stuff like that. Jennifer gave me something really special. Of course that was after everyone else left. I wanted to get my gift before everyone was gone, but she made me wait. Ha ha ha.”

“Yeah I bet you did. And I bet you wanted to get this gift where everyone else could see also. Haha”

“Duh dude, gotta have an audience when having sex. Makes it lots more fun.”

Jennifer walked over to us. “What are you two boys talking about?”

Jennifer is James’ girlfriend. She is an African American goddess. She has gorgeous long black hair, light brown eyes, and she is about 5’7”. She and James have been dating for a little over a year. To me, they are perfect for each other.

“Talking about how ugly you are.” I said. That earned me one good smack to the back of my head.

We sat there talking and bullshitting until the bell rang for the class to get started. My first hour class is PC repair. The class is being though by Mr. Harding. The class is a full credit course for high school and for college credits. I’m not sure what I want to do with that rest of my life, but I’m sure that this will come in handy at some point.

All the classes went about the same. Each teacher gave us a book, and then we went over the class outline. Yawn fest. Lunch was right after our 5th hour. I sat with the few friends that I have and ate. We really didn’t have much to talk about though. The bell rang and it was time for 6th period. During lunch I found out Brad and I had the class together.

We walked to the room, and found a place to sit.

“Hello class, my name is Mr. Snodgrass. As you might have guessed it is my job to attempt to teach you math. I don’t expect all of you to get an A in this class. Honestly I didn’t get an A in math when I was in high school. But I will try my best to get you to understand this stuff. No-one will fail this course. I will give you extra credit to prevent that.

“Ok a little more about me……..first thing…..I HATE KIDS………no I’m kidding, I like kids. I am 27 years old, I graduated this last year. This is my first year teaching……….Ok let’s get to math now.”

H handed out our books. When he got to me, he paused. HE most likely wondered why I was wearing a long sleeve shirt. He moved on. We went through the book. He told us everything that we would be learning this semester. Then he let us have a free day. Brad and I talked; thank god he said nothing about last night.

As the end of class bell rang I reached down to pick up my stuff off the floor, my shirt came up my back a little. I quickly pulled it down but I think Snodgrass saw the bruises. I saw him make a note as I ran out of the room.

The rest of the day I wondered if he saw my back. I wondered if he would tell someone and what would happen if he did.