• I heard the banging on the basement door. My hiding place was found out; I needed a new one.
    I could feel the blood dripping from my nose. My sweater was the only thing I could find to stop the bleeding, what was left of it anyway, after being ripped in the struggle.
    I hadn’t meant to make him mad, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as usual. I always got in his way and then he’d get mad at me and hurt me in some way.
    All I did was walk in front of the television to sit on the floor on the other side of the room. He had been lying across the couch, remote in hand, and a bowl of chips in the floor, but as soon as I crossed he jumped up and hit me across the face, making my nose start bleeding. I tried to run away and get away from him, but he grabbed my new sweater, that my step-sister Courtney had bought me, ripping it as he held me there so he could yell in my face.
    “What do you think you’re doing, you dumb-a**! I was watching that and you made me miss the best part!” he screamed at me.
    I said nothing but tried to run away, afraid he might hit me again.
    “Where do you think you’re going? You’re gonna pay for that!”
    Quickly, I squirmed free from his grasp, ripping my sweater more, and ran for the basement door, locking it behind me. So, that’s where I was, once again, hiding from my stepfather, a daily routine.
    “Benjamin, can you come up here please?” asked Courtney, from the top of the basement stairs, like she usually did when she came home from school at the end of the day.
    I didn’t want to go upstairs. I knew it would be the same as it always was. Courtney only asked me to come upstairs because Phillip, her father, made her. And if I didn’t listen to her, then she got beat as well as me.
    I just wish I were with Dad again, I thought. I know he doesn’t want me anymore, but he never hurt me. He’s nice to me. Everyone else always hurts me. Phillip always hurts me. I hate him. I hate him! I don’t wanna live here anymore. I miss Dad.
    “Benjamin! Get up here now!” Courtney yelled, getting angry that I hadn’t answered her.
    I brought myself to my feet and walked toward the light looming from beneath the door. The soft, white glow was all too familiar for me as I ascended up towards Courtney.
    I opened it up and walked into the kitchen. Phillip grabbed me by what was left of my collar, making me flinch and cower away, waiting for him to hit me again.
    “Do you really think that hiding in the basement is going to help you?” Phillip yelled into my face as he hit my cheek.
    “Stop hitting me, please! It hurts so bad!” I cried.
    That seemed to anger Phillip even more. He bent me over one of the kitchen chairs and picked up his belt that was on the table. He pulled my jeans down and began hitting my bare skin.
    I couldn’t help but scream out in pain. I looked at Courtney who was standing in the doorway. There was a look of fear and concern in her eyes. She never liked to see me like that, but she never did anything about it either.
    Phillip had hit me nearly twenty times by the time he finally finished.
    “Now, get your a** in your room and think about respecting me! Don’t you EVER ask me to stop hitting you, boy. It’s my God given right as a parent to beat you when you do something wrong!” Phillip yelled, pushing me and making me fall onto my face.
    I scrambled back up to my feet as quickly as I could, in spite of the pain, and pulled up my pants as I ran to my room, putting a chair underneath the door handle so that Phillip couldn’t come in that night and hurt me while I slept. Tears were still streaming down my bruised face.
    I walked over to the full mirror in the corner of my room that my mother had given to me before she died and took off my clothes. There were cuts and bruises all over my frail body. My skin looked more of a bluish-green color rather than white. I put on my pajamas and walked over to my desk, pulling out a letter from my father.

    Dearest Benjamin,
    Hello son. How are you? I hope that you are okay. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. I’m sorry that I didn’t get to attend your mother’s funeral and see you, but I was on a business trip and I couldn’t take off. Please forgive me. I miss you a lot. Hopefully someday in the future you will be able to come visit me, but until then I guess I’ll just keep writing you. I do miss you and I do love you, but with my hectic schedule I just don’t see how I can be in your life at this time. I hope you can forgive me for not being there when you need me the most. I will always love you. Be good!
    Always yours,
    Dad

    I folded the letter back up and threw it back onto my desk.
    Be good? Like it would matter if I was good or not! Phillip would still hit me whenever he found some reason to do so. No matter how good I was, Phillip would still find a way to blame something on me, so that he could beat me. I just can’t handle living in this house anymore. I have to get out, and I’ll take Courtney with me. I have to get us out of here. It’s not right that he hits me, but it’s even worse when he hits Courtney. She’s a girl, and she’s his girl! How could he do that to his own child? It’s just not right, and I’m gonna do something to change that!