skinblade

Start from the beginning and read Dream #1

I could take the pain away when he hit her.

Delilah refuses my help. When I try to use my magic to take the pain away she pushes back at me. Her magic is stronger in this way – in refusal of other magic. A reflector of sorts. Mama said this was her special gift. Mine was yet to be discovered.

“Magic runs deeper on the female side,” Mama would say to me. “She will bloom faster than you, but yours, if you… ”

I always wake up right before the important parts.

Father was done whipping me and I hadn’t noticed. He was looking into my eyes, seeing the emptiness in them. His face twisted into a grimace and he slapped me without warning.

I fell to the ground, feeling the full impact of the blow.

He caught me by surprise is all.

He turned his attention to Delilah. His body was heaving up and down in exhaustion. The alcohol, the yard work, whipping and slapping me had tired him out. He would take it easy on Delilah, I hoped.

The first whip never hurts for some reason. Not as much as you would think. She is already crying with fear, but she takes the leather belt very well. The second rides on the first and creates a nauseating feeling in my stomach. I know it is a reflection of how she feels. She is sending me some of her pain because she knows that I blocked mine out.

Later she will tell me, “How will you ever learn your lesson if you never take the punishment?”

I know that it is not her talking, but mama. She repeats what mama tells her in her dreams to remind me, to punish me, in a way, for not following mama’s wishes.

She’s right, of course. I never learn my lessons and she is on her fifth belt now because of me.

I reach up and grab the belt in mid-air. He spins around and slaps me again and belts Delilah one last time before storming off into the kitchen.

Continue reading: Dream #11 - Danny Becomes the Legend