Pure Punishment(38)

“I’m so sorry, is there anything I can do?” She shakes her head and smiles.

“It’s no loss, trust me. My father was not a nice man. Actually, I came to tell you that I saw who did it. Well, not fully, but I saw her,” she says, still smiling.

“What do you mean?” I ask because I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“Well, I had to go home one night and when I got there, I found a woman hunched over him with a star in her hand. She was singing a song to him and I didn’t even realize at first what she was doing until she stepped away.”

“Have you told the police?” she shakes her head at me and I frown at her. “You need to tell them. She needs to be caught and locked away.” She shakes her head again.

“What do you mean she was singing?” I ask as I take in what she had just said. What a weird thing to do.

“It’s an odd song and I can’t even fully remember it. It’s nothing I’ve heard before. I remember the start. It goes like... One, two. Who to kill? Three, four…” I block her out as my brain starts hurting and flashbacks haunt me.

“It won’t hurt,” he tells me, gently stroking my head.

“But it always hurts, Daddy,” I tell him, hoping he will leave me alone for tonight.

“Don’t you want to make Momma and Daddy happy? This is how you do it, pumpkin,” he says and kisses my cheek.

“Stop!” I scream at the top of my lungs, it's hurting my head. These awful thoughts are swimming around and playing on replay.

“Kristy what’s wrong?” I hear Julia’s voice.

“Leave, get out now,” I tell her, pointing to the door. A second later, the door slams and another flashback assaults my brain.

“Sweetie, why are you bleeding?” Momma asks. I shake my head. I can’t tell her. Daddy told me not to tell her.

“You can tell me. You can tell me anything,” she says while flicking the knife in her hand.

“I can’t. Don’t make me tell you,” I cry to her.

“It’s okay, sweetie. Let’s go and see how far up the tree we can climb,” she says, placing the knife down, grabbing my hand and running out the front door.

I walk to the mirror and see a razor sitting on the counter. I take out the blade and let it touch my skin. The thoughts aren’t leaving and I need to make them leave. They aren’t mine, they can’t be mine. I let the blade sink into my wrist, slight pressure at first, hoping the thoughts will leave, but they don’t. I apply more pressure and watch as the blood comes thick and fast. Once the blood is running I try to concentrate on that, hoping the thoughts will flow out when the blood drips. They don’t. I do the same to the other wrist and then watch as the blood leaves that one, but my mind is on repeat. Repeat of dreadful things.

I pull my yoga pants off, which are now covered in my blood and apply pressure to my upper thigh, cutting clean lines across my thigh. I make at least three strokes when the thoughts start to leave. When they do, the last thing I hear is Kai’s voice.

It’s so peaceful now.

No disturbing voices.

No hurtful memories.

Maybe the blood has done the trick. Maybe I washed it all away when I bled myself out. Maybe I got rid of the demons that were there when I cut myself and let them fly free.

Just maybe.





The human brain is protected by the skull (cranium), a protective casing made up of twenty-two bones that are joined together.





I wake to the sound of beeping and notice my arms are tied down to the bed. It stings when I move and I try to think of where I am and how I got here. That’s when I remember all the blood, but how did I get all that blood on me? I look to my left and see Tyke sitting next to me. He gives me a soft smile and reaches over and holds my hand.

“You sure did a silly thing,” he says, then reaches down and kisses my broken hand. I try to talk, but my mouth is so dry. “Don’t say anything, I’m here for you. I always will be, Kristy,” he says, then sits back in his chair. My eyes start to feel heavy and I drift back off, comforted by his hand touching mine.

I’m woken not long after by voices in the room. I open my eyes and see Kai, dressed in a business suit, talking to someone who looks like a doctor. He’s holding what I assume is my medical chart and is reading over it with Kai. I cough and try to sit up, when their eyes find mine. Kai reaches for the water places a straw in it and puts it to my mouth. I take a long sip and then sit back and look around for Tyke.

“Where’s Tyke gone?” I ask in a still dry voice. Kai creases his eyebrows.

“Who is Tyke, Kristy?” I shake my head and look around the room for him. He couldn’t have gone too far.