Ravaged Jungle

A/N: I know it has been awhile and you probably won’t want to read this. I haven’t known what to write or how to end this, the story just kind of abandoned me, but I heard this song I hadn’t in a while called Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and this story popped in my head and I realized I hadn’t finished it. I am not promising that I will continue this story at a good pace but I won’t just give up on it. This chapter will be short as I am getting back in the swing of it. So welcome back.

Chapter 9: The Snake Pit

I remember my mother’s bravest moment in life; however it was also the day she finally broke.

I was nine and the sky wasn’t pouring rain, lightening didn’t split the tree outside the front window. The tree Teak first saw me hanging from. But thunder rocked the inside of the house as he bellowed.

We had left the house early that morning, the sky had been so pretty and my mom had wanted to play a game with me. We used to play it before he became the beast that haunted our every step.

It’s a simple game, one every child plays. You lie on your back in the grass and don’t care about the ants crawling on your arms or the dirt rubbing into your hair and you watch the clouds. She would point out things to me, A Rabbit, she’d say or a Castle that you’re the princess of, before tweaking my nose. He wasn’t around so I felt free to giggle and roll around with her in the grass and she looked like a beautiful beautiful fairy, her hair tangled with grass and her lilac scent surrounding us like a protective veil.

We stayed out until the sun started to fall, dipping behind the tall trees. I became afraid, if we stayed out too late he would be so angry and nothing would stop his rage rolling over us and drowning us. But she just sat there, a small smile playing on her lips, her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her hands gripped her legs so tightly as if they were the only thing keep her from flying apart into tiny pieces.

I didn’t say anything; I thought the sound of my voice alone would break her. I just looked up at the sky waiting as the stars began to poke out. I waited for a star to shoot across the sky like in the Disney movies so I could wish us away, wish for a Fairy Godmother who could protect us with her sweeping blue cloak and magical words, wish my mother really was a fairy so she could fly away. I could go back as long as my mom didn’t have to, as long as she was safe and away from his pummeling fists. I could live with it. As long as she didn’t have to cry anymore.


I heard a tiny whimpering sound escape from her mouth before she took a long shaky breath and stood. She brushed off the seat of her jeans and shook the grass from her hair. I stood to so she could dust me off. She brushed her thumbs along my cheek, her hands shook so much that she poked me in the eye, I winced but said nothing. She held her hand out to me, visibly trying to steady it. I put my fingers on her palm, comparing the size. Her hands were not that much bigger than mine.

When I thought about it she was younger then most moms I saw and so much more tiny. Her bones were smaller, her shoulders, her height. But what made her even smaller was the way she walked, putting her foot down softly and carefully as if the world was about to be ripped out from under her. When we began walking home I looked down at my own feet, I walked just like her. Like I didn’t want to dent the world too badly because I wouldn’t be here long anyway. I looked up at her, her eyes were shiny but determined and her lips were moving, but no words came out. She looked like she was praying.

Religion was never a big part of our life, but at that moment I knew she was preparing herself for something and whatever it was terrified her. The park we had walked to was far from our house and yet we still walked slowly. I didn’t know what time it was, but my stomach felt hollow and I was so tired that I could barely walk. But I didn’t complain, she looked like she was ready to let go of my hand and run away, in that moment I was selfish, I gripped her hand even harder. Wanting to help her run, but wanting to keep her with me at the same time.

God I wish I had let her run.

As we neared the house her steps became even slower, I saw that all the lights were on. The house blazed like a light house on a dark ocean. She stopped and so did I, both of us would have rather stayed in dark, even with the sirens blaring not that far off. Even with a large group of people fighting half a block down, their guns popping off. Before I knew it she was marching towards the house so fast that she was dragging me after her.

She wasn’t allowed a key, but when she turned the door knob the door popped open. We walked in and I closed the door behind us, I had expected him to meet us at the door, his fists punishing and his anger swift. But he sat on the couch, watching a fighting match on T.V. When he saw us he smiled and for a moment I was shocked by how handsome he looked, he could have been the prince after his transformation from being the beast. He stood and walked over to us, his smile still there, my mom was frozen in shock. I guessed that she had expected the same as me.

“What were you two out doing?” He asked in a charming tone, his hands by his side, I looked, they weren’t clenched or anything. My mom’s mouth opened but nothing came out, he chuckled and looked at her expectantly. “We went to the park.” The moment she finished his arm swung in an arc and he backhanded her across the jaw. He hit her so hard that I heard a crunch and she tumbled away from me.

That’s when I let go of her hand.

She landed on her side, but quickly rolled to her hands and knees. I pressed myself against the door, she faced away from me but I watched her lungs take in deep breaths. The house was silent but for the T.V.

He still had that charming smile on his face. He still looked like the prince, but now his fists were clenched so tight that his knuckles were white and the muscles in his arms bulged with tension.

She swayed in her position, lightly shaking her head to clear it. When she had her balance she turned her head and looked him in the eye, “That didn’t hurt you fucker.” She said in a slightly muffled voice and then she screamed it, “THAT DIDN’T HURT YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!” In that moment he swelled up, his legs ate up the ground as he made his way to her, grabbing her around the throat and throwing her on her back. He didn’t loosen his grip on her throat as his fist came down repeatedly on her face, on her chest, his fist’s hitting so hard, his arm blurring before my eyes. My fist flew into my mouth, I bit down so hard I could taste blood as I tried to keep the scream in. She kept screaming, “FUCK YOU! FUCKER! I HATE YOU! GO TO HELL!” But she began to run out of air and her voice got smaller and smaller and before I knew it I was screaming and I picked up the nearest thing to me, an umbrella that was on the floor near the door, it had smiling frogs on it and I ran up to him hitting him over the head and back and neck with it and all the strength that was in me and screaming as loud as I could, “GET THE FUCK OFF MY MOM! DON’T TOUCH HER YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

He let go of her and turned to me, murder in his eyes and blood from my moms face on his fists, I took a stunned step back, my mouth open in a wordless scream, my face wet with tears as I realized what I had done. Before he reached for me I hit him in the face with the tip of the umbrella, splitting his cheek. But my puny nine year old arms weren’t enough to keep him from me, with blood trickling down his cheek he reached for it, jerking it out of my hands and throwing it across the room. I saw his fist coming at me, when he caught me in the eye with the full force of his strength I felt the bone under my socket crack and saw flashes of light dancing before my eyes. And then I was on the ground.

I have heard a rabbit scream before, it was the most terrifying sound to come from an animal, a sound you know a creature can only make when it’s dying in a horrible way. I heard that sound again before I flashed out of consciousness for a moment. It came from my mom. The pain shot up through my eye in streaks, it hurt to much to open my right eye, but my left was open and I couldn’t believe what I saw. My mom was on my fathers back, her arms wrapped as tightly around his neck as they had been wrapped around her knees earlier. She was screaming in his ear, “…EVER TOUCH MY DAUGHTER AGAIN! YOU WON’T EVER TOUCH HER AGAIN!” Over and over again she screamed. He scratched at her arms, leaving long angry red streaks with his nails, but she wouldn’t let go or he would probably kill both of us.

The blood from her broken nose dripped onto his shoulder where her head was tucked, so she could get a grip that wouldn’t give. One of her eyes was swollen shut, the other barely open, and her entire face bruising a purple color. His face began to turn white and I hoped he would die, that she and I could be free from him. But she was weak from the throttling she got earlier and she couldn’t keep the grip. I knew when she couldn’t keep it up anymore, because she looked at me with tears falling in torrents down her face and her mouth forming the words, I’m sorry.

I didn’t know if she was apologizing to me or him.

Her arms slackened and she fell, he took a couple of deep breathes as his face went from white to red. The people on the T.V. yelled as the fighter they put money on won. “YOU BITCH!” He yelled before reaching for her arm and swinging her over his head, flinging her to the opposite wall. For a moment she flew like the fairy she looked like, her copper colored hair rippled out beneath her like a living flame. Her back hit the wall first and then her head, I heard it crack against the wall.

He walked after her as she slid to the ground, her eyes were completely closed, the wall had burst where her head hit. He wrapped his hands around her shoulders, gripping them so hard that if she were awake she would have cried in pain, pulled her up to eye level and pressed her back against the wall. “What’d you think you could do, huh? Think you could get away from me?” He growled at her unconscious form, “THINK YOU COULD LEAVE ME!!” He pressed his lips tightly to her ear, “You won’t ever be able to leave me, even if you die I’ll find you.” He then pushed his lips on hers in a mockery of a kiss, his tongue sweeping into her unresponsive lips. I clenched my teeth so hard that my head pounded to the rhythm of the people yelling in encouragement on the T.V.

He took us to the hospital that night, saying when he came home someone had broken into our house and beat both me and my mother. When he told the cops what neighborhood we lived in they believed him and didn’t pursue a case. Later I realized she had planned it, she was ready for an all out brawl with a man who was a foot taller then her and eight pounds heavier. She had wanted a reason to leave.

I don’t know how my mom and I lived out that night, I guess he felt merciful enough to keep us around. When she woke up I cried, not out of happiness, but because I saw that she had died. She was never the same after that, she loved him unconditionally, more so then ever because he took care of her as she got better. Brought her tea and soup and fed her mangoes.

When I got my stitches taken out the doctor kept saying how lucky I was to not have a scar.

Even though she told him she hated him, she didn’t, not completely. I don’t think she was ever capable of hating him, except maybe right at the end.

After that night we had a sort of peace, they kind that you don’t want to get too close because it will leave you soon.

That’s when I learned the Prince could be a beast too, no matter how beautiful he was.

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A/N: This is sort of a short interlude, to get us all used to the story again, you to reading it, me to writing it. I actually sobbed while writing most of this. Especially Ana’s mom: Calistas terror earlier. But I really wanted to show that she did try to get away from her husband, not for herself exactly, but for Ana. And I wanted it to be really emotional. The next chapter will be getting into a new Arc of the story and it will be introducing a semi new character. I will try to get on it, but again no promises. I am also going to be looking at other chapters because I know there are a lot of errors in them. I hope you liked it (well uhm as much as you can like a story about abuse) and I would really appreciate it if you reviewed.