The Hybrid's Oracle

Renée’s POV:

“Wake up you b*tch!!, Where the hell is my breakfast?!”.

I heard my father yelling followed by a loud crash of glasses, probably shattered into a million pieces. Behind the closed door of my room, I knew what was coming after this. Another round of beating.

I was scared, worried, scarred for life. I was broken, shattered, in pain but I couldn’t call out for help cause I was useless, a waste of space, time and air.

This words has been forever drilled into my head and mind by the one who was supposed to love and protect me, the same man that was supposed to treat me like a jewel, a man whom I call my father. As I heard the front door slam shut, I let out a huge sigh of relief, I was safe for now so I immediately stood up, rushed to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and decided to have the pleasure of warm bath which I hardly have access to. I winced as the water cascade down my bruised skin causing more pain than pleasure.

After the pained pleasure of ten minutes, I got out of the bathroom, got dressed in a faded jeans and tee shirt, a black jacket to hide the blue and purplish bruises in my arms and makeup to hide the dark circles in my eyes and the skin that was turning yellow cause of lack of proper medical treatment. I used my fingers to comb through my black hair and tied it into a messy bun on top of my head, letting a few strands fall on my face

My name is Renee, a seventeen years old teen and this is the life I live, being maltreated constantly is my new normal, if anyone had told me in the past that this would happen to me in the nearest future, I would have died with such person rather than to accept the prophecy and do you know why.

My dad was never this way, we were a loving family consisting of me, my mum and my dad, it was a perfect little world but it came crashing down after the death of my mum. It was as if the only hope and light in my world was snatched forcefully away by the cold hands of death. My dad and I mourned for days comforting ourselves in our different ways until one day, he got so drunk and lost it, then he hit me.

My dad hit me. For the very first time. As time passed, it became more and more constant, more bruises and he blamed me for her death, threatened to kill me if I ever let anyone know what he does to me. Ever since then, the blames never ceased, the beatings never stopped. I slowly lost my friends, I would receive double the beating if he discovered that I tried to make any or anyone talked to me. I slowly lost my confidence and became the target of bullies. I couldn’t fight back because of fear. We moved from one town to the other every three months cause he feared that the adoption center might take away his punching bag; that’s me.

New environment, new people, new school, new teachers, new bullies, all of it, I hated them. It was disgusting and infuriating cause I was too weak to stop all this, I had lost the right to voice out my thoughts and opinions and everyone is so selfish. No one cared, all the thought about was themselves, pathetic bastards everyone in this world is a selfish pathetic b*st*rd who just want to use you for their own gain. At least I wasn’t sexually abused, fortunately my father respected me in that aspect. I still had the dignity of being a being a virgin…..not a sl*t.

With these thoughts in my head I rushed to make breakfast which consists of spaghetti and meatballs, I served a bit for myself and ate a few bites which is so wrong but I’ve been starved for days, one more day without food and I might not last the night. I needed to get out of the place before he got back, I wanted fresh air as I couldn’t stomach the thought of breathing the same air as him anymore. I picked up my bag and rushed out the front door.

As I walked by the roadside, the only thoughts in my head were about the school, new bullies, I’m not sure if I could take it anymore, my self esteem has been really damaged that I can’t stand up for myself. Really cool huh. One of the few things that kept me going was the fact that this was my last year at high school, I already made plans to run away once it ends. I planned to run far from my father’s reach, change my name since I would legally be an adult soon, dye my hair and live a new life. A happy one.

The school slowly came to view, it wasn’t more than a forty minutes walk from home that’s if you are walking really, really, really fast. Luxurious cars drove past me, one of the few things I never had a luxury of having. I couldn’t even afford to take the bus. I limped as fast as I could, I couldn’t afford to be late or who knows what the consequences might be.

Forty minutes later,

As I approached the main door to the school, I could feel the eyes of most students on me, some whispered amongst themselves, probably about me, I had to remain calm and keep moving. As the new kid, it was perfectly normal to draw attention on the first day but I wasn’t comfortable under their gazes, it was as if they could see through the mask on my face. It was taking all of my will not to dash out of the school, bolt towards a place devoid of people and hide from their stares. As I walked down the hallway, I kept my gaze on the floor, not daring to make eye contact with anyone, I couldn’t afford to look at the faces of people whose eyes were filled with mockery, hate and disgust for me.

I walked into the bursary office and found myself face to face with a woman who had a huge smile on her face “You must be Renée McCartney, I’ve been waiting for you all morning” she handed me three different sheets of papers “One is a map of the whole school, another is your class schedule while you must get every subject teacher to sign the last paper. Bring that back to me at the end of today.” she smiled.

I nodded slowly “Thank you.” I muttered in a barely audible tone of voice.

“It’s alright dearie. Welcome to Moonlight high, I hope you have a pleasant first day.”

I’m surely going to have the worst first day and I can’t wait for this day to end already. As soon as I stepped out of the office the bell rang. Oh good, now I’ll be late for my first class and I haven’t found my locker yet. I looked at my schedule to go through my classes.

English, Mathematics, Spanish, break, Biology, Arts, lunch….

My eyes were woozy as I went through the whole schedule and I immediately mastered them by heart. What can you say? Not meaning to brag but I’ve got a photographic memory and it has helped me a lot of times. I slowly searched for my locker, not that I had anything important to keep in it. I wasn’t looking straight ahead of me since I was trying to avoid the stares and glances thrown my way by the students in the hallway. All of a sudden, I bumped into someone causing loud gasps to reverberate, followed by a pin drop silence.

Panic immediately filled my mind, I was too scared to look up, to look into the eyes of who I bumped into, fearing the anger that I might see in them.

“Are you okay?” A soft voice asked me, making me look up a bit and nod immediately before mouthing

“I’m sorry”

She chuckled “No it’s my fault, I wasn’t looking at where I was headed. I’m prin—Luciana,” She immediately corrected “Have we met? you look familiar”

I look at her properly, she had delicate features, she was so beautiful, clean and spotless compared to me. She didn’t look like the kind that anyone would forget at first glance, her appearance could draw the attention of anyone.

I shook my head immediately, I don’t know her, we have never met and even if we have, there’s no way I can associate myself with someone as delicate and beautiful as she was. I was not allowed to have friends…. ‘there are consequences’. My father doesn’t want to risk anyone finding out what he does to me or the government taking away his punching bag.

I wonder what’s he’s more scared of… losing his punching bag or the government finding out which could cause him to be in jail charged with child abuse. I took time to look at her clean brand new clothes and tried hard to imagine how disgusting I looked in my faded ones.

Feeling self conscious, I start to resume the search for my locker but…. “Wait! I didn’t get your name.” Luciana rushed towards me in excitement resulting to more gasps of surprise from the students. What’s with them and the surprised looks on their faces…. Haven’t they seen a rich kid trying to make friends with a poor kid.

That had never happened to me before, everyone I meant just had this snobby, stuck up attitude to me, They pretended to be nice at first but are eventually going to bully you in the long run.

I stared at Luciana warily “I’m Renée,” I was about to walk away when she grabbed the paper containing my schedule from me

“Oh we have English, Mathematics and Spanish together then lunch!” She looked excited and was giggling, I smiled slightly amused by her over excitement….at least she was friendly. Then a phone rang, I tried not to stare as she took out an iPhone with a very eye catching purple phone case from her pockets. It didn’t take a lot for me to realize that this must be one of the latest brands. "Wait here, don’t move, I have to answer this”

I inwardly rolled my eyes as she left, where else does she expect me to go when she had practically disrupted by movement and drawn all attention to me.

“Well, well, look what we have here, a new b*tch in school,” a shrill voice said loudly and a group of three girls were walking over, the girl in the middle obviously the leader.

Oh no, not again.

I shuddered at the thought of being bullied… again, I never planned this, not on my first day.

“Hello b*tch, I’m Keisha (kee-sha), the leader of the cheerleading squad.” She twirled one loose strand of her hair as she tries to push out her chest full of fake silicone boobs while trying to look domineering. I could easily guess that she’s the queen bee of the school, she looked so beautiful with her slim figure and straight hair which brought out the nice shape of her face but her face was caked with too much make up unlike my fat, disfigured looks. I felt envious of her because of her confidence but felt grossed out at the same time.

“I’m Re-”

“Why do I need to know the name of a lowlife like you?”

Ouch! That stung, I felt the need to retaliate but that boldness was doused out.

“Take a good look at yourself and everyone around. Even our lowest ranked is dressed better” The words caused fits of laughter in the hallway but brought tears in my eyes.

I didn’t want the tears to fall,

I didn’t want her to be happy over the fact that she caused me to cry,

I didn’t want to look weak in front of so many people.

I wanted them to respect me,

I was tired of being bullied,

I wanted them to look at me with fear and respect rather than the looks of adoration they were currently giving to Keisha.

I wanted to make everyone pay for every single pain they caused. I clenched my fist tightly and looked down at my age stricken sneakers as I tried not to let her words get to me.

A loud resounding slap was heard and I looked up to see a very angry Luciana

“How dare-”

Another slap was heard.

“Uppity bitch say what?!” Luciana said in a rushed tone.

“What?!” Keisha replied hastily.

Luciana started giggling wildly and not before long, everyone was laughing, I couldn’t help but laugh too. “Stay away from my friend or I won’t hesitate to punish you,” she spat out wa