Saviour
Tobias - Point Of View (POV)
I am walking home from school full of fear of what I knew is coming. Let me explain. I finish early on Tuesday’s, some reason what should be my last lesson is a ‘free period’ I never understood it, and I hated it. It meant I have to go home early, have to see him earlier.
Every week my father; Marcus would forget that on Tuesday’s I finish early, I mean how can he forget something that simple? Maybe he doesn’t forget maybe he just does it on purpose so that every Tuesday he could beat me.
I hate it, he has been like this ever since mother disappeared 8 years ago. She is presumed dead now, so it is just me and the lunatic I am living with. As usual I walk home as slowly as I could, but even then that isn’t slow enough.
I cautiously walk inside the house. I am being as quiet as I could possibly be. I look around and listen to see if my father was home. The house was silent and he wasn’t coming to yell at me. It didn’t seem like he was. Thank God.
I use this as an opportunity to run upstairs to my room, opening up a chest and delved into the bottom to pick up the statue, that my mother gave me, before she went missing. I sighed deeply wishing she was here; I was so scared. I hated being so afraid, I hate wondering when my next beating would be. I hate being a coward when he is around, I hate the way he makes me feel. I just hate him in generally. Who wouldn’t?
There seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel though because it is the choosing ceremony next week, I will be able to leave this place, I know exactly where I am going. Dauntless, I am not selfless, nor am I smart, kind or honest. I am certainly not brave, but I can learn to be, I cannot learn to be the rest, with dauntless I will be able to fight, defend myself, then I will be able to give my father everything he gave me, I wouldn’t be a coward, he would the coward.
I am snapped out of my thoughts by my father’s voice, “Tobias Eaton!” he shouts, and as I hear his heavy feet are walking upstairs. What? when did he even get home? I didn’t even hear the front door.
I quickly hide my statue back at the bottom of my chest, and moved quickly to lay on my bed. My father opened my door, “You are home early! How many times do I have to tell you to stop skipping school?” He yells at me at the top of his voice.
“I...I have free lesson as last lesson. I am not skipping.” I stutter, I can’t help it, I know what is coming, and he will take his own belt of, and whip me over and over.
“Do not lie to me son! Take your shirt off!” He shouts anger in his voice. I flinch and cower as he shouts, yes I know coward, I can’t help it. I fear him. I fear being whipped, I fear the pain that is coming my way.
I gulp, getting off my bed, sliding my shirt off. Then it happens, he take his belt off. Here we go. I think as I hear, “Turn around.”
I turn around, showing my father my healing or healed scars, I could hear the grin on my father’s face, as he talked, “This is for your own good, Tobias.”
Then I hear the sound, the sound that caused me so much pain, the pain that always made me fall to my knees, which today is no different, I am on my hands and knees, I am screaming and crying. I cannot help it, I know it makes me weak, but I can feel my skin being torn apart each time the belt makes contact with my back. I feel my flesh being torn off, it is excruciatingly painful.
My father keeps hitting and hitting, he normally stops at 5, this time he doesn’t. He kept going angrily, my hands and knees fall under my own weight. I can hardly breath, my vision is blurred and patchy. I can barely hear anything except for my own heart beating in my ears. It is good, and I don’t want to hear the wind swooshing that came before each whip. That is when the most unexpected thing happens. I hear a voice. A young female’s voice shouting.
“Stop...has...enough!” Was all I can make out; it came in stages of where I can hear then I can’t. I have to concentrate really hard to hear, I tried to look at who saved me, who is so brave to stop my father in the middle of a beating? Don’t they know what he will do to the both of us?
“What...hell...think...are doing? ...Back...basement!” Marcus spoke angrily too, trying to scare whoever this girl was but some reason it didn’t work. Wait? We have a basement? When did we ever get a basement? Why is there a girl in our basement?
I am soon brought back to the situation of the girl answering back again, this time she seemed a little afraid, maybe she does know my father, maybe she does know what will happen to her, but who is she? Even though she is afraid she answers back, “He...had enough, how...explain...son... murdered...father?” I gulp slightly as I saw my father’s hand tighten around his belt, his knuckles are white now, I think. Wait? How does she know so much? How does she know he would murder me? how does she know how far he would go? Has he hurt her too? I have to concentrate more, I have to understand every single word she is saying, I feel the darkness trying to drag me away but I am not going to let that happen, I concentrate hard on the girl soon I hear everything that is being said.
“You dare speak to me that way, girl! I will do what I damn well want to my son. Now go to where you belong!” is what I hear, damn she is making him madder, I don’t like it when he is mad, it means more beatings, I can’t take anymore beating, she is going to get me killed. I only need to live one more week, I can take this whipping for another week. I tell myself but I freeze as I hear the belt whipping through the air. The coward that I am I flinch waiting for it to make contact, I hear it make contact, but I feel no pain. I frown deeply, That is strange? Why didn’t I feel anything? Am I too far gone? I am trying to see what is going on. I cannot though, there were too many black spots in my vision, so I decide to just carry on listening instead.
“Move out of the way and let him accept his punishment.” My father spoke, that means...she took it? She stood in the way of the belt, she was whipped, and a scream didn’t ripple through her like it did me. How was she so strong? She is still arguing. To save me. Why is she saving me?
“He has accepted it! The first 5 whips were enough!” I hear her shout back, She is shouting at him? She knows about my usual 5 whips yet she is so brave. Where did she get this bravery from? She was just whipped, she should be trembling in the corner, why isn’t she?
“You have become too confident, girl. I will not let an 11-year-old girl tell me what to do! I will give you one last chance. Go back to the basement.” He spoke in the tone I know all too well as a warning tone, as if to say ‘do not push me’. Leave, Leave, you are going to get us both killed, please just leave. I beg.
I don’t hear her move; I don’t hear her speak either. What is she doing? I just want to see. I hear heavy footsteps leave. They ware my father’s footsteps; I would know them anywhere. He left? What? He would have beaten me shitless for that? What is going on? What kind of influence does this girl have on him? The darkness is pulling me more. I feel gentle delicate fingers on my neck then I hear a sigh of relief. She is relieved that I am alive? Why would she care if I was dead or alive? Why don’t I know this girl?
I feel arms moving gently underneath my body, then I feel myself being lifted up of the ground only this girls arms are stopping me from falling. I feel slight movement as if I am being carried, though it feels like I am being held away from the body as if she is making sure that she doesn’t make any contact with any of my wounds. Suddenly I feel the softness of my bed then the arms that were carrying me move out from underneath me.
She is being gentle? The only other person that was this gentle with me was my mother and she is gone. She died, or that’s what everyone tells me but her body was never found. I still think it was my father, maybe if this girl is still here when I am better than I will be able to ask her questions, even if she isn’t here, I will look for the basement, how could I not know there was basement? Hell I don’t even know her name. He kept calling her ‘girl’ as if it was her name. she seemed to answer to it. Does she not have a name?
The thoughts cross my mind. That is until I hear her light footsteps, I know that she is leaving the room as the footsteps start to get quieter and quieter. I thought she left me there, too afraid to do anymore. That thought soon left me when I hear her footsteps walking back in my room, I hear a ‘click’ from a box opening, has to be the first aid box. Now she is seeing to me? I hear her voice, though she seems to be talking to herself, “Focus.” I hear her mutter to herself. Maybe she is letting the fear creep in. Hell I would be terrified right now if I were her. Then I hear her voice talking to me, It was much different than it was when speaking to my father, it is soft and sincere she meant every word that was leaving her voice right now.
“I’m sorry for this Tobias.” She spoke, she knows my name, she knows everything, and how can I not know this girl? Wait? Sorry for what? What was she going to do?
Then I feel what she was apologising for, the burning sensation on my back. She is torturing me to? Why would she do that? She just saved me now she is torturing me too? I try to hold back my scream but I can’t, my hands move into fist, I grab my sheet, my eyes watering from the pain.
“shh, I’m sorry, I have to. I don’t want them getting infected.” She tells me in a sort of comforting way, I have her all wrong, I was right the first time, she is trying to help me. I am surprised when I feel her hand touch mine, she held my hand in comfort. She cares, she is sorry that she is putting me through pain, she is making sure my back doesn’t get infected, she is looking after me, taking care of me. I realise how small her hand is in mine, then I remember how old my father said she is. 11. An 11-year-old saved my life, someone four years younger than me stood up to my father. Put him in his place.
That is all I could think, because the pain rippled through my body again, both of my hands squeeze tight, as I scream. Damn she must think I am a weak, I am squeezing her hand tight I am probably breaking her fingers, she didn’t seem to mind. When the burning sensation subsided. Her hand stays inside mine for a minute before I feel her hand gently worming her hand out of my death grip.
I don’t want her to let go, I want her to stay here with me. It is as if she had hears me because she is talking again, “It is ok, I am not going anywhere yet, ok? I just need both of my hands to stitch your wounds.” she is comforting me again, it is like she knows exactly what I need. That is when I find myself focusing on one of her words, yet? She is going to leave soon, why? Why does she have to leave? I didn’t really hear the rest of her sentence I was too focused on her leaving. I feel a small sting, every now and then. Since I wasn’t listening to her fully it took me a while to realise what she was doing.
She is stitching me up. She is making sure that these wounds are tended to properly, she can probably see that there were many old wounds that hadn’t been attended to at all. I wonder how she feels about seeing it.
I hear her sigh deeply as if answering me, it seems to pain her to make her see my back. I don’t know why she cares so much but I am grateful. I try to speak, to thank her, but I couldn’t move, I could only listen and feel, feeling her small hands tending to my hands, each touch is so gentle. She stopped touching my back after a while, I heard a shuffle noise from what I am guessing to be a first aid box. I thought that she wasn’t going to talk anymore, I thought that she just wanted to comfort me in that single moment of when pain went through my body. She knew about the pain that was about to happen, she must have endured pain and torture just like me. My father must hurt her too.
She is talking again, her voice full of sadness, “I am sorry he went too far, I don’t know why he is mad today, I couldn’t...” that is the last thing I expected, her apologising for something she didn’t even do. What couldn’t she do? Why has she stopped talking? Her voice is so soothing, I wish I could listen to her calming voice all day.
My hands were flat on the bed now waiting, for some reason I trust her not hurt to me. I don’t think this girl could hurt a fly, her hands are so gentle and delicate. I suddenly feel guilty hoping I didn’t break her hand. If I did, then she didn’t know, or was good at hiding her pain, she didn’t scream or anything, I couldn’t have broken her hand.
I feel the soft hands on my body again, along with soft fabric, Bandage. I think immediately, she continues to talk again, as if she knows I long for it, “I just couldn’t take your pain anymore, it is torturing to hear it. I had to do something about it, I don’t care about...” Don’t care about what? Continue. Was all I wanted to say but I couldn’t. She heard it, she felt my pain even though it wasn’t her taking the whipping, she couldn’t hear it anymore, it was torturing her, she cares she really cares. who the hell is this girl?
I realise why she stopped talking when I feel her lifting my body so gently as if she would break me if she isn’t careful. I want to help her by lifting my body up and taking the weight for her but I couldn’t; my body wouldn’t allow me. She seems to wrap around my body forever. I don’t mind, I welcome her hands, her touch, she is so soft and gentle, just her touch was comforting. Just like her voice.
She must have finished up because I couldn’t feel her touch anymore. I hope she isn’t leaving me yet, I need to know the end of the sentence. Please, please tell me the last sentence. I beg in my mind, as if she hears my pleas she finishes her sentence. “I don’t care about the consequences.”
Oh god no, she knows she is going to get beaten or worse, she knows it all but she still came to save me. I have to save her, I don’t know how to though. I don’t know where the basement, he probably beats her or punishes her when I am at school, how am I supposed to save her? I need to save her from this monster.
She moves everything around in the box then walks away. I hear the sink turn on. I am listening with every mighty in me, I don’t want her to leave yet, I am not ready to be alone. I have never been comforted. Please don’t leave yet.
I hear her footsteps come back to my room, I am so relieved. She seems to stand at the doorway, I hear her sigh, I wonder why? Maybe she is trying to think of way to get out what is coming her way. She stands at the door for just another minute, before walking to one side of my room then I am confused.
I hear her opening my draw. What is she doing? Has she never heard of privacy? I find myself feeling a little angry, it is like she is snooping. I hear the first draw close quickly and another open. She is snooping! I find myself yelling at myself, I hear the next draw close, I expect to hear her open the third draw but I don’t, I hear her walk towards to my bed,.
“uhh...” I hear her say as if she is uncomfortable about something. What does she have to be uncomfortable about? She has seen my wounds and everything, why is she suddenly uncomfortable now?
I swear this girl can read my mind because the next movements answered my question, there is movement by the side of my bed, I feel one side of my mattress shift, I don’t know why, but all my questions are soon answered as she moves my body with the same gentleness. I feel fabric move over my body. She is dressing me? She is making me comfortable? After a minute, the shirt is over my body.
There seemed to be a little pause, of no movement, then I hear her sigh that sound as if she is annoyed or as if she is figuring something out. Soon I feel her gently lift my body up as I feel something being moved underneath me. I am confused. What the hell is she doing now? I wonder until a minute later I feel the blanket over me. I feel soft warmness fall over my body.
Then I feel something I am not expecting, I feel her hand through my hair, in a comforting manner. Then I finally hear voice again, I never knew I wanted to hear her voice so much until I hear it again.
“You are not alone Tobias, never forget that. I love you.” is the words I hear. The words so inspiring, the words that would never leave me.
The words that just left me with so many questions, She loves me? She knows something I don’t know? Who is she? What does she mean I am not alone? Does she know what my pain feels like? Does it mean she has a plan of getting out? That she will be here for me? All of the questions evaporate when I feel her lips on the back of my head which is when I realise those words are a goodbye. I hear her walk towards the door, she stops at the door for a moment, then she runs as if she is running for her life.
Her fear must be sinking in now; she must know my father so well. I wish she stayed by my side but she already risked everything for me. She didn’t care about the consequences, as if she knew what the consequences would be, She is so brave I still don’t know her name. I just want to know her name.
I hear her run down the first flight of stairs, then I hear a door open then a different door then I hear them close. Silence. I am silent as if it was all part of my imagination that is when I let the darkness finally pull me under.
I wake up with a gasp. That was a very strange dream. I think, sitting up slowly, I frown; I feel softness underneath me. I frown deeper my eyebrows pull together. What? When did I get to my bed? I look down seeing a shirt on. Was it a dream? I take a deep breath not knowing what I want to see when I pull my shirt up. If it was a dream then at least I can find light in the darkest of places but if it wasn’t a dream then she is in grave danger. I don’t move for a moment then I find the courage to pull my shirt up, it was bandaged up. Damn.
“Oh my god...” I sit there panicking, “It was real, it wasn’t a dream, and she is here, in a basement. But where is it? Where it the basement?” I am frantic, I need to help her. I need to save her. She is in danger, she got in the way of me and my father.
I look at the time which is, 8:50. “Damn.” I mutter, as I am going to be late for school, my father probably thought I am already gone. I do not want to go to school, I just want to turn this house upside down until I find this basement that my saviour lives in.
The fear started to creep in; the fear of what would happen if my father finds out I didn’t go to school. This time the girl probably won’t be able save me.
I quickly but carefully get ready, looking down at the bandages that the girl ended up putting on me. I quickly brushed my teeth, then silently walk through the house, it sis still, maybe too still. It is too quiet, there is an uneasiness.
I sigh deeply but open the door and leave, I see Andrew Prior, by see I mean bump into. He is right outside the house.
“Sorry, I’m running late.” I say kindly and selflessly to him. He just nods, I walk around the side of my house and start to walk slowly.
Then I hear it, the sound I never want to hear again, a scream from a girl. A scream of excruciating pain but a mix of frustration.
No! She is getting her punishment. I have to find her I have to make sure that she is ok, I hope it isn’t too much, I hope she can hold on, I hope she will live. I want to run back and save. It took everything within me to not run back and find her but a voice in the back of my mind makes me carry on walking towards school.
No, Tobias, father has company.
