Sex War

I never knew what it was like - being hurt. More often then not there was a sun in my life, and I thought life was good. I couldn't ever wake and not meet a day without the sun. Life sparkled, and it made me smile. But now I can hardly sleep and every morning I feel melancholy, like there is a weight on my chest and it is not easily lifted. I could try and be happy, but most people who force themselves to be happy hold tears in their eyes, and everyone asks them why they are crying even when their smile is shining bright. I have decided not to be fake, but moody, to make people notice that I am unhappy. Most people do not notice, and so the grey clouds stay and I can hardly feel good about anything. I look in the mirror and I wonder if this is going to be my life? a grim face... A creek on the floor and I am startled. I bite my tongue and bite on the urge to jump out the window. Who is it? What is it? Fears climb up my spine as I think of a monster trying to break through. I scream! But my mouth fails to move and so I cannot be heard. But I hear it inside rather loud - a scream. It is me. i hold my breath as I feel a tense heat hit my head. The door knob turns, and so does my heart as I stare. "Who are you?" I ask as I see a stranger walk inside. "You know me;" he says. I grow faint at the knees I can't hardly guess. But then it comes to me in the dream and I see his face - the image matches the picture on the mantle. "Oh it's you;" I sigh. I turn away - I am disgusted, repulsed; how to make him vanish? He walks up to me and he runs his fingers through my hair. "Stop it!" I snap as I feel a worm crawl through my stomach. A bird raps at the window - it startles me, and I pull away. "It's just a bird;" he mutters. "It's not supposed to be there!" I remark before I move to step further away. "Hey where are you going?" he asks as he pulls me back. I feel a shudder that crawls through my bones - who is he deep inside? I monster? A gorilla? The devil? I can't see him, it's all just a blur of emotions and I look until I see myself screaming; He puts his hand up my skirt. I feel a loss. I am bleeding inside; in the morning I throw up blood and it is because he has touched me down there. It is more then just a dot, or an ache; it is sickness and I feel like I am dying. I turn to him with wet inside my eyes. He smiles at me. He can't even see I am miserable he just sees himself. "Can't you ever see me?" I ask as tears pour down my face. "Yes I can;" he mutters. "You love me;" I shiver. I turn away disgusted. He used to ask me if I loved him. I used to say yes and mean it. The words are lost in a world far away underneath the covers of a memory. It was the couch; the one that sits in the small study at the back. We turned it into a television room during summer vacation so that we could watch television night or day without the sun bothering us. I was smiling at one of the romance movies as he was taking his time to stare at me. He then leaned towards me and asked me if I loved him. I said 'of course' and meant it with my heart jumping high and low. I was in love with him - he was smart, accomplished, good looking; everyone could see he was a really great guy. When he kissed me then and there I almost wanted him to. I tried to love him with his lips over mine, but my guilt pricked me with the tip of an arrow head and I jumped. It was then I tried to push him away, it was then I began to cry. I look away. It is hopeless. He just wants to be closer when I want him further away. "i don't love you any more;" I tell him. He grabs me and looks at me hard. "Why not?" he asks. "I don't like you;" I shrug as large tears roll down my face. I that a wrinkle under his eye? Is that spittle on his lip? Things I overlooked stand out in a manner so disgusting and I just want to be separated from him. "Let me go..." I tell him as his nails rake my skin. "Let me go - I mean it!" I yell. "Don't yell at me!" he tells me firmly. "Never yell at me!" he adds before he slaps me so hard I see a blanket of snow with lights shining bright. I blink. I gulp in a breath. I am already panting and I have just woken up. I wave my arms and touch him - his shirt is open and I feel his hot flesh. I shake my head and I look around - I can't see much but the bed is springing up and down like there's someone jumping on it. But no one is jumping - it is us, we're having sex. "You can't do this!" I whine. He runs fingers over my cheek before he slaps it hard. I almost break my neck and I sob as I lay there with hot tears inside of my eyes. I feel swells and spills where my thighs should be clean, and hours pass and I beg him to stop until my breath is hoarse. I grow thirst like I am sun-baking in the desert, and I need to gulp hard while heat rises off my dry tongue. He stops. Sobbing he grips the blankets hard, and then he cries. I cry too. We then cry together like babies begging for a morsel of food. But we are not hungry, we are empty of love, until it hurts. "Forgive me;" he mutters after a while. I ask inside my mind who is he speaking to? Is it me? It is a school teacher? Is it God? He grabs my face. "Forgive me;" he tells me before he kisses me again. I try to push him away, but he just presses himself onto me as he eases his hunger for sex with hunger for kisses. I kiss him back, we make out, it is almost like love; but hours pass and he is not at work and I not at school. It doesn't matter. For a long while the world stops and we are like real lovers acting out a play where we could almost be real lovers only we are not. It's a romance movie - two people in love, making love, with love inside their heads while worshipping each other. Everything feels good, every touch is divine, every kiss perfect; the world is almost perfect, but then comes the truth with a splash - we were just acting like lovers, we are not in love at all. He pulls away after shivering. Maybe it's the car on the front lawn, maybe it's the radio in the distance, maybe it is the sun sinking in the sky; but something spooks him, and he moves away. "What's the matter?" I asks. "Don't you love me?" He shakes his head, and then he stumbles out the door before fast making his way to the shower. I bask on the bed and I hide. I listen to the shower, then the chatter of voices, and then I smell cooking - the world is functioning again, and I have been forgotten. I wipe my eyes, and when the house is in bed I get up to have a shower. My whole body is sore and I stagger as though I have been hit by a car. "I hate him!" I whisper before I open his bedroom door. He is asleep. he lays on his back and my mum on her side. It is detached, broken, alienated. I want to tell myself to go away but I want to prove a point. So I move to the bed, I open the covers on his side, and I slide over his to fit in-between them both. Then I touch his face, I touch his chest - he breathes in a deep breath and then he wakes. "What is it?" he asks not even looking at me. I feel my heartbeat inside of my fingers as I continue to rub his chest. He laughs then he wipes my hand away as though it is an annoying fly. I crawl my fingers onto his chest again, and he rolls over to face me. "Don't even look at me, I don't love you;" he mutters. I freak. Is he looking at me? I can't tell. He rubs his eyes, then he turns me around. "You want it bitch?" he asks as he gets on top of me. I can't even talk. He grabs the top of the bed and rapes me like I am less then his lover. He grunts as all my blood vessels spark. I scream! The lights are turned on, and I grow red faced as two other people scream. "get it out!" my mum screams. "I can't!" he shouts before he pulls my hair. "What the hell are you doing in here?" he asks me. I can't even talk as hot tears roll down my face. "It was a mistake!" my mum reassures me. "More then a mistake!" he gasps before he finishes me off with another push. "Get off!" he yells before he separates himself from me. I groan out my next breath as a weak tear dribbles out from my eye, then red dribbles down my thighs like I have just been broken. "You think you're smart don't you!" he growls yanking at my hair. My mother pulls him away. "A mistake!" she yells. "Well your ass is bleeding now isn't it?" he asks with strain before he turns away. I can't even move. I just cry as my brain continues to scream. "Take her to her room;" tells mum. "Fine!" he gasps before he collects me as easily as a person collects a rag doll. He carries me to my room and drops me onto my bed. There he swings three punches before he leaves me alone. I cry, and clutching my blankets I cry more and more. Then the sun rises and my cries grow weak, and that is when I finally fall asleep. "

Bad Feelings

I don't like feeling this way. It's like all the hate in the world is heaped on my shoulders and it's hard for me to get off the floor. Sometimes I just like to lay around feeling sorry for myself, I look at the roof and see the sky; it's so dull but I stare as though stars are twinkling - it is an escape? Wheels on the drive break my thoughts and I feel my heart beat go wild. It's like that in my dreams - there is a big black cloud chasing me and all I can do is freak out. I wish it would go away, but it doesn't - the front door opens and I want to scream as though there is a robber inside. A knock on my door and I wish it had a lock. But it doesn't, it's just a gate that can be opened at will. Last Christmas there was a drunk there - it was my uncle, he looked at me as though I were fresh bait, and I had to scream at him to make him go, and when he left his shadow turned into my dad and he yelled at me. "Be nice! Be respectful!" he lectured with drink on his own head. "Piss off!" I shouted back. Then I was thrown into the den and kicked down until I could no longer think. Rules, rules, rules; so many rules to be broken. What are they for? To stop you from screaming. I have to bite my fingers to stop it, but most of the time I am screaming and so I just get hit again. "Hello;" he says as though he has just swallowed an old womens novel. "Hi;" I mutter as I suck in my breath. Then a rush of foul words enter my mind as the screams from horror movies swell up inside my brain. I like to watch them - the horror, the screams, the drama, the scare; but then they freak me out, like the lights have just turned off and I feel like jumping. "How was your day?" he asks. I think. What can I think but another bitter remark - the day was too hot, a teacher was too harsh, I didn't get a good grade; all the worse side of the day comes to me and I am hit with four layers of truth all of which have a bitter end. "I said how was your day?" he asks as though a snake has just replaced him mind so that he can hiss at me. "It was just another day;" I mutter with a shrug. "Okay;" he nods as though he has just been slapped in the face and needs quick offence. I stand there looking at him - he looks at me so well I just want to drop my good mood and sink it into a black mood. I keep thinking he wants to look at me too long, and I makes me want to hit him hard; but the hard truth is he wants to hit me and he can't find the excuse to do it. So I tease him a little, I keep my manners, and every time I do he gnaws on his own crackers like he is starved when he is waiting, counting the seconds with bitterness on his tongue. "Can you leave me alone?" I ask. He smiles at me - a hot smile which has a twist of evil on its edges. He thinking it is charming, but it makes me want to squirm. I wish I could hammer my head because my heart feels like it dropping from bullet to the chest. "Do you want me?" I ask. He shakes his head. "No;" he mutters quick and fast while a blush rises to his face. his lips turn ice-still. It's like they have just turned into glass as an idea has hit his mind. He looks me up and down, and he shakes his head - am I disgusting? I have no idea, but he wants to throw me away. "Then go away;" I tell him as I hold my chin up high. I am scared - under my skin I am trembling; I feel as weakness in my head that sinks to my knees; am I wrong to toy with him? I remember nights when I hear him singing in the shower. I want to run inside and strangle him to make him stop, but if I did he'd be wrapping the rope around my neck and strangling me. I can't do it - so I go outside to scream; I scream inside my head while standing by the parked car in the driveway and i want to grab the car keys and speed it down a hill. "I want to kill him!" I think to myself as I stir poison into a soup. "I want him dead!" He walks up to me and grabs my neck and gives it a squeeze. I want him to stop but I stand there sobbing. He wants me dead, and all I want to do is run away. I put my fingers on his hand and he stops squeezing. I keep thinking and he keeps staring, and finally he drops his hand. "What do you want?" he asks me as he leans over to stare at my face. "Nothing..." I mutters as I look away. I look in the mirror in the distance and i see me and ask who I am? Am I even human to this monster? To answer he slaps me hard, once only. I feel a rush of blood to my head as I gasp. "You're mad!" he tells me in a voice hot and hard. "You're mad to not think that you are alone!" I feel the energy between us - it is hot and cold. There's head and both of us feel miserable, and it brings a storm of feeling that needs the wind to take away. "I'm here;" he tells me as he looks at me with narrowed eyes. "With you;" The thought of him being so near brings a shiver. I feel sick but my brave is still on top of my head. "So do you want me?" I ask as I feel my mind whisper words to break my head in. "Like hell I do!" he whispers so cold I feel scared once again. The hairs raise on my arms and I look in the mirror - in the back of my mind I see a shadow, he's stalking me as I walk in the middle of the night; I turn and ask if he wants something, he tells me to be quiet before he takes me to another shadow which blocks us both out. There's a car on the driveway - I turn my head, I can hear the rest of the family. But he does not. He grabs me and takes me to his bedroom where he throws me onto the carpet. I scream, but he grabs me so I can't scream and then he tells me words to make me quit. "You ain't nothing!" he gasps as he punches me hard in the stomach. I would scream but there's a feeling that hits me hard and I burst out crying. "Don't cry!" he mutters before kissing the tears off my face. I want to push him away, but he wants to be there more then me so he stays kissing me, tasting my tears, tasting my skin. the door opens and whoever is there can see him hovering over me. "What's going on?" they ask. "turn around, close the door!" he orders pointing hard. The door closes. The world is dark. He shivers before he kisses me again. He kisses me face, he kisses my lips, and then he kisses my neck. I push at his shoulders but he just keeps rubbing his mouth on my skin. "I don't want you!" I warn. "Me neither;" he mutters before he grabs my throat. He doesn't want me to scream; he doesn't want me to talk; he just wants me to stay quiet as he uses me like he uses a dirty magazine - for entertainment. Two seconds later someone else walks in, his mouth is moistening my shoulder and he feels like he is touching a button that makes him feel good. "Go away!" he orders not bothering to look around. "Go away! Leave us be!" he tells. I look over his shoulder and see his wife looking less like my mother and more like a stranger. She leaves, then she calls the family to the lounge room. "Why you going?" I ask as a storm of black covers the room. "I'm alive!" I gasp. "Not for long;" he tells me as he pushes his weight on top of me. he wants me. He has me. Now he will make his mark. I don't want him, but he needs to; and so I gulp as I beg my heart to stop!

Trouble At Home

Pearl draws a line down her arm - in her fingers is a razor and it cuts her arm deep. She breathes in as a film of blood seeps onto her skin - her arm is pale, the blood is red, it is beauty; Pearl sighs and then she shakily puts the razor into the sink. Even the white porcelain sink is stained with her blood. Pearl smiles, and then with a skip she walks out of the bathroom and down the hall. Reg sees her. Pearl tries to smile, but in her dazed state she fails to feel her arm and the blood that stains the carpet. Reg narrows his eyes at Pearl, and then he steps in her way to stop her. Reg looks at her arm and then at her face - her face is smiling but her arm is dribbling blood. "How was your day?" asks Reg. "My day?' asks Pearl as she lifts her eye-brows. "Yeah, was it a good day or a bad day?" asks Reg as he grows impatient. Pearl rolls her eyes up to the ceiling as she thinks. She wonders what time the sun started shining that morning, and then she feels tingles on her body. Pearl notices a throb and as she looks down at her arm her face grows white at the blood flowing from it. Pearl screams, and right away she is smacked hard in the face! She screams again! "Are you on drugs or something?" asks Reg as he squeezes her shoulders. Pearl narrows her eyes, and then she shivers as she feels cold. "Because you're whacked out!" tells Reg before her smacks her so hard she ends up stumbling onto the bloodied carpet. Pearl feels weak. She hears Reg mutter but only in the distance. Pearl closes her eyes and almost feels peace as she drifts in a world of darkness for a short while. When Pearl opens her eyes again she is in a room - there are no beds, there no furniture, just plain carpet; it is the spare room. "What happened?" asks Pearl as she looks in her arm and finds it bandaged tight. Pearl sighs. Reg must have mended her cut and left her in the room before moving on to clean the sink in the bathroom. Pearl sighs. She closes her eyes and laughs as a tear runs down her face - Reg has helped her, and when he has finished cleaning he will come to her to tell her that she must be good. Pearl waits an hour before Reg enters the room. He looks clean - like he has showered - and she smiles. "Hello;" she greets with a smile on her face. "You've helped me;" she adds. "That's the third time this month!" scolds Reg. "Your arm had almost healed!" he wars. "So?" asks Pearl as she grows a sore inside of her heart that stings like it has been pricked. "So... what's up? You think it's fun?" asks Reg as he grows a tint of tense that makes his words tremble. "Maybe;" retorts Pearl as she shrugs. "Well you do it again and I'll have to send you to a special place;" tells Reg as he grows cross. "You don't do these things and get away with it!" he adds. "You're sick!" Pearl shrugs as her mouth remains limp - she is hanging on to hear a good word, but all Reg can do is call out ugly words. Why doesn't he ask her if she wants burgers or pizza? Pearl feels her heart sink. He just wants to scold her like she is a child, and she just wants to tell him that she wants more. "I love you;" tells Pearl as she lifts her eye brows. Reg shakes his head and looks away; he doesn't feel as though he is making progress, he just feels as though she will break out again. "Stop doing it;" he adds in a quieter tone. Pearl shrugs. She can't promise - all she wants to do is take a razor to her arm so that he can race to help her; it's beauty, it's drama, it's love, the way he goes out of his way to mend her. If she didn't do it he would not look at anything but the newspaper and the news on television. She gets his full attention when she harms herself, and she falls in love when she wakes up out of her dark spot. "Promise me you will stop doing it;" tells Reg. Pearl looks at him - she finally sees that there are tears in his eyes; maybe he is tired, maybe he is worried, maybe he loves her, maybe she scared him. "Give me a hug!" she adds as though she has just woken up from a dream. Reg smiles, then he leans in close and gives her a hug. Pearl sighs. She likes it when he holds her, it reminds her of when she was young and he used to give her a hug when watching television; she enjoyed it. "That's enough;" mutters Reg as he pulls her arms down from his shoulders. "Is it?" asks Pearl as she raises her brows. "Maybe I want more of it, more of you;" Reg shakes his head. "That's all the love I can give you right now;" he mutters before he moves away. "Then you don't love me!" snaps Pearl as she crosses her arms. Reg looks at Pearl and then he rolls his eyes - she is already battling him, and all he wants to do is leave her alone. "Of course I do;" he mutters as he grows red in the face from the strain of trying to guess what Pearl actually wants. "Then hug me again!" tells Pearl as she opens her arms. Reg stands still for a moment with his head turned to her and his feet half-way turned towards the door. He sees Pearl and he wonders why she is so set on greed. He thinks of her upbringing - a bottle calmed her from any bout of emotion, even if it was fed to her every hour. Maybe she was just crying out in greed, maybe he had been too soft, maybe he should have left her to starve! Reg looks at Pearl whose fingers shake as she holds her arms out waiting for him to come to her - she wants to be fed her bottle, and if he refuses she might cut herself again. "Why not?" asks Reg as he raises his brows and heads back for another hug. Reg kneels down and he holds Pearl again. She hugs him back as her head rests on his shoulder - she is comfortable, and his heart murmur tells him that he is uncomfortable. Reg wants to cry out somewhere inside of his mind that he dislikes returning to Pearl, she is abusing him. Reg feels his spine tingle as Pearl holds onto him - she has him, he has given in and she is using him to keep her warm. Reg narrows his eyes as he tries to pull away, but her hold is firm and she just keeps him close. Reg gulps - Pearl is at war with him even when she is just hugging him, and he feels as though he is being used. "We can't keep hugging like this;" he mutters in Pearls ear. "You have to let go;" But an hour later and Pearl is still holding Reg as his sweat-stained shirt sticks to his body. "Come on, this hug has turned into a joke!" he gasps. May walks into the room and she smiles at Pearl and Reg. May claps her hands. "Dinner!" she calls. Reg tries to move away, but Pearl keeps him close. Reg looks to May as a husbund who needs help. "She wants to hug;" he mutters. May nods. "Well I'll keep dinner in the oven;" she mutters before she leaves. Reg rolls his eyes and then he keeps holding Pearl as time drifts on. Pearl lasts one hour more before she falls asleep, it is then Reg is able to let her go. Reg rubs his neck as he enters the kitchen. It is late, May is in bed, and he has just put Pearl into bed. He feels sour as he opens the oven and finds cold roast. With complaints in the back of his mind he serves himself a cold meal before he moves on to watch television. His mind is busy with thoughts on what to do about Pearl. He knows she is crying for attention, but he can't put up with her mood swings any more - he needs to get her help. He knows he will have to consult a doctor to see what they can advise. He can't spend hours with Pearl again, she has pushed him to the limit, she needs help. Reg phones up four doctors and all advise he see a family councillor or a psychologist. Reg rubs his neck. He feels tense. He wants to help Pearl, but all the fuss makes him want to push his fears back into the dark; so he stuffs the phone numbers he has written down in the back of his drawer as he tells himself to ignore Pearl. But at home Reg finds Pearl drunk and stumbling all over the place. She has broken three dishes as she has drunk his expensive liquor. Reg follows Pearl like a hunter eyeing down prey, and then he catches her as she walks into a corner and has trouble getting out of it. "You are trouble;" he mutters as he looks at her eyes. Pearl has swallowed his medication - he can see by the redness in her eyes that she has. He has seen that look before, and he knows there is an orange vial without pills inside of his bathroom sink. "How about we go to your room;" he suggests. Pearl shrugs. "Why not yours?" she asks. Reg laughs and then ignoring her he takes her to her room. Inside of her bedroom Reg tensely watches Pearl walk around in a circle before she faints on the carpet. Reg sighs; he looks at her on the carpet and he thinks about his heart which is struggling to beat - he feels so stressed out he knows he could break it and have a stroke. Reg crawls over to Pearl to make sure she is okay - she is breathing steady and he is able to stop his worries from climbing. Pearl has just been taken down by whatever she has taken and he rushes to his room to find out what she has digested. Reg looks at three empty vials of medication - all extra drowsy formulas. Reg sneers, and then he pushes the empty vials in the bin. "The brat!" he mutters as he cleans up the sink until it is clear and sparking white. "I should spank her when she wakes up!" he scolds before he leaves the room. Reg looks at May as she comes home. May feels his tense energy and it creeps her out. "Have you been drinking?" she asks. "A bit;" mutters Reg. "Pearl is out of control;" he tells her. "She was drunk and popping pills when we were at work;" May loses her smile as she shrugs. "Teens like to party for attention;" she tells Reg. "It's nothing to worry about;" "She made me hug her for over an hour;" tells Reg as he raises his brows. "How do you think I feel when she turns a cold shoulder to try and harm herself just because we are not here to stare at her?" he asks. "She's just wanting attention;" shrugs May before she moves away from Reg. "Don't let it get you down; if she actually hurts herself we'll just take her to the hospital;" Reg looks away - even May is drunk and walking on clouds; he feels ashamed that she cannot see that Pearl is harming herself on purpose. Reg sighs and he leans over a table to look at a picture of the whole family - they look so happy, he can't believe all the smiles are fakes. "Whatever happened to the perfect life?" he asks as he feels a chill. "This is far from it;" he mutters. "Very far;" The next day Reg knots paperclips at work. Every hour is a rake against nails, and he cringes as he waits for the day to pass. Reg then drives home. He picks up burgers on the way home and nibbles on chips during the drive. He then parks, enters the house, and he waits for Pearl's ghost to jump out to greet him - but Pearl is being good for once as she sits in the lounge watching television; Reg sighs. "Hello;" he greets happy to have a normal moment. Pearl looks to him - she doesn't smile. "Hi;" she mutters as though unhappy to see him. "Burgers and fries?" asks Reg as he places two paper bags onto the table. Pearl brightens and she reaches for a burger and a packet of fries. Reg sits next to Pearl. He leans away to look at her, and when staring he finds himself unable to look away. Pearl has none of her attention on him, and he likes it. He doesn't feel captured, he feels at ease as he spends some time with her. Pearl ignores his company as she eats bite after bite of her meal. She spends many minutes in vacancy, until her belly becomes so full that she has to lean back in the chair with a cringe. Reg laughs and leans closer to give her a hug - however as he stretches out his arm Pearl jumps. "What are you doing?" she asks. "Just giving you a hug;" tells Reg a little startled by the question. Reg immediately wonders if he is doing anything wrong? His fingers shake as he experiences doubt; however he scolds his mind to not think, and then he wraps his arm around Pearl. Pearl looks at Reg with adhesive on her face, she glares as though he is a stranger who has just stalked her to her front door. "Don't you like hugs?" mutters Reg before he pulls her closer against his body. Pearl shudders, and then she grows rigid as he keeps her close. Reg rubs her shoulder, he strokes her hair - at each move he feels like a child molester who has just found live bait; however he knows he is anything but - he is just offering her a hug. A tightness in his chest makes Reg feel uncomfortable, and he blinks tears from his eyes. Reg feels as though he is doing something wrong, and he leans over the arm of the chair to sob. Pearl looks at Reg and she rubs his shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asks. However Reg ignores her; he doesn't want to tell her of the war in his mind, so he stays silent. Pearl also stays silent as the afternoon turns into night, then the night into day. Reg wakes up from his sleep; he is alone on the couch and it is morning - time to drive to work. Reg rolls his eyes as he quickly puts on his jacket and leaves without breakfast. Reg spends a lengthy day caught up in meetings and then at days end he races out of the building to check on Pearl. At home he stalks her bedroom door and opens it, but he gasps when he finds her room empty! "Pearl!" shouts Reg as he races around the house. Reg checks every room, every spot of yard, the garage - she is not home. Reg races to his car and drives to her school. Reg runs into the building and checks out the school rooms looking for Pearl. Reg finds her. Pearl is in an empty school room waiting out her detention - she has written a load of naughty words on her paper, and the teacher has looked over her shoulder to read it. The teacher pats her arm and gives it a squeeze. "You have a way with words;" he tells her. Pearl pushes the paper away. "Can I go?" she asks as she refuses to look at him. "Not for fifteen more minutes;" the teacher mutters as he moves one searching hand to one of her breasts to give it a squeeze. Pearl cringes as she looks at the clock and sees that the second hand is missing. The teacher blows in her ear to get her back to reality, and then he puts a finger up to her lips and traces her mouth with it. "Stop it!" gasps Pearl as she sharply turns her head to him. The teacher smiles, before he traces a hand to her thighs to give her underwear a rub. "Don't you worry, you're safe with me;" he drawls. "Get your hands off my daughter!" yells Reg as he storms into the room. Pearl gasps and hurries to push the teachers hands off her. Then she looks down as Reg storms up to the teacher to give him a mighty push that makes him stumble to the wall. Reg offers the teacher one good punch before he rushes back to Pearl who cringes as the teacher licks blood off his teeth. "Come on!" urges Reg as he picks up Pearl's bag. Pearl grows scared as she looks at the teacher shaking his head. She then blinks her eyes and lets herself be dragged away by Reg whose body has been super-charged by anger Pearl sits in the car looking out the window as Reg drives - she doesn't want to talk, and every time Reg looks to her she knows he wants her to tell him if she has been hurt by the teacher. She closes her throat as she refuses to swallow. She can't talk. She needs to disappear. At home Reg keeps her glued to his body. Pearl feels as though she has been raped and he has picked her up to rescue her. Pearl looks away as Reg stares at her - he wants to know more about her, but she doesn't want to tell him. "I've never slept with him;" she confesses. "That was the first time;" she adds. "Okay;" mutters Reg as he winces. Reg doesn't want to tell her to walk away from the school - he had paid the full tuition fees at the beginning of the year, and he does not want to pay any more. "You tell me if it happens again and then we can talk about moving you to another school;" he mutters. Reg crosses his fingers that the day won't happen, and he puts a note on his brain to call the school and ensure that the teacher is threatened to stop hitting on his daughter - that might keep her and his bank account safe. Reg sighs. "Let's have dinner;" he mutters as he feels exhaustion fill his mind. "Okay;" tells Pearl before she leaves with him to check out the pizza in the freezer. That night Pearl and Reg fall asleep watching television. When Reg wakes it is with Pearls feet over his lap. He moves away from her and then he walks out of the house. He feels tingles on his spine, and he knows that he won't stop being stressed out until he knows Pearl is safe. Later that day Reg returns home and Pearl is doing homework. He picks up a beer and drinks it slowly as he tells himself to relax. He has had a long week, and he has been stressed to the limit; finally the house feels calm, and he is able to relax and enjoy his afternoon as though he lives in a normal trouble-free home. Reg feels happy - this is how life should be.