Page 1 of Creep
Prologue
Essa—8 years old
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high.
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, Twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.
I sit outside,staring at the sky, like I have been for the last two years. It is a nice night out, no breeze or clouds in sight, but I still have a blanket wrapped around my arms for comfort. It is my mother’s, a purple, ratty looking thing, but she refuses to throw it away. These nights are my favorite because I can see every star, and the more stars I can see, the more could hear my wishes. I don’t know why my wishes aren’t coming true, but I have to keep trying. I have to do whatever I can to save Holley and me.
Mom and Dad are always acting so strange. They are never home, but when they are, they are so mean to us. We never have enough food to keep our bellies full so my stomach always hurts. Thinking about not eating today makes me rub my belly to ease the ache. I am so hungry.So, so hungry.
I lie down on the grass, continuing to stare at the stars and repeating the same words over and over.Twinkle, twinkle, little star. Save us. Someone please come save us.Sometimes I will even whisper out loud to the sky, in hopes they can hear me better that way. That’s what I had done again tonight. Except I think my father heard me, because out of nowhere, I see him stalking towards me. From the direction he is ambling from, it means he is coming from the neighbor’s house down the road. That’s where my parents are always at because those neighbors do bad things too.
“Hey sweetheart. What are you doing out here? Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” He sits down next to me on the grass, putting his hand on my leg, which is right next to his. I sit up and glance over at him while twisting my fingers together nervously. I don’t want to get into trouble for being outside this late at night because when I do something he doesn’t like, he always spanks me, reallyreallyhard. Sometimes he even leaves bruises, so him catching me scares me a lot.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I couldn’t sleep, so I came out to look at the stars.” I can’t tell him I was wishing on them to get us out of here ‘cause I know it would make him very angry. Daddy is really scary when he’s angry.
“You can’t be outside by yourself at night, Essa Jaymes. Bad things happen to little girls who are outside by themselves at night.” He looks over at me and smiles. But something’s wrong. Daddy never smiles at me.Never.I feel goosebumps on my arms, making me shiver. I don’t like this.
“I’m really sorry. I’ll go to bed now.” I start to get up when he squeezes my leg hard, forcing me to stay sitting down.
“You’re going to stay right here, Essa. I’m not done with you yet.” He shoves me down and I make anoomphsound as my body hits the ground, my head hitting hard against the earth below. I attempt to sit up, but he shoves me down again, keeping his hand on my chest.
“Daddy, what are you doing? Please let me up, this hurts. My head hurts, Daddy.” I plead with him as I struggle to keep the tears from my eyes, attempting to be strong, but it’s impossible. He squeezes my leg even harder as he shoves them apart. I try to pull them back together, but he moves his hand from my chest to my face, pushing down.
“Quit fucking moving, child,” he growls at me. He stares into my eyes and I freeze. They are so black. He looks like a demon. My heart starts to race, and fear coats my entire body.
Oh no. Oh no. Please stars, please stop my daddy. He’s hurting me so bad.I wish to the stars with all my might.
His hands move to my sleep shorts, shoving them to the side as his fingers rub against my underwear. I wriggle away from his touch but he slaps me across my face, causing me to scream out in pain. He then yanks the blanket out from underneath me and shoves part of it into my mouth to stifle any noise I might make.
“You need to shut the fuck up, you little fucking tease. You make any more noise and this will be so much fucking worse for you. I’ve been waiting for you for years and tonight’s the night. Walking around in your little shorts and tank tops, tempting me to touch you. You knew what you were doing, didn’t you? Well, I’m done listening to your fucking mother and I’m done waiting.”
Wait, mother? What does he mean my mother? And what does he mean waiting?
I’m so confused, all these thoughts swirling in my head, but I soon forget them when I feel his fingers in my underwear and then a sudden, ripping fire between my legs. I scream at the intrusion, more tears flooding my eyes and running down my face. I struggle to fight my father off, but with his large palm covering most of my face, he easily shoves my head to the side and into the dirt.
I continue to scream through the blanket in my mouth while flailing my body in a futile attempt to stop him; to stop the agonizing pain he’s bringing me, but it’s no use. The next thing I know, he’s hovering over me and ripping my shorts off.No. No. No!
I scream with everything in me, not knowing what else to do when he can overpower me so easily, but I have to try something. He slaps me, hard. My head jars and black dots jump into my vision. My head feels like it’s underwater. Everything is fuzzy and sounds are muffled. I feel as my body grows limp, my eyelids drooping shut. I plead with myself to stay awake, to keep fighting him, but it’s impossible.
I’m not strong enough.
I can’t help the blood curdling scream that tears from my throat, the sound loud enough to make more than a muffled noise through the blanket in my mouth.
The pain.
So. Much. Pain.
My head feels light and I’m being pulled under a blanket of darkness, and he must notice because he grabs my throat and squeezes, stopping any noise from leaving me and also keeping me from being able to breathe. The loss of air into my lungs makes me snap my eyes open. The panic of dying sets in and the darkness retreats.
