Black Black Sky

Dad's bipolar disorder flared up, causing a car crash that took my mom's life.

It also cost me a leg and my voice.

From that day on, I became the one and only person my dad would protect with his own life.

Afraid of hurting me again, he'd often chain himself up in the house, keeping his distance.

When someone called me a crippled mute, he beat the man so badly he ended up in the ICU.

I couldn't bear watching Dad struggle to control his illness for my sake, so I lied and told him I was moving abroad to live.

After he served his time, he threw himself into building a business, desperate to give me a good life.

In less than five years, he became the most powerful figure in Portsmouth's circles.

The day the medical team finally fixed my leg, he told me he'd found someone new.

A stepmother for me. I heard she was gentle, kind, nurturing, and a doctor.

Just like my mom had been.

I accepted it calmly, and returned to the old house on their engagement day to give them my blessing.

But before I could even see Dad, my would-be stepmother slapped me so hard I hit the ground.

Her stiletto heel came down on my palm.

"You little gold-digger! Trying to seduce my husband into being your sugar daddy?!"

I couldn't get a word in to defend myself before she shattered my limbs and cut out my tongue.

She skinned me, slathered plaster and paint on me, turning me into a doll.

Then she packaged me as a gift and presented me to my father.

"Honey, this trash was insulting and harassing our precious daughter!"

"I've already made her into a doll!"

"Do you think Chloe will like this gift?"

...

Nothing was left in my body but endless pain, and I couldn't make a sound.

Most of my bones were shattered.

To get a nice shape, steel rods were driven through my limbs and torso.

The broken skin was stapled shut, my mouth, my face, my eyes, all sealed with glue.

I was coated in white plaster, painted into a cute little doll!

While I still had a flicker of life left, I was packaged as a gift and brought to my father's wedding.

My heart screamed, "Daddy, it's me, Chloe. It's Chloe."

But my ruined body didn't give me a single chance.

This morning, I'd finally come back to the old house, holding the doll Mom left me.

I was ready to bless Dad's second marriage, and to surprise him too.

But at the entrance, I saw my future stepmother.

She was tall and slender, radiantly beautiful, and she even looked a bit like my mom.

I stepped forward to introduce myself.

I never expected her to suddenly fly into a rage and slap me across the face.

"So you're the little slut trying to seduce my man!"

My head rang.

Before I could explain, several people grabbed my hair and dragged me into the courtyard.

The gate slammed shut.

All I felt was the heavy thud as I hit the ground.

Before I could even try to get up, a stiletto heel stomped down, pinning my hand to the dirt.

Ah!

Excruciating pain made cold sweat and tears burst from me.

I shook my head desperately, trying to raise my other hand in a pleading gesture!

But soon, that hand was stomped on too.

"Still won't admit it, will you!"

"Got the guts to do it but not own up to it!"

"Take a look at this, you bitch!"

Only then did I see the screenshot on her phonemy chat history with Dad.

Dad always called me 'Baby!

'or 'Sweetheart!'

But what was wrong with that? Was a stepmother really jealous of her own stepdaughter?

"You cheap slut, so young and already throwing yourself at men, how dare you chase a married man!"

One of her lackeys shrieked in anger beside her.

"It's bitches like you, calling random men 'Daddy,' that ruin society!"

"Amber, we're just doing the world a favor!"

"Homewreckers like this deserve to die!"

Then it hit me.

It wasn't jealousy.

They thought I was some 'sugar baby' mistress calling her 'Daddy.'

But the moment I looked up, her shoe cracked across my mouth!

Blood and teeth hit the ground instantly.

"What's the matter? Did it but can't say it?"

"You think it's okay to steal someone's husband?"

I was reeling from the blows, but I knew this was a misunderstanding!

Dad clearly said he'd found a wonderful stepmom to take care of me.

She must just love Dad so much that she got the wrong idea!

I had to explain, but I couldn't speak, only making meaningless, guttural sounds.

Gritting my teeth against the pain, I tried to write in the dirt with a bleeding finger.

The ground was rough.

With both my hands pierced through, every letter I wrote was agony.

"I am"

Someone kicked me!

"See, Amber! She's writing a blood confession, admitting she's the mistress!"

"Quick, take a picture! She said it herself!"

Amber stomped viciously on the fingers I was writing with.

"You think admitting it makes it okay?"

"No way it's that easy!"

A piercing pain shot through me. My finger broke. The agony was too much to think.

"Everyone, look my husband's money, these are the transfer records"

She vented her rage to a recording phone, kicking me intermittently.

"Doesn't a gold-digger who destroys families like this deserve a beating? And she's writing in blood!"

Clenching my jaw, I used my other mangled hand to drag myself, writing two more words in the bloody dirt!

"Amber, look!"

My heart settled. She sees it, she'll understand now.

A flicker of hope. She'll understand now.

Crack!

My wrist was stomped, bones snapping!

"Oh, perfect! Now you're impersonating my husband's daughter, are you?"

"Chloe, Chloe my foot!"

"Could you be any more obvious?"

The others started jeering too.

"Amber, I heard Chloe is bro's weak spot, no wonder this bitch managed to hook him!"

"Yeah, I wondered why this bitch wasn't talking!"

"Mistresses are really stepping up their game these days, even faking muteness!"

Hearing this, my stepmother's face darkened, trembling with rage.

"Faking mute? I'll make you mute for real!"

"Get me the scissors!"

I let out more frantic, guttural cries.

No, I really am Chloe!

I really am Chloe, I can't talk!

Back in that crash, Mom was impaled by a steel rod and died instantly.

Dad was knocked out.

I woke up in pain, the car about to explode.

I bit Dad frantically to wake him. After that I could never speak again.

Several people held me down, forcing something into my mouth to keep it open.

"Still acting?"

"Go on, act mute for me!"

"Daring to impersonate my husband's daughter, huh?"

The scissors plunged into my mouth, then closed with a vicious snip.

They churned and twisted. The pain nearly made me black out.

I struggled, a raw scream tearing from me.

I watched shredded, bloody flesh fall from my mouth.

"Oh, and by the way, didn't you know my husband's daughter is a cripple?"

The withdrawn scissors stabbed straight into my leg.

The pain was everywhere now.

I convulsed violently.

And I couldn't scream!

"Crunch!"

Crack! My leg broke again. I couldn't move.

In a haze, I felt her smashing my leg, cold laughter saying if I was going to act, I should commit.

Over and over..

"Daddy!"

"Daddy!"

The shock of death and the searing pain finally tore a scream from my ruined throat.

I was afraid I'd die. Afraid that after years apart, I'd never see my Dad again.

My scream plunged the surroundings into dead silence.

Then, a bucket of cold water was thrown in my face.

"Ha! Couldn't keep up the act, could you!"

"Faking muteness, huh! Why not fake being a cripple too!"

"Crunch"

This time, the pain nearly made me pass out.

Right then, my phone rang. The special ringtone for DadBlack Black Sky.

I knew it was Dad looking for me! A flicker of hope reignited in my heart.

Dad will save me!

I tried to reach for it, but I couldn't.

My hands were broken.

"Still thinking about seducing men at a time like this? Even I don't dare use that as a ringtone."

"You're dead!"

The phone was smashed to the ground, stomped on twice, the ringtone becoming garbled, broken.

My last shred of hope sputtered out.

My breathing was a faint thread.

"I Chlo"

My attempt only brought more furious blows.

I collapsed, the doll beside me soaked in my blood, tattereda mirror of my state.

Mom On the day of the crash, they were coming back from buying me this very doll.

Now it was torn from me. She noticed my gaze, grabbed the scissors, and aimed them at the doll.

Its movable skull was twisted off, the scissors slashing its body, its face, its hair.

"No" Bloody tears and pain crashed against my fragile soul and body.

"Ooh, you like dolls that much? Well, let me be charitable and turn you into one, how about that?"

One of the lackeys pinning me down hesitated.

"This is the old house if someone dies here, won't the boss"

A slap sent him stumbling.

"I'm about to be Mrs. Portsmouth's top dog, you think I'm scared of that?"

"Besides, Chloe will love my gift!"

"I heard she loves dolls the most!"

Finished, she stared at me with a dark expression, suddenly swinging the scissors to slash my chin.

"I'll make sure you know who you messed with!"

Bloody tears streaked down. Amber scoffed, her expression manic and twisted.

"Oh yeah, a doll shouldn't have ugly eyes like yours."

Squelch.

Scissors plunged into an eye, then dug.

The world turned red.

The next second, a rough, diamond-studded dog-walking ball was shoved hard into my empty eye socket.

The diamonds scraped against my orbital bone, a sound that set my teeth on edge.

I don't know how it feels to have your skin peeled off, but I know the sound of flesh separating from it.

It was a pain that almost shattered my soul.

The phone was still ringing frantically!

Enraged, she used the scissors to slit my abdomen, then shoved the shattered phone inside.

"Get the glue and plaster. Stitch her up with the needle. Now!"

My broken bones couldn't support me, my skin was shredded, my mouth ruined.

For better shaping, steel rods were driven into methrough my limbs, my torso.

A staple gun stitched my torn flesh back together, along with scraps of the doll.

Then glue. Then paint.

I must look brand new now.

Probably.

I don't know. I was sealed inside a pretty gift box, like a Barbie doll.

The Black Black Sky tune still played intermittently from my belly.

After an unknowable time, I seemed to arrive somewhere lively.

Pushed on a cart, I was brought before my father.

He put his phone down, frowning. "I don't know why Chloe isn't here yet!"

Then, puzzled, he looked up.

"What's this?"

My stepmother had regained her beautiful, gentle appearance.

I wanted to cry, to weep, to hear him recognize me, call me 'baby.'

But I was right in front of him, and he had no idea.

"Darling, this is my gift for you and Chloe!"

Only then did he really look at me, frowning.

"Chloe wouldn't like something like this! She likes soft, cuddly dolls!"

"Did something happen to Chloe? Go look for her again!"

My heart gave a lurch.

"Oh, honey, it's because this slut was impersonating Chloe that I had her dealt with like this!"

"I'm sorry I took matters into my own hands, I was just so angry!"

Dad's fists clenched instantly.

A cruel look fixed on me.

How gentle could a bipolar man be, one who clawed his way to the top of Portsmouth in five years?

I wanted to scream 'Daddy,' but I could barely breathe.

"You said she was impersonating Chloe?"

The woman and her cronies instantly perked up.

"Yes! And she was faking being mute, too!"

"She cursed your daughter, said the cripple should just die"

I could feel Dad's breathing grow ragged. A sign of an episode.

No, Daddy! My heart screamed.

He kicked my plaster-coated body with brutal force.

My tears were sealed in by the glue and plaster, unable to fall.

I heard the sound of my leg shattering again. The supporting rods were useless now.

"She could talk and walk! We can testify!"

"Disgusting, calling someone 'Daddy' and playing the victim!"

"So I lost my temper! I just wanted to get justice for Chloe!"

"Do you think Chloe won't like this gift?"

I Dad heard the name 'Chloe,' and his violent fury could no longer be contained.

He kicked my head.

Crack.I could no longer turn it.

The stepmother said, "Chloe being out of touch could it be this bitch's doing?"

That made Dad even angrier.

"Bury it! Don't let it dirty Chloe's sight!"

"Now!"

Dirt gradually buried me, a heavy weight pressing down.

I felt something pierce through my head and heart. A moment of weightlessness.

I seemed to slowly float up, hovering in the air.

I watched Dad walk away, angrily berating his men as useless for not finding me yet.

He unlocked his phone again, calling my number.

"Pick up, baby," he muttered, pacing anxiously.

Then, he faintly heard a familiar ringtone.

Black black sky, hanging low

Dad whipped around, looking toward where I was buried.

Muffled, the sound came from underground over there, faintly playing.

His hand tightened instantly, gripping the phone hard.

He hung up, called again.

Step by step, he approached once more.

Black black sky, hanging low

The world fell dead silent. My father's footsteps halted abruptly, right above the earth that held me..