1 Piccolo

"Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for."

- Bob Marley

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I felt the glass shatter and pain exploded through my back. His drunken roar crashed into me with almost as much force as the bottle. His large frame stumbled towards me as I ran through the hall. I didn't bother turning: I knew full well what would happen if I wasted precious seconds to look at my father's snarl and foggy grey eyes.

He had been nice once. His eyes like summer clouds, not at all like the ferocious storm they had become. His tall body and broad shoulders meant that I was safe. He was a castle keeping his expecting queen and his young princess safe. Despite his devout protection, life still made its way through the walls and killed his unborn child and his beloved queen. Their deaths carved the blacksmith with hard hands and a soft heart into this ravaged beast. Our magnificent kingdom crumbled, encased in two caskets and buried deep in the Earth. I had loved this man once... no. That's not right.. I adored him and to some extent, I adore him still. But his fortress became my torture house.

But there was no time to think of what he represented or who he used to be, even my young mind knew that much. I dodged the kitchen table, still set for three, and another beer bottle. All my efforts focused on not falling over and dodging any other projectiles. I could feel the blood slither along my back. I blinked furiously, "Not now. Not now. Not now! Focus on pain later. 'S not the time, Picc, not right now. Get safe first"

"The barn," I thought, "The barn is safe. He can't beat'cha there. Just get to the barn. Bar the doors. Hide. He'll give up and drink away the memories of you running. Hide 'till he passes out. You'll be safe 'till tomorrow. Run"

I shoved through the front door. "Run, run, run. Push, bar the door, hide. You can't pass out now. You'll be ok, just get to the barn. You'll be just fine." I threw every last ounce of energy I had into the heavy barn door and barred them shut. The doors shook and his voice boomed and rang through the forge set up in the barn. Metal were life ought to have been.

"I won this time father." A wisp of a laugh intertwined with my ragged breaths, "I made it."

One last puff of victory escaped from my lungs as the exhaustion and blood loss dragged me under.

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Darkness.

My dear friend.

He will protect me until light burns him away.

Until then