She was physically, mentally and emotionally drained. Every molecule in her little body was exhausted. Depleted. Wiped out. She was also elated, oddly enough. She had spent the past two days on top of the world. She had taken part in something so much larger than her. Something unbelievable. Something fantastic. Something that would shape her life in so many ways. Rules had been bent for her because of her talent. Her dedication. Her ability to share her soul through her movement. Her young, pure and wonderful soul. She had never experienced anything so visceral before. And it would be a long time before she did again.
She dozed on the car ride home. Her head resting on the window. Bouncing lightly through the bumps in the road. It was late, 9pm or so. Sunset had occurred almost an hour before. She could hear the older girls chattering excitedly. Reliving he past two days and babbling their amazement at the past two days. At one point she thought they asked her a question, but she didn't have he strength to respond. She allowed the chatter to become background noise and floated in and out of consciousness.
The car pulled into her driveway. Delia reached over and tapped her shoulder to wake her. "Hey, Sleepyhead, you're home. You awake?" She blinked her eyes a bit then gathered her things and stepped out of the car. She thanked the girls and stumbled up to the front door. She wasn't sure if her Mother and sister were still awake, so she fumbled her key out of her dance bag. Just as the lock clicked, her Mother opened the door.
The exchanged a few words, but she could barely string 3 words together. Her Mom wanted to hear all about the ballet camp, but It was evident she was beyond tired. She dropped all her things just inside her bedroom door and fell on her bed. She didn't even remember closing her eyes.
...
"What have I told you about leaving your shit in the doorway?!" She heard a loud teeth-clenching whisper near her ear. It was seething with hate and anger. It was followed by a hot tongue being rammed down into her ear. "I TOLD you what would happen if I tripped over your crap. Hope it was worth it..."
A large hand grabbed her thigh and roughly her legs apart. Hard enough for her to know it would bruise quickly. That hand was joined by another one that ripped away her pajamas and underwear. "Now you're going to pay for your mistake." He leaned into her face, breathed his wet, putrid breath on her. Then forced himself into her. The pain exploded. White, hot and vile. She cried out. He folded a corner of the pillow over her mouth to muffle the sound.
She was so exhausted. She felt like she was being ripped in half from her insides out, but didn't have the strength to even fight this time. Mentally or physically. She knew from experience that resistance only caused more pain. She went limp, tried to close her mind, and prayed it would be over quickly. She began her countdown...10...9...8...7...