Born 01 - Born

aren't touching the ground.
    I prepare myself for the shaking of a lifetime and for his fingers to push in where the bruises are still fresh from last time.
    Instead he sits on a log and pinches the bridge of his nose. I frown. He is quiet. It's more creepy than anything."You are a child, Emma. You don’t realize it, but you are. I know you've lived through incredible things and you've been alone and that you don’t have social skills like normal people, but you can't talk to someone like that. She was trying to help."
    All I really hear from his sentence is 'child' and 'not normal'. My feet are backing away. I feel a sickly knot in my stomach.
    "You need her. Her brother is a genius of sorts. He's holed up in a creepy old mansion. We need to go there and get his help if you're serious about saving all the farm workers."
    I don’t hear him. I'm backing up slowly like I used to. Not making noise.
    My plan was a good one. We're sticking to it. I know it will work. I don’t need a bimbo like Star or her brother or the moron she has wrapped around her fingers.
    I feel a branch snap under my foot as I'm about to turn and run.
    He glances up and frowns. "What are you doing?"
    I swallow hard.
    "Why do you look like that?"
    I watch his face and roll up my sleeve on my right arm slowly. His fingerprints are still in my arms. The red has faded and instead a slight blue is appearing.
    He focuses on it and shakes his head. "What?"
    I swallow hard again and pull the sleeve back down. "I'm done with you bruising me and shaking me. If you want to talk, we can do it this far apart."
    He looks frightened, like I've cornered him and made him angry.
    "What was that? Did I do that?"
    I don’t say anything. Instead a memory burns through my mind. A memory of being with my best friend Lana.
    Once we hid under her bed when her parents were fighting. Her dad was beating her mom. All we saw were feet. His were in black socks with jeans bunched at his ankles. Hers were bare with red nail polish. She was on her toes and struggling to touch the ground. She made a weird gurgling noise. Slaps and grunts filled the air mixing with his shouts. Suddenly, she was on the ground beside us. Her dark brown eyes widened when she saw us. Her lip was bleeding, making it look like lipstick as the droplets rolled along her lips. A tear slid down her red cheek. She winked at us and pushed herself onto her knees and crawled down the hall. He followed. His shouts followed, too. As she got further away, we could see more. I looked at Lana. She was covering her face and sobbing silently.
    I looked back down the hall to see him kick her until she didn’t move anymore. He stalked down the long hallway of the trailer and went into the small kitchen. I heard the fridge door open. He made other noises and closed the fridge. He walked to the end of the hallway and looked at her. He opened the beer in his hands and drank a bunch of it. He turned and walked out of my sight. When Lana was calm we snuck out the window and went barefoot to my Granny's. She made us pancakes, and we made crowns out of craft paper and sparkle glue.
    The look on his face reminds me of her dad for a second.
    "Emma."
    As his feet move a step closer, mine move a step further.
    I see the pain on his face, but I fight my urge to make it okay again. He has humiliated me and treated me like both child and a victim. I am neither of those things.
    My voice is small. I am scared I will cry, but I know the memory of Lana makes me strong. "I am a hero. I don’t need you. I never asked you for help in this because I don’t need you. You make me feel bad about myself. I don’t need that. I might not be normal or a woman because I've chosen not to sell what I have to the highest bidder. That doesn’t make me worthless or a child. You can stay here and play house with Barbie over there. I don’t need you or her. I have gotten along fine without anyone."
    I don’t turn my back on him. Not until I feel the soft fur of Leo in my fingers. His back isn’t up like it should be. Will takes a step forward, and I take a step behind Leo.
    "Emma. What can I say besides I'm sorry?"
    I shake my head. "Your kind are always sorry, Will. Sorry I beat you. Sorry I humiliated you. Sorry I cheated on you. Sorry I killed you by accident because I forgot to stop hitting and kicking."
    His eyes flash. "I would never hurt you."
    I rip my sleeve up again, dragging it up my arm and scratching myself. "But you did."
    He