My Closet

Even though I had hoped for this closet to take me away to a magical place, this was not to be. What my closet became was a safe haven from the endless barrage of beatings that I took from Sonny. You might think that I hid in my closet, but this was not the case. Sonny was a sadistic man. His form of abuse varied on whatever moved him for the day I suppose. His good old standby and his favorite tool of the trade was "the board." "The board" was a piece of wood about 2 feet long that had a handle. It was about 3 inches thick and it said, "96 tears. Lisa and George." My brother George will tell you that he did not experience the wrath of "the board" as I did, but he knew what it meant to hear dad say, "go get me the board."
Just seeing the board evoked a fear so deep to my core that I sometimes thought I would vomit. When I would hear my dad yell for me to get it for him I physically became ill. I would bring him the board, already crying as I handed it to him. This is when he would say, "stop the tears or I'll give you something to cry about." The sick bastard knew all the while he was gonna pound the shit out of me with the board, so why he spoke those words I don't know. "The board" saw many days in the way back of my closet, hidden under old shoes and clothes, hoping that it's master would forget somehow that it ever existed. Just like that magical Lisa land did not exist, nor did this fantasy.