Beep! Beep! Beep! My eyes slowly open up and I feel the sunlight beaming down on me. Annoyed, I hit the snooze button on my alarm, then lay on my side. Yeah, I'm going to be late for school, I know. But I just feel like I can't get up. Is it because I'm too drowsy? Am I just lazy? I close my eyes and slowly start to drift asleep again, but hear a creepy, cackling voice. It sounds close, really close. Close enough to be on my bed...right on top of me! I freeze up, and the cackling seems to stop, so I tell myself it must have been my imagination.

Oh great, now that I got all scared I don't even feel like sleeping anymore. May as well get ready to go to school and get lectured by ugly old people that think they know shit when they really don't. I get up out of bed, strip out of my pajamas, and go to the bathroom to take a shower.

After showering, brushing my teeth, and changing into my school uniform, I play my favorite song and sit in the chair in front of mirror, then start brushing my magenta hair while humming along to the music. When my music stops and I start hearing 'Pi! Pi! Pi!' I nearly fall over in shock. God I hate it when some jackass calls me while I'm listening to my tunes!

“H-Hello?” I ask after picking up the phone I dropped.

“VEROTIA!!!” My moms voice booms in my ear, causing my ears to ring in my head. Oh great, I'm going to get scolded by an old person and I'm not even at school yet. How could this day get any better?! “I just got a call from your homeroom teacher saying you're absent for the third day in a row! What's this about? Where are you? Why didn't I know of this?!”
She yells a barrage of questions at me, one after the other. Her voice is raised so high I don't even know what she's saying. Doesn't she understand that I'm not good with loud noises? My mind can't operate properly if some asshole is screaming at me, it just can't! My god she's pissing me off so much...

“Express that anger. Get it out off your chest. Let her know how you feel.” I feel a soft voice say this to me in my aching mind until my fuse just explodes like a volcano. “SHUT UP, BITCH!” I exclaim as loud as I can, draining her voice out, then hang up on her.

“See? That felt good, didn't it?” The voice asks with a soft cackle.
I know I should be spooked out or something by a creepy little voice whispering in my mind. But there's nobody here but me, so it has to be my imagination. And the voice is right. Yes...that felt good...oh that felt so good! Ha...haha! Oh the adrenaline rush, I wish I could do that every time an old person raises their voice at me! You hear that, old farts? You're going to start listening to me, like it or not!

My brief moment of joy is ruined when I remember I still need to get to school. Guess I'll go hop on my bike like I always do when I over sleep. I'd rather do that then have been on the bus with all those sluts and dickheads anyway.

After putting on my backpack, I go downstairs and enter the kitchen, looking for something to eat real quick before I go. I plop two waffles in the toaster and pace around the living room while I wait for them to pop up.

Man, why do I have to go to school? Imagine how nice and peaceful it would be if I could just stay home all day. I'd have the whole room to myself! DING! Right when I hear my waffles pop up, I feel the voice in my mind again.

“Don't go to school. I'm a seventeen year old girl, I've learned enough about this world just by living through it! Nobody can tell me what to do!”

Okay, NOW I'm scared! Why do I keep hearing this voice in my head?! I swear I just felt somethings breath down my neck! My body shivers and I freeze up. There's something in my house, and it's right behind me!

“W-Who's there...?” I ask in a soft, shaky voice.

“What do you mean who's there? I'm just a voice in the back of your head. I'm your own thoughts, are I not?”

“No, you're not just in the back of my head, I just felt someone right behind me! Show yourself!” I demand, while slowly reaching for a pot on the sink.

“Show myself? Hmm, can I do that? I don't think any of us have ever been asked to do that before. Let's try...”

Something starts to appear in front of me, and I quickly grab the pot and swing it with full force. The creature gets knocked against the counter with a loud thud.

“Ow! Why would you hit me for doing what you asked?”
The creature rubs it's head as it stands up, and once it's on it's feet, I'm staring face to face with...myself? No, that can't be me! My skin isn't so pale! Plus, this thing has no ears or nose! There aren't any pupils in it's eyes either! Why is it trying to take my appearance?! It has the never to be wearing my school uniform and have my hair too! What is this creepy thing?!

“What the actual fuck are you?!” I ask, still gripping tightly on the pot.

“I'm an Ivled, of course!” The 'Ivled' replies, without moving it's lips from that creepy smile.

“Ivled...? What on earth is an Ivled? I've never heard of that!”

“Everyone has an Ivled! When you hear a voice talking to you in the back of your head, it's your Ivled speaking to you! I'm always there telling you the best things to do.”

This thing has to be a figment of my imagination, right...? There's no way something like this is standing right before me! “Oh please, are you trying to say that I don't think of good solutions to problems on my own?” I ask with a roll of my eyes.

“Telling you the right thing to do is what Ivled's do! That's our purpose in life! Just think back. When your alarm woke you up this morning, you didn't want to get up, did you? You would have preferred to get another hour or two of sleep.

This is creepy, how does it know that? “Yeah, but I got up anyway, so what's your point? Are you telling me you're the reason I got up when I didn't want too?”

The Ivled shakes it's head. “No, no, no. I sat on you back to stop you from getting up. I tried to prevent you from doing something you didn't want to do! I know you hate doing stuff against your own will. I'm always on your back when you sleep. When you wake up, don't you ever feel like you just can't get up for some reason? I am that reason.”

Whoa, hold up! This creepy little nut sat on my back while I was in bed? Not just today, but every day of my life?! Thinking back, I did hear something cackling when I was in bed earlier, and I sure do know that feeling it's talking about.

“O-Okay...that's creepy, but I can understand. I do hate getting up so damned early just to go to bloody school of all places. What else have you been doing for me?”

“All sorts of things. I'm always telling you stuff, but you don't always listen. When you do, trust me, the result will satisfy you. Didn't you just love how it felt when you got to get that anger against your mother off your chest? 'SHUT UP, BITCH!!!' I know you've been wanting to tell her that so many times, but now you finally listened.”

This is a strange creature, I can't believe something like this really exists. But there's no way I can deny it, plus, it's right. I might be able to get along with this Ivled. Maybe even be friends with it. Wait...friends? An actual friend?

“You're right, Ivled, I have always heard a voice in the back of my head, but I never really thought much of it until now. I like you, you've been trying to help me all this time. Want to be friends?” I ask with a smile.

“Of course! Ivled are the friends of humanity, that is what we are here for! I've got your back.” The Ivled pats me on the back. “I'm not so sure an Ivled is allowed to show itself to it's human, so I will return now.” Then it disappears instantly.

It's gone, just like that? Right when I thought I had actually found a friend. I sigh and glance at the time. Dang, it's already 9:00 a.m., I really need to get going before my mom has more to bitch and moan about.

“Wait a second, Vetoria. Why don't you just stay home all day today? Imagine having the whole house to yourself!” I hear the faint voice in the back of my head say.

“Ivled? You're still there?” I ask, turning around in shock.

“Of course! Your Ivled is always right by your side, even if you can't see me.”

As I look around the house, I realize that the Ivled is right. What idiot would bother going to school with a bunch of assholes and sluts when they could just stay home? There's nobody hear to yell at me about cleaning up or homework, I can do what I want! This is so exciting, I can finally be my own person! Oh I love this Ivled!

I run up the stairs in excitement, nearly tripping over my my own feet several times. After bolting in my room, I pull out my laptop, put on my headphones, and sit on my bed. Once the laptop is booted up, I launch my favorite MMO and play away.

After a while I have to go the bathroom, so I take off my headphones and get up. Then I hear an ear splittingly loud banging on the other side of my door, and my mom's furious yelling. “VEROTIA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!!! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW, I'M GOING TO BREAK IT DOWN!!!!”

Oh my god, when did she get here...? I check the time on my phone and realize that it's 12:30 p.m. Not only that, but she called me like 20 times. Three hours passed already? It felt like only half an hour at most! Why must time fly so fast when I'm having fun?

“Ivled, what should I do...?” I ask with sharp breaths, my heart feeling like it's going to explode. I don't get a response. Where did it go? I don't know what to do, I need it now more than ever!

While I'm trying to think of what I should do, I hear the door knob turning, and the door swings open from the other side! Oh shit...she unlocked the door! I'm so screwed! My mom closes in on me, one quick step after another as I take a step back for each step she takes forward. It doesn't take long for her to have me backed up in a corner.

“Verotia...what the hell did you say to me this morning?! Why are you not at school?! Who do you think you are not answering your phone when you call?!” Like always, she barrages me with an onslaught of questions at the top of her lungs, rattling my brain without even giving me a chance to respond.

“I-I'm sorry, mom...I just-” I reply with a shaky voice. Without letting me finish, she grabs me by my collar and slams me against the wall, then slaps me across the face about ten times. When she let's go of me I drop back to the floor, trembling.

“Stand, and hike up your skirt!” She shouts, and digs through my drawer, retrieving one of my belts.

“W-What...?” I stutter, getting back up to my feet. She instantly grabs me by the arm and pulls me over her lap like I'm some little kid. Then she starts trying to force my skirt above my waist, so I put my hands in the way. When I feel the sharp pain of the belt hitting my knuckles, I realize how bad an idea that was, and drop my hands back to my sides.

“Put your hands up again and see what happens!” She says, and with my hands out of the way, yanks my skirt up. This is so embarrassing and scary...I feel so exposed! What the heck is she doing?! She's never done anything like this to me before!  Normally, I'd just have to listen to her yell at me, then she'd take all my electronics.

THWACK!

Ow!!! The first strike to my bottom came down swift and shockingly painful. I'd expect getting hit with a belt to hurt, but this is something else! I bite my lip to prevent myself from screaming, but then the blows start raining down one after the other, each just as painful than the previous one.

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! I don't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing she's hurting me, but this is quickly becoming too much for me to bear! Not to mention I still need to go to the bathroom, and I don't know how much longer I can hold it in...”OW!!!” I howl in pain and put my hands in the way to shield my bottom.

Once again, this was a bad idea and I feel stinging pain in my fingers. She then shoves my hands out the way, and I feel her fingers reach into the waist band of my bright red panties. Oh my god...please no! I want to put my hands in the way again, but I already know I'm just going to make my situation worse if I do. I shut my eyes and try to imagine I'm so place else, but when she yanks my panties down to my ankles, I can feel a cool breeze down there, and I can't stop myself from crying, more out of embarrassment than pain. I'm a seventeen year old girl, over my moms lap with my bare ass on full display, getting beat with a belt!

THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! GAH!!! She hits my butt, thighs, and legs, all in no particular order. I bawl my eyes out like a baby, kicking my legs about. When is this going to end?! I'm so worried about my pain and shame that I forget to hold my bladder in...and it pours out. My mom jumps up in shock at her pants getting soaked in my piss. She stares at me with a look of disgust and doesn't say anything for an awkward moment, then checks the time on her watch.

“Give me your laptop, phone, headphones, and clean this crap up. When I get home, you and I need to have a serious talk.” She snatches my items from me and walks out, slamming the door behind her.

I wipe my nose with my sleeve and look at myself in the mirror. Seeing the deep welts and red bruises on my skin makes me flinch. It's even worse than I thought! I pace around the room rubbing my butt to try and stop the searing pain, but it seems like it's only hurting more when I touch it.

“Ivled...where are you? Aren't you supposed to tell me what to do when something like this happens? This is the result of me listening to you!!!” I call out, but the Ivled doesn't respond. Why won't it respond now when I need to most?

Walking to the bathroom to get a towel to clean my carpet with, I trip over my own panties, forgetting they're around my ankles, and fall flat on the hard tiled floor. “How bad can one day of my life get? I didn't do anything to deserve this!” I tell myself, as I kick the wet panties to the side and grab a towel out of the linen closet.

I spend twenty minutes on my hands and knees, cleaning up my own pee. When I look up at my reflection in the mirror, I can see the Ivled's reflection right behind me.

“You!” I exclaim, jumping up and turning around. “You saw what happened, didn't you? Why wouldn't you tell me what to do! Why did you leave me all on my own when I needed you? You said you've got my back!”

The Ivled let's out it's usual cackle, only this time it sounds more sinister. “I've lead you astray, it's what we Ivled do. That's why we're called 'Ivled' it means 'I've Lead'.”

“B-But...I thought you sincerely wanted to help me! I thought you and I could be friends but you went and stabbed me in the back!” I say between sniffles, wiping my tears away.

“I didn't force you to believe me, you willingly decided to take my word. We don't have the power to make you do what we say, that's up to your own will. Ha...hahaha!!!” The Ivled cackles loudly like an evil witch, then vanishes in thin air.

Great...right when I though I had made my first friend, this is what I get? Is this what I deserve for being foolish enough to want a friend? Friendship is nothing but a myth! All I have is me, I, and myself, fuck the rest of the world!

Not bad, Linda.