Chapter Three
Pain wasn’t something I had asked for. Torture wasn’t something I asked for either. Pain and torture were simply given to me, as if I was hit by the unlucky stick when I was younger. I didn’t want these things, but they were given to me.
When my family started to disperse, I had nothing else to do, but to take it. I didn’t ask any questions, I didn’t complain and whine; I didn’t cry and ask why every night, I dealt with it. Even though I wanted so bad to runaway and disappear, I didn’t. I started to miss the old me, but I knew the old me was gone forever. I wanted everything to be perfect again, but that never happened.
I was ten years old when my father told me something. My mother wasn’t home, and wouldn’t be home till a few hours later. We were in the kitchen, he was looking through our cabinets for something and I was sitting down watching him.
“Becca, one of my friends is coming over to…hangout. You can’t tell mom. Okay?” My father said to me.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“She is one of my co-workers at work.” He answered, opening a cabinet and grabbing candles and a lighter. He started to walk up the stairs to my parent’s bedroom. I followed.
“What’s her name?” I asked him, wondering what he was doing with the candles.
“Emily.” He said, while placing the candles around the bedroom.
“What am I gonna do when she comes over, Dad?”
“You will stay in your room.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so, no questions asked, Becca.”
The candles were lit now. The light for the bedroom was off and the room glowed brilliantly.
“Dad, can Aaron come over?”
“Yes, but you have to stay in your room.”
“Can you call his mom and ask?”
“Yes.”
Emily came over fifteen minutes later. She looked young. She had beautiful blonde curly hair. She had light brown eyes. A heart shaped face.
“Hello, John.” She said seductively.
I looked at them, giggled, and ran up to my room. I heard footstep up the stairs and go into my parent’s room.
The doorbell rang after a few minutes. I ran down the stairs and opened the front door. I pulled Aaron into the house and he grabbed my hand as we walked up the stairs. I finally looked at Aaron. His dark brown hair was askew. His blue eyes shined. His button nose looked cute on him. He flashed a smile at me. His teeth shined a brilliant white and his teeth were perfect. I smiled and hugged him.
“Be right back.” I said. I walked out of my room and started to walk to the office. I heard laughing from my parent’s bedroom. I ignored it and walked to the office got paper and walked back to my room. I walked over to my desk and took out paint.
“You wanna paint?” I asked Aaron.
“Sure.” He said.
We both got paper, cup of water, and paint. We sat down on the floor of my room painting. I looked at his painting and saw different colors mixed together to make a beautiful sunset. I looked at mine and saw stick figures. I thought his painting was much better than my painting. Aaron’s hand moved swiftly across the paper. He had a gift.
“I love your painting.” I told Aaron.
“Thanks, Becca. It’s for you.” He said, handing the paper to me. I looked at it and traced it with my finger. That’s when we heard a crash.
“You get out of my house, skank!” My mother’s voice echoed through the house.
“Leave her alone, Jessica!” My father’s voice yelled at my mother. I heard the door slam after that. My parent’s voices boomed through the house, arguing. I didn’t know any better as I was running down the stairs to my parents.
“Mom! Mom! Look what Aaron painted for me!”
I looked at my mother and father. My father opened the door and walked out of the house. Suddenly, my mom smacked my face, leaving a mark. She walked away from me without a word. I started to cry and ran upstairs. I didn’t do anything and my mother had hit me for no reason. Aaron looked up at me when I walked into the room.
“What happened to your face?” He asked.
“My mom hit me…you can’t tell your mom! Promise me, Aaron?” I said, crying.
“I promise.” Aaron said, getting up and hugging me. I cried on his shoulder. I felt hurt.
That was the year everything went wrong. That was the year my life went down the drain. That was the year I started to get beat by my mother. That was the year my father started to leave and come back then leave again. That was the year I was alone, and it continued on throughout my life.
…
I opened my eyes. My eyesight was a blur at first, but then focused. The room was white, and smelled of medicine. There were windows that showed the landscape of the town. There was a bathroom to my left. There was also a door to the hallway of the hospital that was halfway opened. I saw my foot and left arm in casts. I looked over to my right and saw a heart monitor. I looked more and saw Aaron in front of the bed, with his head in his hands.
“Aaron,” I said his name with confusion. His head snapped up. His hair was ruffled. I giggled a little at the sight of him, causing pain to shoot through me. He looked just like he did when we were ten, but more manly.
“You could’ve…” Aaron said.
“Died? Yeah, I know. I’m going to give you a warning, Aaron, don’t save me. I can look out for myself.” I said sternly.
“What if you died?”
“Then, I would’ve died,” I answered, looking him in the eye. He turned his head, breaking our gaze.
“I don’t know what I would do if you died.” He whispered. My stomach fluttered with butterflies. I felt all the heat in my body go to my cheeks. I smiled faintly, trying not to run around the room singing and dancing. I calmed myself down enough to answer him.
“You would’ve moved on.” I said, sadly. Even though what I had said was sad, it was also true. He wouldn’t go on with his life sulking around about me. It was very true and I had to face the facts.
“How could you say something like that?”
“Because it’s true,”
“No, no it’s not. I wouldn’t move on. I don’t even know if I would be able to.”
My stomach fluttered even more, my heart started to beat faster.
“That’s not true…”
“Yes it is.”
I gave him an evil glare, indication for him the shut up.
“You aren’t going back to your mom.”
“I know. I can’t.” I answered, feeling empty inside.
