Knock-down, Drag-out

Knock-down, Drag-out

By Ailam Remard

It all started with a shower curtain and an unflushed, clogged toilet. A shower curtain I could have fixed, a toilet I could have flushed. Too bad I didn't just take care of it, then maybe all this shit wouldn't have happened.

So there I was, sitting on the floor of my bedroom, writing an essay that was due tomorrow morning. It was nine o'clock at night. The shower curtain and toilet completely forgotten in my mind. My aunt barged in, has she ever heard of knocking?

"Did you do that to the bathroom?" What? I looked at her with the most stupid, blank expression I could muster. "The shower curtain, the toilet!" Oh yeah. I shook my head. "Did Emily?" Oh no. She better not go and blame all this on my sister. I don't think she can grasp ahold of the fact that the whole world isn't full of perfect robots. I decided to lie. I stood up.

"I have no idea what you're talkin about." I said. I shut the door in her face.

Retard. I went back to writing my paper. In 1970 there were 400,000 African Elephants.....

So now it's ten at night. I'm reading this really cool book. The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. To bad I only have about ten pages left. I hope the author wrote a second book. Heck, I hope there's a whole dang series. I really love books, that's a weird thing about me. There's some yelling going on down the hall. Is that my mom? I tip toe out my door and sneak down the hall. Yeah, it's her, and she and my aunt are yelling about the mess in the bathroom.

"She's nine Marni! Can't you just let her live?" I hear my mom yelling. I walk in the room the argument is happening in.

"Just because she's nine doesn't mean she has to be a retard!" Marni yells back. Ok. I've had enough. No one yells at my mom and trash talks my sister.

"You can't just come in someone's home and boss them around!" I yell. I hear my dad coming up the stairs. My mom coaxes me into the hall. "Just go to your room please."

My dad blocks me from running back to my aunt. "It's not even your house!" I hear my aunt yell at me. She's right. It isn't. It's my step-grandpa's. I try and fight my dad off. I want to go back in there and bite off her head. "Yeah well it's not your house either!" I yell back. Looks like my natural instincts have gotten the better of me once again.

My dad takes me into my room and sets me on my bed. "If you fight her you're no better than she is." How come he has to be so smart and say things like that?

"She was yelling at mom!"

"She's had a rough life. She never had a dad and her mom didn't care for her much," he gently replies. I latch onto him and he puts his big, protective arms around me. "It'll be ok, baby, just go to sleep."

"Sorry dad." I crawl into bed and he shuts my door. I jump back up and lock the door. My aunt will probably come in and murder me in my sleep.

I can hear people arguing from far off, but I'm half asleep. It's probably a dream. My eyes fly open and land on my alarm clock. 10:17. But it seems so late..... Another argument is happening downstairs. I hear high pitched voices yelling. Someone is crying.

"You don't know anything about marriage, Marni." I hear my dad's raised voice.

"I know it's not about two bankruptcies and living with your wife's parents," she yells back. Bitch. I hate her so much right now.

You guys are horrible parents. Melinda pregnant at eighteen, look at me, I'm twenty-one and I'm not thinking about having kids!" She yells.

"Good," my mom replies. Go mom!

"I think we've done a darn good job raising our children." My dad says.

"Yeah, well, Nathan, you can just go and sleep with your girls at the truckstop!" Oh no she didn't! Bull shit Marni! My dad DOES not sleep with other women. My parents are completely, madly, in love. She doesn't know what she's talking about. I hope she doesn't bring up me cutting myself. That wasn't their fault.....

"F*** off Marni! Go eat a sandwich!" My dad shouts. This must be bad, I've never heard my dad use that word.

I hear someone else enter the room. "We do not use that word in this house!" It's my step-grandpa, Kirk.

"I've heard you use shit, bitch, but we can't use that word?" That's my mom! Oh my gosh!

"We do not use that word in this house!" He repeats. I hear my dad apologize. Why'd he do that?

I hear my aunt stomping up the stairs now. "He told me f*** you! He told me to f*** off!" Yeah, like she never said any hurtful words.

"I don't need any of this," my step-grandpa mumbles. They're all in the living room now.

"Neither do I," Marni says. Whatever, she brought all this shit on herself. I grab my blanket and creep down onto the floor. Trying not to make a sound, I press my ear to the door. Something creaks, oh shit! I hope no one heard that. I can hear things better, I still can't hear everything, they're talking in low voices.

"He just can't come in your house and say things like that!" Marni.

"I want them out. Tomorrow. Out tomorrow." Kirk. Ouch, that hurt! I feel so hated.

"Uneducated, unemployed, loser!" Marni. What the hell is she talking about? My dad is employed.

"This is all my fault!" Grandma. Damn right!

"You never asked if I wanted them here. You just told me they'd be here after you'd already given the thumbs up!" Kirk. "I want them out of here!"

Wow. I've never felt hated like this before. I started to convince myself this was all my fault. Maybe if I would have just fixed the effin shower curtain and unclogged the effin toilet! Maybe then none of this shit would have ever happened!

I pulled my ear away from the door and lay my head back on the wall. I think I fell asleep because when I looked at the clock again it was 11:30. I crawled back into my bed with a sick feeling.

Then I fell into disturbed sleep.