Young Writers Society

this shall be the prologue. there is some swearing involved but it helps gives you an image of her home life.

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“LOOK AT WHAT YOU FUCKIN’ DID! YOU BROKE THE BOWL YOU LITTLE SHIT! HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU PICK THAT UP?! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BUY A NEW ONE, HUH?! YOU SCREWED UP YOU LITTLE BRAT! YOU ARE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!” My dad yelled at me as he saw the broken porcelain on the cracked tile floor. He wasn’t exactly happy with me and I was terrified. I didn’t mean to, it was just heavy and I couldn’t hold it very long. I had cut myself in the process of acquiring it as well. Some blood trickled down a cut on my finger from where some porcelain had snagged on my skin. I felt a horrible stinging on my cheek and my face had been completely turned the other way. My dad had just slapped me. It wasn’t such a big deal to me anymore, I had just gotten used to it. That’s how all dads were, right…? He sent an uppercut to my jaw and I felt his ring drive into my jaw. I felt some blood swell inside my mouth but I simply swallowed it and pretended that it was fine. I remembered the last time I had coughed blood up on his shoes and that had made the situation even worse, so I just held it in. I heard him undo his belt and take it off. I panicked and knew that this was the part where I would feel pain for 2 weeks straight. I still hadn’t recovered from the last time that he had done this and that was only 2 nights ago. He was doing this more often now. Maybe I’ve just been doing something wrong…

“Say something, you piece of shit! How about you fuckin; apologize for once, huh?! Oh are you just too good? You just fucked up again!” He yelled again and hit me with the belt. It slapped against my skin and left a deep red imprint on my already blue and black skin. It didn’t hurt that much because my limbs were already numb from 2 nights ago. He brought the belt back for another swing and I cowered in against the wall and closed my eyes tightly, waiting for him to strike. I waited for a moment, and when the hit never came, I peeked up and saw my older brother standing in front of me. He had snatched the belt out of our dad’s hand and had thrown it out of reach. Our dad was furious, but my big bro wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t scared of our dad at all.

“You are pathetic, father. You would hit a little girl who has made an innocent on your account. You were the one who asked you to get you a bowl because you were too lazy to get up off of your ass to get it yourself. You have some nerve.” My older brother growled lowly, but our dad was unphased.

“Who the fuck is gonna pay for it? She broke it, she’s gonna pay for it!” He growled back and twisted his way out of my brother’s grip.

“I will take any hit that you have for her. She doesn’t deserve this. She is too young. Don’t you even care that you are ruining her life with your abuse, heavy drinking, and drug addictions? Does that not occur to you? She is 8 dad. Does she really need to grow up in this environment?” My brother argued back. I knew that he was only trying to buy me some time to get away from this situation, but I couldn’t move. I was frozen in fear.

“FUCK YOU! YOU LITTLE SHITS ARE RUINING MY LIFE! GO LIVE ON THE FUCKING STREETS FOR ALL I CARE DAMMIT!” Our father bellowed as he punched my older brother square in the jaw. My brother didn’t say a word, all he did was take the hits that our dad threw at him. It went on for at least 6 minutes. Our dad and my brother fighting. But mainly our dad.He was taunting and yelling at my brother while throwing punches and such at him. My brother continued to say nothing and I just sat in the corner silently crying my eyes out. After a few minutes, I heard our dad push my big brother on the porcelain that I had broken. I heard him groan in pain for the first time and I saw him covered in blood and bruises. Our dad stormed out of the house to go to a bar, leaving us behind in the cold house. After I was sure that the coast was clear, I ran to my brother and cried as soon as I got a good look at him. One of his eyes was closed and had a black and purple ring around it, his other eye was bloodshot red, his forehead had a long gash across it and it was bleeding down his face in small trickles of blood, his cheeks were black and blue with bruises, his nose was bleeding heavily, and his lips were bloodied up and bruised form all of the hits that he had taken. I stared at him in apology and cried even more, knowing that I caused this pain. He managed to lift his hand up to my cheek and hold it there gently.

“Oh c’mon Carmen, pretty girls shouldn’t cry…” He said with a small smile. My crying lifted up slightly and I looked back at him.

“You’re hurt and I caused it. All because I broke a shitty bowl!” I cried in anger.

“Hey, your big brother is perfectly fine!” He said with a big smile, showing me a thumbs up to go with his bloody teeth and gums. He was seriously being happy in a moment like this. That’s what big brothers are here for.

“No you’re not. You’re bleeding to death you stupid idiot.” I mumbled as I got up and headed to the bathroom to get a makeshift first aid kit. I came back and he had moved himself off of the porcelain shards that he had been shoved on. I ran over to him and began to disinfect the bruises and cuts that he had. I felt him flinch as I put on the alcohol that I had stolen from our dad’s mini fridge. I knew that our dad would be mad when he found out that it was missing, but I didn’t care.

“Carmen, only weak people curse. Dad happens to be one of them. Don’t curse, ever. If I ever hear you curse or call anyone a name that isn’t appropriate, I will be upset with you. Don’t curse again.” He said sternly and I swallowed apologetically and nodded. His approval was the only approval I had ever desired and the only approval that I would ever desire… or at least that’s what I thought.

“I’m sorry. I just really dislike the way he treats us. Are all dads like this, big bro?” I asked weakly as I carefully began to pull the porcelain shards out of his skin and shirt. He winced in pain every so often and I felt bad for him.

“No, most of them aren’t. Dad just has some bad habits that he can’t break, but I think that he’ll be like this for the rest of his life… I don’t want you to stay with him anymore. He’s only a bad influence…” he replied warmly, giving me a comforting smile.

“Then what are we gonna do, big bro? I’m only 8 and you’re 16. How are we supposed to get out of this hell- place?” I quickly corrected myself when I saw his smile fade slightly.

“I am old enough to enlist in the army. I will join them and finish my time and training as quickly as I can. Then I will come back with the army insurance welfare and we will leave dad behind. We’ll never look back, ok? I don’t know how long it’s gonna take me to finish it, but I promise that I’ll be back as quickly as I can, Carmen. Be brave for me ok? Dad loves you, somewhere in that dark crevice that he considers a heart. He may say words that hurt you, and he may use belts and his hands to hurt you, but he will never kill you. If it gets really bad, go to the neighbors. They’ll house you for a while. Don’t you lose faith in me Carmen. You’re the only thing I have.” He said with a smile on his face.

“WH-what?! No, you can’t! You’re gonna leave me here all alone with him?! No! I’ll be more miserable than you could ever imagine! Don’t leave me big bro…!” I cried and clung to his chest.

“What has to be done, must be done Carmen. You can’t control your fate. I will always love you Carmen, you’ll always be my little sister.” He comforted me and placed his arms on my back in a hug, despite the shards of porcelain still stuff in his arms and back. I cried for a while and then resumed taking the shards out of his skin. He had stared at the ceiling the entire time with a lonely smile on his face without saying anything else to me. I finished and we both went off to our rooms to sleep. I didn’t sleep at all, my dreams only made me cry. Little did I know, he was on the other side, crying too.