Chapter 2-Disgusted

"One strawberry vanilla swirl cone, and a cookie dough cone please."

"Thank you Lizzie."

"Your welcome sis!"

I kiss her on the forehead. She's so sweet. I treat her like she's my own daughter. I kind of have to, since no one else will. Poor little girl. We take our delectable treats to the picnic table and enjoy. The ice cream feels great on my tongue. Strawberry is my favorite. Jake's ice cream is the best in Atlanta. Trina can't stop liking her cone. I can't help but laugh, she has ice cream surrounding her small pink lips.

"Sorry! It's just so good!"

"Ha ha I know. Here's a napkin."

I look at my cone, and all of the ice cream is gone. I don't care too much for the actual cone, so I throw it away. Trina took her last bite, and threw her napkin away following me. I'm walking to my car, with my sticky little friend behind me. I don't know what I'd do without her.

"Can we come again tomorrow, please?"

How long has it been since her last ice cream? Probably awhile, Dad doesn't take her anywhere and Mom is working all the time. I swear, I'm the only one that supports and cares for this child. I love being with her. After all, that ice cream was like bliss. Relieved my stress. I forgot all about Mom and Dad.

"Maybe sometime this week okay?"

"Yay! Your the best sister ever."

"Awe thank you! Are you ready to go home?" 

"I guess."

"It's okay, just go to your room. Okay?"

"Okay."

Sometimes I worry about Trina. If she's getting hurt by the fights, or something at school, or anything. I don't always know. My parents need to grow up and realize they are hurting their kids. I'm more of an adult then them, and I'm not even eighteen yet.

Were home now, and Trina runs right upstairs as she was told. Mom must be in the basement doing paperwork. I see Dad made his way to the couch and is watching Sunday night football. Then, his eyes shift and meet mine.

"Come here Elizabeth."

I walk over to him.

"Sit down."

I do what I'm told. I don't know what's up with him. His eyes are dark, and blaring with rage. I'm scared of him.

"I heard you talking to your mother earlier. You disobeyed me."

"She's my mother. I'm aloud."

"Not on my rules! She's worthless!"

"No she's not! And I don't care, I'm not listening to you!"

"What did you just say?"

"You heard me."  

His hand comes straight across my face, knocking me down hitting the edge of the coffee table and onto the floor. My face burns. It stings. I touch my left cheek, it's bleeding. He's never hit me before.

"That's what you deserve."

"Why, why w-would you do that....!"

I feel tears coming from my eyes. I can't tell if it's from the pain, or that my father actually did that.

"I hate you." I said under my breath.

"What!"

I got up as fast as I could and ran up the stairs to Trina's room. My father was chasing me. I ran in the room, slammed the door, and locked it before he came in. He was banging on the door yelling to open it, but no way in hell I was going to. I can hear Trina screaming from behind me, terrified. I was too. Then, the pounding stopped. We heard him mumble something and then make his way down the stairs. I dropped my hands from the door in relief. I slowly turned around to find Trina on her bed hugging her knees looking at me. She starts crying and I realize what she's looking at. My bleeding cheek. It must look awful by now. I start to cry too and go hug her.

"Lizzie, what did he do?"(I love how she knew my father did it.)

"He hit me sis. Then my face hit the edge of the coffee table."

"No! Daddy can't hit you! I'm going to tell mom!"

"Trina! Stay here! I do not want you out there right now. The reason he hit me was because I talked to mom."

"That's not right."

I flinch. My cut hurts so much.

"Let me get some stuff for your cheek at least in the bathroom. He's down stairs, don't worry."

"Okay. Be quick."

I hear her getting things out of the bathroom closet. I hope she gets all the right things, because I'm not letting her back out. She comes in with a wet rag in one hand and a towel bundle in the other. I open the bundle to find band aids,disinfectant spray, and some cream I don't need. Ha ha still, everything's there. She's brilliant.

"Thank you Trina, so much."

"Please fix your cut, it's getting worse."

I stand up in view of my face in the mirror. There's a big cut across my left cheek beginning to bruise, and it's bleeding. Blood has now reached my jawline. I quickly grad the wet rag and wipe it off. I try to somewhat clean the awful gash, but it hurts. Here come the tears again. He hit me so hard. I'm surprised I didn't hit my head and get knocked out. There's a faint hand print on my face. I will never forgive him.

The band aid covers the cut, but not the red bruise surrounding it. I'll have to go to school like this. I'm not sure if I should tell anyone, well at school anyway. Who am I kidding? I don't have friends. I'm different from the people at my school. They think I'm a freak because I have a semi rocker/punk look with bleach blonde hair and black tips. Am I emo? Goth? Nah. That's just how I like to look. I think I am pretty, but I'm not trying to impress anyone, so I do't care how I look. My mom always told me I need to make friends, like she didn't want her daughter to be a loser. I don't really she cared for me, just her reputation. I'm still going to tell mom later when Dad's gone. I'm so scared of him now. What if he hits me again? What if he does it to Trina? I'll kill him. He has no right to touch anyone of us. But what could I do? I really don't know. I'd rather have him hit me then Trina.

She's buried into her pillow.

"Sweetie? Are you okay?"

"I don't know. Daddy is awful."

"I know. Does he scare you now?

"Kinda....Yes."

"I'm sorry!"

"It's not you fault? He hit YOU. My sister."

"Let me know if he ever touches you or says he will. Tell me. Okay?

"Okay Lizzie, I will, I promise. I love you.

"I love you too."

I'm so disgusted with my father. 

The two sisters fell asleep on Trina's bed, in tears.

Author's Note

elizabeth talking is in italics.