What these eyes have seen: Broken

It has been two weeks since sixteen year old Anna murdered her abusive mother in self defense. Since then Anna and her two siblings, Eden and Sarah, have been put into a children's shelter.

Anna laid awake in her bed, unable to sleep. The memory of her murdering her mother was seared into her mind, leaving her to wonder if she had done the right thing. Tears began to stream down Anna's face as the horrifying

event constantly replayed in her head. That night, she had went against everything she believed in. She believed that

everyone deserved a second chance, that good overcomes evil, that you can distinguish between what's right and what's wrong, that there was goodness inside of every one, and that no person deserves to have their life taken away. Now,

Anna feared that she was no better than her abusive mother, because she had stooped low enough to kill. Yet, in a strange sense Anna felt that there was no other choice than to kill her, after there was a knife to Anna's neck.

Anna just closed her eyes, the same eyes that have seen year upon years of abuse and neglect, and tried to succumb to sleep, where she helplessly dreamed about the night she had killed her mother.

The sound of the gunshot rang in Anna's ear as her mother slumped to the ground. Immediately Anna ran to the

living room and helped her brother off of the floor and looked at the gash on the side of his head that their mother had cut into him with a kitchen knife. Anna helped her brother to her bedroom and ripped an old shirt of hers then took it to the 

kitchen and opened the liquor cabinet. Pouring only a little bit of white wine on the fabric to disinfect Eden's gash, she then pressed it to the side of his head and secured it with several pieces of scotch tape. "It's not the best bandage but it will have to do for now" Anna said to her brother who was already pressing it against his temple to keep it from falling off.

"What about you?" Eden asked pointing to the cut on her neck. Anna shrugged

"I'll fix it later, I just want to get out of here." Anna went and got her little sister out of the bathroom, where she had

been hiding. The three children then went outside into the warm summer night air, and began to make the two mile 

journey to the closest neighbor, for help.

"Wait, where did mom go?" Sarah suddenly asked fearfully. A lump caught in Anna's throat. Sarah doesn't need to

know what happened. It would only make her afraid of her own sister, and that's the last thing Anna wanted.

"She went somewhere where she'll never bother us again." Eden replied, sensing Anna's discomfort with the subject.

They walked for around two hours before they got to the nearest house. Eden knocked on the door hard and rang

the doorbell several times, before an elderly couple in their pajamas answered the door. The man quickly said

"Do you kid's have any idea what time it is? its twelve thirty in the morning." The man stared at them a little more

before noticing the cloth soaked in blood on Eden's head and the cut on Anna's throat. "My God what happened to you kids ?" he asked.

The couple took them inside where Sarah fell asleep while Eden and Anna explained what took place that night when the kind woman said "You know we have to call the police." Instantly Anna began to cry out of fear.

"What if they arrest me?" She asked suddenly terrified. Anna sobbed as the old woman got up went to the kitchen, and came back with two glasses of water which she gave to Eden and Anna. She then put a hand on Anna's shoulder and said

"If you did it in self defense you have no reason to be worried." Anna just nodded and sipped her water while the couple got the phone and began dialing.

Anna awoke, sun peeking through the blinds. She tried desperately to shake off the memory but couldn't. She then began to cry, for the fact that she feels so guilty about killing her mom, and for being frustrated about being afraid of every adult she come across. If someone just lifts a hand Anna will cower out of fear she's going to be slapped.

After the police came and examined evidence they had decided the kids were telling the truth, and took them to this children's shelter where Anna and her siblings were separated by age and gender, and put into different buildings.  

But, today things will get better. With permission from their supervisors, Anna will go to the main building at ten thirty this morning, where she and her siblings would meet for the first time since they got here. Anna quickly got up wiped the tears from her eyes. She then took a deep breath and said to herself "Everything will be alright from now on." and got dressed in the new clothes the supervisor of her building ( a middle aged woman named Diane) got for her, and looked at the clock

10:28 a.m.

Anna ran out the door, desperate not to be late, she sped across the grounds to the main building which wasn't to far. Anna flung the doors open and, trying not to sound to excited, walked up to the front desk and said "I'm here to see Eden and Sarah Hamilton." The secretary smiled and pointed to the right, 

"Over there."

 A half hour into their reunion Eden said "Hey Anna can you go and get a game board from the shelf in the back?" 

"Sure!" Anna replied happily. As soon as she was gone Eden said "The supervisor of my building said he knew mom. He said she came here when she was my age and that she was horribly abused by her parents. Said she was never really quite right from that experience. And that instead of accepting psychiatric help she turned to drugs and alcohol instead." Anna just kinda sat there in disbelief. 

" But mom always yelled that her parents never had to discipline her the way she had to discipline us."Anna said confused.

"She lied."Eden replied. "I think all three of us should accept psychiatric help." Anna mumbled in disagreement when Eden said" Look I know you're afraid but, I talked to Sarah's supervisor and she said Sarah is terrified of her, and I get scared every time an adult walks up to me to talk to me, and there is no way this is easy for you either. We can't let ourselves be consumed by trauma and fear. This isn't going to go away by itself. We need to let these people help us. We don't want to end up like mom."

Author's Note

So I'm not sure if you guys will like this one as much as the first one, since I know it's not as exciting, but I liked the idea of explaining why people are the way they are. Again any grammar issues please ignore because I'm still working on my grammar. I am only 15 so I know I have a lot to learn from more experienced writers! If you want to read the first part of "What these eyes have seen" you can find it on my profile.