Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I closed and locked my door pressing my back to the wood, leaning my head against it. I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing little by little. When I could focus I walked over to my mirror, my cheek stung red and I could feel the bruise starting to form. I walked away and curled myself up in my blankets and started to cry. The soft rivers leaving their warm kisses down my cheek and jawline.

It’s been like this for two years now, at first Jeff just drank, then the yelling started, most of the time for no reason whatsoever, and soon after he started becoming physically aggressive. Not just towards Kaden and I, but towards my mother too. The life seemed to be sucked out of eyes and the once strong and outgoing woman, turned into the shadow of her lover.

I heard a light tap on my door, my eyes followed the sound, not wanting to move I just laid there. Another series of taps and I finally stood up and wiped my face walked up and unlocked the door. It was Kaden, I should have expected it because Jeff would never make a quiet noise like that. Kaden was standing there with a sad look on his face, holding my bag in his left hand.

“You left this down there.” He said quietly. It was almost awkward.

“Thank you.” I took it from him and was about to shut the door when he stopped it with his hand.

“No, thank you.” His eyes looked away from me, to the ground, searching for anything to look at but me. “Thank you for stopping him. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t.”

“It’s fine, Kad-” he surprised me by hugging me quickly. His arms wrapped around my waist and his head rested on my shoulder. My body stiffened, I don’t even remember the last time we hugged. He felt warm against me, his heartbeat was quick. After a moment I hugged him back and his body began to shake as emotion overtook him.I hugged him tighter and rubbed his back. I felt all his weight on me and I led him in to sit down. If Jeff caught Kaden showing weakness, it wouldn’t turn out well so I shut the door behind us and led Kaden to my computer chair, he sat there a while with his face in his hands, I rubbed his shoulders, trying to calm him. After a little longer he calmed down and I felt his heavy breathing.

“Great what am I supposed to do with you now?” I whispered to myself

I draped a blanket over his sleeping body and I sat in my bed. I grabbed my laptop and browsed the web for a while, I don’t know when but I passed out too. I groggily woke up when I felt someone sit on my bed carefully, they pushed them self so their back was against the wall. A hand gently touched my face, their fingertips lightly rubbed the forming bruise on my face.

“I’m so sorry, Aurora. I’m so sorry.” Kaden said softly.

Then I fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning I awoke with stillness in the room. I searched my memory to make sense of the previous night. I couldn’t tell if it was a dream or not. I've been having trouble with that a lot more lately, not being able to tell the difference between what is going on in my head and what is real. My mother has been telling me that she will make me an appointment to get medication to muffle the reality that is not really there, but she has yet to do it. I started getting ready for school when I realized it was Saturday, I sighed in relief and put on a T-shirt and shorts. I threw my hair up in a bun and walked down stairs. I went in the kitchen and poured myself some Cheerios into a bowl. It wasn't until I opened the fridge did I realize there was no milk in the fridge.

“D****t.” I groaned to myself. I listened in the house. It hadn’t occurred to me how quiet it was. I walked into the living room, and saw that it was empty, beside the dirty dishes and beer cans that were all over. I shook my head at the sight and went upstairs to try to solve the mystery of why it was so quiet. I carefully opened the door to my mothers and Jeff’s room, both were gone. Confused I continued down the hallway. I stopped at Kaden’s room. There was no need to knock because three months earlier Jeff kicked down Kaden’s door, so a blue sheet was tacked on the frame to replace it. I pulled back the curtain to see Kaden laying on his stomach over his sheets snoring. I smiled at the site and walked back downstairs. I felt energized today, since I was able to finally sleep last night, so I turned on the radio and took advantage of having the house to myself. I started dancing around the kitchen, picking up the trash that was thrown all over and tossing dry Cheerios in my mouth. I felt contentment in this, like a free feeling. Moving around the house in a swaying motion, letting my body move with the beat of the motion I managed to clean the whole downstairs. After doing the dishes and wiping down the counters I closed my eyes and let my body and rhythm move me, I began to dance in circles in the hallway, a smile placed on my lips. I stopped for a moment and took out my bun, letting my raven black hair fall down down my back. I began to dance again, my hair flying along with my body’s motion, I felt free and relaxed. The song ended and I stopped and giggled at myself, I opened my eyes and saw Kaden leaning against the stair railing with his arms crossed and smiling.

“That was real cute.” He said said with a cocky smile. My face grew warm and if I looked in the mirror, I probably would have saw that my cheeks were burning red, and not because of the bruise.I looked at the ground embarrassed and stood there. Kaden walked up towards me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

“You amaze me sometimes.”

I looked up at his face, searching for any evidence of the night before, besides for his puffy red eyes I saw nothing.

Just then the door slammed open and we both jumped and looked over. Jeff and my mom stood there.

“Turn down that f*****g music.” Jeff yelled, my mom wincing when he spoke. I ran into the kitchen and turned off the radio quickly.

“What the hell do you think you are doing touching my things?” Jeff yelled from the living room.

“I was cleaning.” I spoke carefully and quietly.

“Where is the damn remote?” He demanded throwing around pillows and tossing over the table that sat next to his chair, knocking over the contents that were neatly placed on top. I didn’t want to approach him so I was quiet.

“Where is it?!” He yelled, walking fast towards me.

“I-I-” I tried spitting out words but nothing came out. He grabbed my arms and shook me hard.

“WHERE IS IT?” He yelling in my face, digging his fingers into my delicate skin. My mom stood in the corner quietly looking at the ground.

“Dad, it’s right here.” Kaden said quickly picking it up off the ground next to the knocked over table. Kaden is the only one who calls him Jeff, and it’s only to his face. One time Kaden called him by his name and ended up with a black eye and broken rib. After that he was careful to no slip up again.

Jeff tossed me back and went into the living room and snatched the remote from Kaden. I looked at my arms and saw the red marks from his fingers. I looked at my mom again and she looked at me with disappointment. I was in disbelief, what right does she have to be disappointed in me? She was the one who brought an abuses drunk into our house. I looked away with tears threatening to break free from my eyes that kept them captive, and ran up the stairs. I grabbed a pull over sweatshirt and threw it on. doing my makeup quickly and putting on a pair of shorts, I grabbed my day bag, which contained my drawing book and pencil, my wallet, and cell phone, and left me room. My mom was downstairs making lunch for Jeff, who was watching TV with a cold beer in his hand like always. I didn’t see Kaden anywhere so I assumed he just went back up to his room so he could hide from the wrath of Jeff. I walked out the door into the warm day. The sun was at it’s peak and warmed the earth, but it wasn’t too warm. It was comfortable, it was mid May, and in a month school would be over and every ones day will be full of parties and work; Well, everyone but me. During the summer I do hang out with friends and party like the normal teenagers in my area. The only time I leave my room is to walk around town, exploring the forgotten places.

I turned down Main Street, it was busy with people and excitement. This was one of the streets that was never empty, filled with stores of all kinds, a movie theater, and my favorite; the mall. I walked slowly towards the crowds of people and tried to forget who I was for a little while.