That Day

It was like any other day, my best friend, Tia, and I walked to school together. 7:45 in the morning exactly, we lived like a block and a half from the school; she was my neighbor. We did just about what every other senior in our school did before school, smoke a cigarette and catch a quick buzz. We walked into school glassy eyed, and giggling like little girls over nothing. This was normal, so all the other students knew what was up ha! Tia and I had the first three periods together so was got to enjoy our buzz with each other. There’s never anything exciting that goes on in this place, I despise this school and most of the people in it as a matter of fact. Good thing it’s my last year, I cannot wait to graduate. I’m very different compared to these people…. I dress different, I don’t think I’m all that, I don’t have money, I dye my hair different colors, and I have piercings. This makes me an outcast in a place full of wannabe pretty, rich people. Finally the last bell of the day rings, time to meet up with Tia and walk home together, like usual; but this time something wasn’t right. As we walk down our road we notice my dad is home.
“What’s your dad doing home Bay?” Tia asks me. I don’t answer her, just look forward with a confused look on my face; staring at the silver 2003 Impala sitting in the drive way… my heart drops, I have no idea as to why he’s home right now. “He’s not supposed to be home until 11pm…” I thought to myself and I slowly walk up to my door and wave bye to Tia. Still questioning why he’s home, I walk through the living room quickly, enter my room and kick my door closed. I didn’t see my father on the way in, I thought maybe he was in the garage or something of the matter, and he got off work early because there wasn’t anything to do there anymore; that seems to happen a lot. Not thinking anything of it I turn my stereo up loud, the sounds of my favorite band Attila fill the room and I plop down on my bed. As I lay there for about two hours I start falling asleep when all of a sudden…. I hear a loud noise, followed by some yelling. “What the f*@#?!” I scream as I stand by my door waiting to hear more. But as I’m standing there I don’t hear anything, then my door swings open and hits me on the head a knocks me right on my butt. I didn’t know what to think other than the fact that my head was now throbbing and my back hurt from slamming into the corner of my bed. Oh god, it’s my dad, he is really drunk. What do I do? I just get up and stand there staring at him. He’s staring right back at me, and as I go to ask him what was wrong with him and why he was being this way, he rips my arms away from my sides and almost rips my sweater sleeves off… “Why the f*@# do you keep doing this to yourself!? Do you have any freaking idea how embarrassing this is for me to have people ask me about this?!” he screams in my face, slightly spitting. I look at my arm and think for a little bit, and look back up at him and quietly say, “Because I have an alcoholic abusive father like you who doesn’t know how to feed his daughter. Your first two daughters have already left you, you’d think you would be able to do a better job with me, but I guess I’m just too f*@#”^ up for you to even try huh?!” I know that was a really bad thing to say to him and probably not needed, but I’m getting really tired of this happening all the time. Usually this would happen at night when he got home, except he wouldn’t waste his time screaming at me like this. After I said my deep thoughts to answer his questions I really hated myself…

He looked at me for a minute, swaying side to side a little as I just stood there, arms still stretched out for the world to see my bad habit and means of help. My father looks me deep in the eyes and says, “Are you serious?!” and clocks his arm back real far and swings fast, and before I know it I’m on the ground. I lay there on my bedroom floor trying to come back to Earth and realize what just happened. I look up from where I lay and my father is still standing there over me screaming at me to get the he** up. I moan and groan as I come to my feet, my head is spinning and I can barely see; I try to just walk past him and go to the bathroom, but he wasn’t having that. He grabbed my arm really tight and asked me where I thought I was going, holding my head; I look at him and said to the bathroom and away from you. He stood staring at me for a while squeezing my arm a little tighter every second, then he says, “You’re ungrateful and you’re going to live with your mother.” I ripped my arm from him quick and went to the bathroom crying. I didn’t know what to think about what he had said, usually when he said things like sending me to my mother’s I knew he was only joking he couldn’t actually do it, but this time he seemed very serious. I don’t even know my mother, he has kept my sister and I away from her our whole lives. Is he really done with me this time? What am I going to do? I need to go talk to Tia. Open the bathroom door slowly and walk carefully to my room, no sign of him, and shut the door. I look out my window as I light a cigarette and his car is gone… I pick up my phone and call Tia and tell her to come over. When she gets there she finds me in my room only to have a huge bruise on my face and still crying like no other, as I explain to her everything that happened she began to cry. She asked me where he was now, and I told her I didn’t know. I looked her deep in the eyes and said “Tia…what am I going to do? Where am I going to go? I can’t go to my mom’s I don’t know where she lives or anything…”
Suddenly it came to mind, I’ll go live with my friend Trenton. Tia and I talked about how I’d get there and she’d stay with me for that weekend only because she had already asked her parents if she could stay with me and they said yes, so I called up our good buddy Trenton. He answers the phone and he sounds out of it completely, laughing at everything and stuttering his words, I asked if Tia and I could go over there and without question he was quick to say yes, and offer to get us a couple blocks from my house. Trenton was a great guy; he was mine and Tia’s best friend. As was walk down a few blocks he’s already there waiting for us. Here was are on 5th Avenue, jumping in a green truck with window paint all over the windows and countless bottles and cigarette butts and pack in the bed. I see Trenton and he looks and me and he instantly knows something’s wrong and I’ve been crying; he didn’t see the other side of my face with the huge bruise on it… we are driving for about half an hour to where he lives. When we finally get there and inside he asked me what was up, but when he really looks at me he freaks completely, grabbing my face, demanding to know who did it. We sit on the balcony, outside of his upstairs apartment overlooking some trees and houses, and I explain to him everything that happened. He looked me dead in the face and said, “You’re never going back there, Bay, you know you can stay here I don’t care how long it is. You’re staying here with me, he’ll never find you…” that was the only thing I was worried about, him finding me and it ending much worse than what it did earlier today.

Being with Trenton was the best; I felt safe and like nothing could get me. Having my other best friend, Tia, with me was even better. It had been the whole weekend and Tia went home, now it was just me and Trenton. I keep checking my phone to see if my dad has tried to get ahold of me in anyway, but strangely he hasn’t. Trent went out to get food later on in the day and when he came back he was looking at me weird and asked me if I heard anything from my dad or about my dad, I looked at him and said no with a confused look on my face. Everything got serious at the point…. What was wrong with my dad? Did something happen to him? Oh god… he sat me down and told me that apparently Tia had told her parents everything that happened and they called the cops on my dad, and when the cops go there to arrest him the found him drunk as ever yelling around the house and smashing things. I guess he was resisting arrest and hit one of the cops and was yelling at him’ I’m not sure why, but at that moment I think I kind of smiled. I won’t have to go back to my dad, back to that house that’s haunted me for all these years, I’m free…I’m finally free!