From behind I feel two hands on my back, that sends me sprawling to my knees. I turn over to see her hair wrapped in a towel, water dripping down her neck, face twisted with rage.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she screams. “Driving someone else’s car? You don’t even know how to fucking drive!”
Her hand cracks across my face before I can even respond. Her fist slam into my stomach, knocking the air out of me. I throw my hands up to shield my face and stomach the best I can, but it doesn’t stop her.
The room tilts, the ringing in my ears crashing against the bitter taste of metal on my tongue. My body and my pride folding. I want to scream, to cry, to dosomething, but the words won’t move past my throat.
“I’d be responsible if something happened to that car!” she yells, each word landing with another punch to my body. “You got money to fix it? No! You’re broke. You don’t have a shit!”
Roger tries to step in, muttering her name, but she shoves him away like he’s nothing.
Her fury’s all for me.
He hovers there, useless, watching like this is something that’ll burn itself out if he just waits long enough.
Maybe he’s right.
Maybe it will.
I let the blows land until she’s too tired to keep going. It’s easier that way—easier than trying to fight back against something that’s been winning my whole life.
From the corner of my eye, I catch Sonny. He won’t even look at me. The same brother who swore he wouldn’t tell looks pale—at least, as pale as his brown skin can get. He has the nerve to sit there looking hurt, like he’s the one bleeding.
I still can’t believe he fucking told her. Handed me over like it was nothing. Like our sibling loyalty never existed.
Ron turns away fast, eyes falling to the floor, pretending he didn’t just watch me get my ass beat.
Maybe it’s easier for him to pretend I deserve it.
Finally out of breath, she straightens and yells, “Go to your room. You’re grounded—three months. No phone, no going out with your friends, nothing. Maybe then you’ll think twice before pulling some dumb shit again.”
“God, I’m so tired of you, if it’s not Sonny then it’s you!.”
Tears sting as I push myself up, my face burning, my body aching. I don’t even argue because what’s there point.
I limp to my room, every step heavier than the last. She barely touched my legs, but my body aches so bad it’s hard to walk straight.
Every breath reminding me where her fists landed, proof that she doesn’t just want to hurt me—she wants me tofeelit.
But it’s not the just bruises that gut me—it’s the betrayal. Sonny swore he had my back, and the second he saw Roger, he told and Ron didn’t even bother to stop him from doing that.
They all let it happen. That’s the part I can’t shake—the way they stood there, like I wasn’t worth saving. Like I was some scene playing out on TV instead of a person they claimed to care about. Their silence hurts worst than her hits,wrapping around me, sinking deep until it hollowed something out inside me. It’s one thing to be hurt. It’s another to realize no one in my family wanted to stop it.
I bury my face in my pillow, promising myself,I’ll never trust them again.
The words taste bitter on my tongue, but they’re the only truth I have left. My body throbs and my eyes sting, but it’s the kind of pain that doesn’t ask for comfort—it just reminds me I’m still here.
Somewhere down the hall, their voices fade into laughter, wiping away the whole moment like it never existed.
I pull the blanket over my head, drowning their laughter under my own quiet tears—next time, I won’t need saving.
I’m tired—tired in a way sleep can’t touch. Every time I let myself have hope, it backfires.
But I’m tired of being the broken girl everyone in here walks over.
Tired of being the girl who has to survive everything quietly.
And the worst part is.. I don’t even know who I’d be if I wasn’t a mess all the time.
