What This Is

Chapter 4

Luke's POV
I rode the bus to my house. My bike is in the shop because Trevor, the one who dumped food on me, beat the living crap out of it.
Feeling woozy from the bus ride, I tiptoe into my house. My mom, I can smell, is making a gourmet meal; one much to fancy to come from our trashy home. The other smell I encounter is alcohol. It's so strong, I'm shocked that people at school don't smell it on me.
I almost make it to my room, and then...
"SON!!!"
"Yeah, dad?" I try to sound strong, but not to strong, making my way through the dark, narrow hallway and into the small living room.
"Where do you think you're going?" My father slurred.
"I, uh, I was going to my room to do home-" I tried to not be scared.
"GOD DAMMIT LUKE! Do you not care about me or your mother?! Do you not want to know if we are alive!!?"
"But yesterday, you told me to go straight to my room when I get home," I hesitantly spoke.
"DON'T you DARE tell me what I said and what I didn't!" My father shouted, rising from the couch.
'Oh, no,' I tried to move, but my feet were stuck to the ground.
My mother came in a moment to late, "Mike!!! Mike stop! Stop hurting him!" She screamed hurtling herself to me.
My dad backed away, but you could still see the hate in his cold, drunken eyes.
"Oh my god," my mom muttered. I had to admit, it was pretty bad. He's got me on the ground and my nose is bleeding. I was having a hard time breathing, for his favorite spot to kick me seemed to be in the ribs. I'm going to have bruises on top of the ones I got last week from him kicking me again.
"Mom, I'm ok. I love you," I whispered, rising shakily, and staggered to my room, being sure to lock the door behind me.
She knew better than to follow me. She also knew better than to push the topic with Mike.
After I freshened up, I took a look at myself in the mirror.
'Oh god, how am I going to explain this?' I thought. Not only was my nose bleeding from the inside, it was bleeding from the outside too! He must have hit me with a ring or something.
'I'll say I have a cat.'
"Ya, because Lucas Grey Carter owns a cat. Haha, that's funny." I muttered into the mirror.
I had to clutch my hands to the counter in order to keep myself from throwing something at my reflection.
I slowly slipped into my pajamas, being careful of my bruises (which is a little hard seems how they're EVERYWHERE) and climbed into bed.
I heard my sister, Mia, climb in through the back window. I texted her to let her know that Mike was going to hurt her tonight. With him, it's both of us or neither of us.
She poked her head through my closet (we had created a door between our two closets, so that we could go into each other's room when things got bad with our parents when we were younger). She saw that I was in bed. She knew I wasn't asleep, so she tiptoed across my small room to reach me.
Silently, she bent down and kissed my forehead, and whispered, "I love you so much Luke," and after I said the same back to her, she walked out. Despite my exhausted body, my mind raced; Lacey. I haven't talked to her in a week. I don't know why, but since talking to her, I'm a little intimidated. Not by her exactly, but at the thought of trusting someone.
I wish I could talk to her. Everything is becoming a blur and I can't really focus on anything. I'll talk to her tomorrow- no. No I won't. I can't trust someone again. I trusted someone, and look where that got me...
And with that in my mind, I fell asleep.