The Story Beneath The Shirt

court and law

"You worthless piece of shit!" I crashed against the wall as my abusive mother threw me from my bed. I groaned out as I hit the wall leaving a dent; just like all the other walls had from me being thrown first thing in the morning. I lay there knowing more is to come. "If it wasn't for you he'd still be here braylynn! But you just had to run him off trying to be a boy! YOUR NOT A BOY!" she yelled over and over sending many kicks to my abdomen. "YOU KILLED HIM!" she yells once more as i black out.

***

As I started waking up I realized I was still on the floor. I sat up slowly grunting in pain as my head and ribs throbbed. I slowly raised my shirt up to see a large amount of black and blue bruises. "Yep my ribs are definitely broken." I slowly stood up and walked to the bathroom. On my way through I could see my mother was passed out in her chair with a bottle of whiskey in her hand and many more other liquors on the ground either dumped or empty.

I looked at my head. It had a nasty bruise and slight cut right above my right eye and my cheek must of been hit at one point because it also was swollen and bruised. I was used to this, 5 years and going. I was 17 right now, i only had to deal with this for a little while longer. My birthday was 3 weeks ago and my next one is next year but it was coming. My brother moved out 6 years ago when he turned 18, he's now 24. I took my wallet, and the keys to my car that my mother didn't know about, and snuck through the house and out back to where I was behind the neighbors barn. I put in my favorite CD with all music on it. A lot of people considered my music "emo/gothic"; i consider it soul music. It had Asking Alexandria(AA), Black Veil Brides (BVB), Sleeping with sirens (SWS), and more of that kind of music artists on it. I turned to Roger Rabbit by SWS on.

I called my brother with my little phone I had.

"Hey." He replied when answering.

"Hey, can you meet me at the mini mart on Johnson street? Ill be parked in the back. I need some of that eye ointment and cover up cream, mom did it again." i replied while pulling out.

"Yea give me 10 minutes to round everything up and get out that way."

"Alright see you then." I hung up tossing my phone in the passenger seat and pulling my front bangs in front of my hurt eye.

I finally made it and pulled around to the back parking on the concrete block. It wasn't but another 5 minutes before Nathan pulled up behind me parking backwards so our car butts were almost against each other. I stepped out and used his back bumper to jump up onto the back of my car. He slid up onto his and pulled his mini backpack he carried his medical supplies in off his shoulder. He grabbed anti-inflammatory pills, cover up cream, and this weird ointment out and placed his bag behind him. He took the ointment and dropped 3 drops in my eye, and then handed me 2 of the pills.

"Give me a second. I gotta grab the brush and water."

He hopped down opening the back door to his car. A few seconds later he was back with a bottle of water and a foundation brush from morphe. He used that to make it easier to apply the cover up cream. It wasn't makeup but it might as well been. He brushed it on after many times of me hissing in pain from it being tender. He then took a few X shaped bandages and Neosporin and placed it over the cut on my head with some makeup around and over it to make it less visible.

"We got court in 3 hours. Mom is going to be on the other side but she can still easily get to you. I'm going to see if they can have an officer nearby but I can't promise anything for certain. But today you should be able to choose if you want to live with me. Normally I would ask if your for certain that you want to but with everything mom has put you through i already know you are." He stated holding my hands softly. Even though he was my brother he was the only one who genuinely cared about me. I didn't have friends either because my mom never entered me when i turned 15. She pretended that we moved so the school wouldn't bug us and enrolled me into a new school with a fake address. I'm sure many letters have been sent about why I haven't been in almost 4 years of school. This was 3 year actually missed. But next year would be my 12th grade year. I was very smart tho so I knew everything from doing online school helping apps. It wasn't real school but it was the closest thing I could do without a parent's sign up needed.

"Yea i'm definitely ready. I'm probably gonna go sit at the cafe till then, wanna come sit with me?" I said, hoping down.

"Yea just let me go pick up our suits for later and put them in my car and then i'll be there. Tops 30 minute wait. Just make sure that if things don't get chosen today that you take those pills every 6-8 hours and don't try to bend a lot i know your ribs are bruised too, no one sits like you did" he said sliding off handing me a zip lock baggie of everything i would need for my eye. I chuckled sliding into my car and pulling off. He pulled off heading towards the dry cleaners while i headed to the cafe.

I sat at a booth and ordered some ice tea with a side of ice in a take out cup and an extra large take out cup of mocha and caramel mixed Macchiato. Once it arrived I placed the ice and ice tea to the side for Nathan when he came since he hated watered down drinks and started sipping on mine. 20 minutes later he pulled up. He waved through the window from the car. I chuckled, flipping him off. He walked in drinking what water was in the cup from the ice melting then proceeding to dumping his tea into his cup of ice. We goofed off till almost 3:15. We proceeded to pay for our drinks and headed out. We had 45 minutes to get to the courthouse and get changed.

*end of court meeting*

Braylynn Ranae Houffer, since you are of age to choose without parents consent i will turn this decision to you. I have read all your paperwork and I know your situation so you can choose. Would you like to stay with your mother and keep in her custody; or would you like to transfer all custody to Nathan Lee Houffer, making him your legal guardian till age of 18?"

"I'd like to switch all custody over to Nathan L. Houffer ma'am." I stated standing up from my chair/bench.

"Alright as of today, 6:36 PM, Legal custody of Braylynn Ranae Houffer will be signed over to Nathan Lee Houffer." the Judge started taking her wooden hammer and hitting the little circle on their stand.

Out of the corner of my eye I see my mom charge at me, tackling me to the ground. "YOU BITCH I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU KILLED HIM AND AR-" she started screaming at me punching me before the officers pulled her off and pinned her to the ground cuffing her up and taking her out of the room. A medic and my brother examined me for anything and they noticed the bruises on my ribs. I was transported to the hospital for further examination while Nathan went to sign paperwork to regain full custody of me.

alright so i'm re-writing this book and this is the first chapter please let me know if ya'll enjoyed it and if you haven't checked out my other books go look at them i swear i'm working as hard as i can with my busy schedule <3 love you all.