normal family

Chapter 13 (Bella)

The bell rings for the last time today, and I get up from my desk and begin packing up.
I swing my backpack around my shoulder and head for home. I wait for Micheal outside the school on a bench.
I pull out my phone and scroll through Snapchat. Hannah hasn't posted anything. Is she okay?
Micheal comes walking out of school with a serious look.
"Something wrong?" I required.
"No. We just need get home before dad does." He stated, already walking off.
I caught up to him quickly.
"What do you think about mom?" I questioned.
"What do you mean?"
"Her conversation last night. With that guy." I said.
Micheal slowed his pace, and looked up.
"I don't even know. She's probably cheating." Micheal added.
"Can you blame her though?" I said, "dad treats her like garbage."
Micheal nodded.
We approach the house, and open the door.
"I think we're good. Let's just go upstairs." Micheal says, hanging his backpack up.
"Micheal wait. Do you hear that?" I ask in a whispered voice.
I tiptoe to my moms room before Micheal can even reply. I look through the crack in the door and see my mom sitting on her bed crying. The bruises on her face look so bad. I consider going in to comfort her, but I know that I will get yelled at. I don't care. I need to comfort my mom. As I go to open the door, I feel someone pull me back. I feel a hand over my mouth and they drag me upstairs. I look back to see Micheal with an anger look on his face.
"Are you crazy?" He argued with anger in his voice.
"I- I just wanted to comfort mom." I mumbled.
"Look, I know it's hard to see her like this, but what if dad caught you, Bella? He would take his anger out on you. And I won't be able to protect you forever." He objected.
Before I could reply, I heard a door slam downstairs. Me and Micheal both look at each other with worried faces.
"Dad must be home." I sighed.
Me and Micheal hug each other and then we both walk to the door and I twist the handle. I try to be as quiet as I can. As I walk down the creaky stairs, I can feel my body begin to tremble.
As I reach the last step, I see my dad at the front door. He throws his bags onto the floor, takes off his coat and goes into the kitchen. I accidentally sneeze and realize my dad knows that we were spying on him. We hear his footsteps get closer and within seconds he is standing right in front of us.
"Oh so you stupid disappointments think you can spy on me now?" He snapped.
Then he grabs my arm and squeezes tight. I try not to scream in pain as I look into his dark brown eyes.
"I own you. I get to spy on you. Learn your place and get out of my house." He shouted at me and Micheal.
Once he lets go of my arm, me and Micheal run for the door, trying to get away from him as fast as possible. We swing open the door and stumble out of the house.
Micheal holds me steady as I feel like I'm losing my balance.
"Are you okay?" He asks.
I feel like I need to throw up. I sit on our front lawn and close my eyes.
"What are we gonna do?" I quivered.
Just as I speak, I feel a pain in my arm. I look down at it and notice it's red, and swollen. I want to stay strong for Micheal, but that feels impossible in the moment.
We sit out in the grass for a few more minutes, until we finally go back inside.
I lay on my bed, and try to forget about the pain in my arm.
I wake up the next morning and make sure to wear long sleeves, hoping that's enough to cover what my dad has done to me.