Jock to the Rescue

Chapter 2

John's POV

  As soon as I walked through the door, Sandy, my three-week old golden retriever, came running to the door. I picked her up and stroked her soft fur. She began licking my face repeatedly and squirming in my muscular arms. I laughed and set her on the floor gently, watching her run off down the large hallway. "Is that you John?" my mom called from the kitchen.

  "Yeah Mom," I replied, setting my backpack on the bottom of the spiral staircase. I walked into the kitchen and hugged her before sitting down at the kitchen island.

  "How was school?" she asked, washing her hands in the sink.

  "Same as usual," I shrugged, and took the bowl of apple slices my mom handed me. I got up and said, "I'm going upstairs to do my homework."

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and climbed the staircase. Then I went down the hall to my room and sat down at my desk, taking the homework out of my binder. I shoved an apple slice in my mouth and went to work on my homework.

  I finished an hour later, and took the empty bowl downstairs to the kitchen. I walked in on my parents eating each other's faces off. "Gross, get a room!" They just waved me away and kept on going at it. I rolled my eyes and decided to swim in the pool. I went upstairs, skipping two steps at a time. Slipping on my swimtrunks, I grabbed a towel from my bathroom and headed back downstairs. 

  I did a cannonball into our pool, staying underwater for a bit, just thinking about my life. I floated on the surface, hands behind my head, as I told myself my life was absolutely perfect. 

Mackenzie's POV

  I locked myself in my room, knowing my dad was probably about to come home from the bar, as drunk as ever. I looked in the mirror and studied the new marks on my neck from my mom's cold hands. Guess I'd be wearing a scarf tomorrow. I sighed and crawled into my bed, hiding from the world under my blankets. I curled up into my life-size-teddy-bear-that-is-bigger-than-me's side and pretended it was a person who could save me from my life of pain. I fell asleep like that, only to be woken up not long after by my dad yelling my name. I braced myself for anything and slowly opened my bedroom door to find him standing there with a beer bottle in his hand.

  "WHERE'S MY DINNER?" he asked, tightening his grip on the beer bottle.

  "I-I thought you already ate," I mumbled, staring at the carpeted floor.

  "WHAT WAS THAT?" he asked, but didn't let me answer before smashing the bottle against me. I collapsed to the floor, seeing my mom arrive at the scene just before everything went black.