13

II

The family sits quietly at dinner, the family is barely a family, its just her, her aunt, her mom and the cat.
"You're going away in two days right?" Jade asked her mother, as she purposely would drop pieces of the spinach on the ground for the cat to eat.
"Yes, why do you want to know so badly?! Are you planning to runaway?! Do shit you're not supposed to?!" Jade's mom shouted at her. "Diana, please, she didn't mean it like that." Aunt Claire said quietly to her sister.
Diana inhaled and exhaled deeply. She chugged down the last of her alcohol, no one knows what she's drinking anymore.
"Whatever, I'm done with this shitty ass meal you made Claire, you could've done better." Diana snapped, changing the subject, almost having to be mad at someone no matter how ignorant or confusing it may be.
"Well maybe if you did you're job correctly and bought food once in a while my meals wouldn't be so shitty!" Aunt Claire yelled, Diana throws the glass bottle on the floor and it shatters. Diana storms off to her room. Jade's aunt sighed, and shook her head. "I'm sorry." Jade said softly, kneeling down, helping her aunt clean up the glass pieces.
"I don't know what to do anymore Jj." Her aunt said, carefully placing the glass in her pale hand. Jade smiles at her nickname Jj, it reminds her of her happy and joyous childhood.
"You can leave y'know." Jade said. Aunt Claire shook her head, "I can't leave you alone with her."
"But you lived with her for you're whole life." Jade said. Aunt Claire sighed, "It was a lot more calm and less complicated back then, trust me Jade, she wasn't always like this."
Jade looks at her aunt puzzled. "That's extremely hard to believe."
Aunt Claire shrugged, "It's true."

"I'm home." Zach said, placing his backpack on the chest by the doorway. "Where were you?!" His drunk of a dad asked furiously.
"I told I was going to the library after school father, like I normally do." Zach said simply. His dad's face scrunched up and he chuckled falsely.
"You never told me that." His dark haired father said, pointing at him with his flask full of whiskey.
Zach bit his lip, eyes wild with fear. His dad took a step closer. "Zach, you need to tell me where you are, I'm you're father."
Zach's heart rate doubled, "You sure don't act like it." He mumbled. His dad did that foul chuckle again. "What was that?"
Zach breaths heavier, "I said you sure don't act like a father." He said more sternly. His father looks at him with his cold dead eyes.
He raises his hand and smacks Zach across the face, forcing him to fall on the floor. Zach places a hand on his burning cheek. Tears start to pour from his eyes. "Cmon don't fucking cry! Show me you're stronger then that! Show me!!" His father shouted. Zach shook his head and stays weak on the concrete floor.
His dad kicked his boney side. "Stop." Zach sobbed, too frightened to look up at his evil father.
His dad kicked him again, "I'll stop when I want to stop!" He shouted.
His father grabs the collar of his son's black shirt. "Look at me." His father said between his teeth. Zach slowly opens his swollen eyes and looks at his fathers dead grey orbs.
"Don't tell me what to do, got it?!" The dad snapped, Zach nodded, his dad throws him back on the ground and storms away.
Zach lays on the concrete, holding his face with one hand and the other rubbing his side.
What did I do to deserve this abuse? Zach thought.

He lays on his twin mattress. His room is dark, the blinds shower over the one window he has above his bed, the only possible light that could creep in. But Zach decides not to remove the blinds, he likes the shield of darkness, the only calm thing in his fucked up life.
He hears stones being thrown at his window, he sits up, and groans at his sore body.
He looks behind the black blind, and his eyes squint, like they've never seen the light of day.
And there she was, the small figure, waving from the ground. "Jade." He whispered.
Jade climbs up the green vines attached to Zach's house. He opens the window and she climbs in.
She pulls his tiny body in an embrace, hugging him tightly.
"Zach, what happened to you're face?" Jade asked, cupping his bruised cheek.
She moves his straight jet black bangs from covering his black eye. Jade gasps and sets him on the small bed.
"What happened?" She asked, placing her pale honey hand on his knee cap.
Zach hesitates. Foot steps are heard coming up the creaky wooden stairs, their heads shot at the door.
Jades grip on Zach's knee cap tightened.
"Jade you should leave." He said, she looks in his brown eyes in disbelief. She knows he's lying to her, he needs her with him, to fill the empty whole in his fragile heart.
But I want you to stay, Zach thought.