Thereafter

Chapter 6

I wake up to a loud sound coming from outside my door. I look up at my clock. It's 2:20 am, I hear that loud boom again. I get up to check what it is, it's right outside my door, is it my father? Is he drunk again? I hear mumbling... I open my door and it's Ethan! Sitting right next to my door on the floor in the dark, he looks at me.

     "Melissa!!!!! Heyy, I'm sorry I didn't mean to...... Never mind" trying to get up but you can see he's wasted, he can barely walk.
     "What are you doing here" I ask him, confused. No answer.
     "What do you want?" I ask with exhaustion, while helping him get up. Suddenly he looks at me with this face as if he's seen a ghost.
     "What the hell happened to your face?" He says while grabbing my face and entering my room, closing the door behind him.
     "Ouch! That hurts! Don't touch it! Nothing, don't worry about it! Why are you here? And why are you drunk?" I say, trying to change the subject.
     "What do you mean don't worry about it! Did you see your fucking face? Your eye is black and blue, almost swollen shut and your eyebrow is busted open! How do you want me to ignore that? Who did this!?" He says, angry.
He sobered up real quick after seeing my face. He almost looks concerned.
     "Nobody!!!! For Christ's sake, I said don't worry about it. I'm going to ask one more time why are you here?!" I scream. I'm more than annoyed than anything else right now.
He comes to my door, wakes me up because he's drunk, starts demanding and shooting orders. He looks shocked that I just screamed at him. He opens his mouth to answer me, there's a knock on the door and you hear my father's voice. Oh shit, I hope he says nothing stupid while Ethan is here.
     "I'm sorry for hitting you! I lost control! You know I never want to hurt you baby!" my father says.

Ethan looks at me and I can't even explain the face he has. The best I can describe it is as if he's about to kill someone. He rushes to the door, swings it open and goes straight in my father's face.

     "You did this to her face? Did I hear right?" Ethan says to my father.
     "Who are you? Get out of here. I want to speak to my daughter alone" he answers, with his coked up face always rubbing his nose, but who I am to judge I do the same.
     "I asked you a fucking question!" Ethan says, you hear the anger in his voice.
     "Who the fuck do you think you're speaking too?" My father says, moving Ethan out of his way to enter my room.
     "It's ok Ethan, you can go now I'm gonna talk with my father" I say giving Ethan a reassuring smile.
     "Melissa!! Did I hear right? Is he the one that gave you that black eye and busted eyebrow? Please tell me it's not him! Please!" He begs me, jumping up and down, pacing back and forth between me and my father. I want to tell him, but I can't.
     "Please don't make me answer that, Ethan! Just let it go! Please!" I beg.
     "I'm going to do or say what I want to my daughter! And when I say get out it means get out, so get your ass out of here" my father threatens Ethan.
     "Unless Melissa tells me to leave then I'll leave, but trust me if I leave you're leaving with me, I'm not leaving you scum of a human with her. Do you feel like a man when you hit her? Does it make you feel less of a little pussy? Does it make you feel strong?" He says 2 inches away from my father's face.
     "Please stop! I'm tired!" I say, grabbing Ethan's arm gently to calm him.
     "WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME" my father yells, getting into Ethan's face bumping his chest with his.
     "What are you gonna do? Hit me like you did to your daughter! Just remember I'm not her, I'll kill you and if you ever touch her again, you're going to have to deal with me! I promise!" He says, pushing my father.
My father tries to retaliate by throwing a punch at Ethan, but Ethan dodges it and tackles my father to the ground and starts punching him in the face.
     "STOP IT!!! STOP ETHAN PLEASE!" I yell, crying.
     "YOUR NEVER GOING TO FUCKING HIT HER EVER AGAIN!" He yells in rage, hitting him repeatedly in the face. My father isn't moving anymore. I go in the hall and start yelling for help.
     "HELPPPPPPP! He's going to kill him" I yell at the top of my lungs. My grandmother gets out of her room and sees what's happening and yells at Ethan to stop but he's not listening. Finally, my brother runs up and takes Ethan off my father. Ethan snaps back to reality the second my brother yells at him to stop and my father lies on the floor in his own puddle of blood. My father is completely disfigured.
     "What the fuck is happening?" My brother asks, my grandmother just stands there trembling, calling an ambulance for my father. My brother looks at me and he notices my face.
     "Nothing" Ethan says, walking away slowly, shaking his bloody hand. It must hurt. My brother chases him and grabs his arm aggressively, turning him around.
     "Did you do that to her?" He says, talking about my face. Why would he think Ethan did this to my me?.
     "No!" I answer.
     "He did that to her. That's why he's lying in his blood" Ethan says while pointing at my father. That's when my grandmother runs to me and notices my face.
      "Can everybody just stop? I can't take it!" I say, crying so much that I hyperventilate.
     "Okay! Everybody in their room now!" My grandmother says.
     "Are you okay darling, calm down, breath, inhale, exhale" she tells me while everyone leaves except for my father still bleeding on the floor. I breathe slowly with her and it calms me.
     "Can I just go to bed please? I'm tired, can I just please go in my room" I ask.
     "Yes darling go, I'll take care of this mess, the ambulance is on their way" she responds with empathy. I turn around, walk into my room and close the door behind me, banging it on my father's head.

I go in the bathroom and stare at myself in the mirror. I didn't even notice my eyebrow ripped open again. I guess it happened when I was yelling. My brother was right. I'm only trouble. It follows me and everyone that stays around me. It is a good idea for people to stay away from me.

I'm really glad my grandmother let me go before the ambulance got here. I don't like ambulances, the last time I saw one I was six years old when my father overdosed in my bed while hugging me goodnight and that was traumatizing, I remember as if it was yesterday.

Me and my father just came back from the dollar store and my mom and their drug dealer was over, my mother got mad at me and told me to go in my room, later on I got tired so I asked my father to tuck me in, he came, hugged me goodnight and started overdosing while hugging me. The drug dealer got him off me and the ambulance came, they shocked him with that machine they used to bring people back to life with.

Just to top it all off I almost got kidnapped that same night by a weird man that took me off the balcony but the cops came just in time, told him to stop and they took me away. That night still haunts me in my dreams. I cry every time I think about it. How does a six-year-old deserve that?. Anyways, enough of that, tonight was enough of a mess. I wipe the tears off my face and clean the blood off my face.

I go in my bed and lie down. I can't sleep with all that noise. I know they're here, taking my father away exactly like when I was six. Why am I feeling bad for my father even after he did this to me? It's always like that. There are too many emotions and I hate it so much. I can't put them aside and numb it like I always do. I'm trying, but it's not working. I need cocaine. I crave it. I turn around, put the cover on top of me and try my hardest to go to bed. The noise stopped. I guess they're taking my father inside the ambulance.

"I'm coming, I'm gonna follow you with my car" I hear my grandmother telling the paramedics. She knocks on my door and tells me "bye" but I ignore it and just stay in my silence.

A couple of minutes passed, I hear my door squeak open. I don't even move or look. I don't feel like seeing or speaking to anyone. I just want to go to bed. I hear them walking up to my bed, then come in my bed. I know it's Ethan. I smell him. He puts his arm around me and lies down behind me, holding me tight. I accept it and intertwine my figures with his tightly. I don't know why, but I did, and he did the same. In this very moment, I feel safe, like no one can hurt me, I forget everything that was on my mind moments ago and I slowly fall asleep.