The Forgotten Child | ✔

06. Forgiven but not Forgotten

| Benjamin Rodriguez |

Slumping down into a chair beside my older brother, I ran a hand through my tired and messy hair. There was no use in hiding the fact that I had shown an act of care towards my sister, in a time where she was begging to be helped but the words would never cross her face nor would they leave her mouth. 

I knew, that what our father had done the other night, had resulted myself and Nic to be sitting here, praying that our little sister wasn't dead. Not yet, at least, but I knew that she was coming damn close, just as I had done the same when I was her age. Except, there was no one there to carry me, as I was bleeding out on the side of a football field. 

"Do you know what happened?" was the first words that my brother had spoken to me since we had left the house. Our mother had tried to get in contact, but I was about ready to cut her off and runaway. I was sick of the way that she would pander to me and Nic, even Isabella, but as soon as she took one look at what our did Savannah, which was much worse than what happened to me, it made me sick to my stomach. 

Nic and Isabella were the too fortunate ones, but Savannah and I, we weren't as lucky. Savannah would never know that the scar that ran from my shoulder to my elbow was the last time that our father had laid a hand on me and decided that she would offer something more than what I could ever offer. 

I knew that, because he had said that to me. Unlike the rest of them, our parents had picked us, to be the ones that had to feel the pain on the knife. We, for some reason, were never good enough, until we were. I was only good enough when I turned 15, but between the ages of 10 and 15, I was deemed not good enough and had to be changed. 

What Savannah would never know, is that I felt for her. I knew the grief that she was carrying every single day, because I carried it too. Some days, I felt like I was being buried underneath it, and that it was weighing my arms down. No matter how much I pushed it away, there would always be a hole in our family, that is the size of a person. 

"Our father nearly beat her to death, and I caught her" I muttered, right as the door opened, to her hospital room. The nurse didn't spare us a glance as she rushed out of the room, blood covering her hands before she was rushing back inside, with more nurses following her. I knew that none of this was good, but I just hoped that I had done enough for her to make it through the night and to see another day. She had to see another day, it was a must that she did. 

"What do you mean?" of course he would ask that, because he had always been handed everything to him, without a complaint from our parents, but as soon as our parents saw Savannah, which had once been me, and was probably about to be Liam, was that there was something wrong with us and that we had to change, not our parents. "He tried to get rid of her by slicing her open and beating her until she is black and blue" 

I had stunned my brother, with just a few words. I knew, that after years of trying to get to be included with Isabella and Nicolas, that this simple act would reset everything that I had tried to cling to when someone close passed away. That was when everything went south, and who would have thought that someone passing could change the future of an entire family. 

"I am getting us out of here, and when I can, I'll let you know. I'll make it known, that we won't go without a fight, just so that we can live another day" 

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| Savannah Rodriguez |

Pushing the covers away from my legs, I was met with exactly what I knew I would have been. I was met with what I know will let everyone know that I have been abused, and there is no way that I can change that. You would think, that after your father finds you, on your death bed at the age of 9, holding you close, would be enough to know that you had been through it and needed someone to hold you close, as you had just witnessed a death. 

But no, your father needs that closure of losing a son, to kill his own daughter. He needs to kill me, and for some reason, he won't kill me just yet. I know, that for my entire life, I have been nothing to my family, but I never thought that for 5 years, my father would be prolonging the death that I wish I had been given at the age of 9, instead of my brother. 

Some days, like today, I wish that I could trade places with the brother that had saved me so that I could live another day. He had decided that I was the one that needed to sun the sun rise and the sun set a few more times. He was the one that had called the shots, and he was still doing it, even on his death bed, that was 6 feet underground. 

He may not be breathing, and saying that he wishes he could give me another hug, but I know now, that it should have been me. "I'll let your brothers know that your awake" the nurse murmured, and I had had no idea that she had come into the room and started to take my vitals, making me think just how far out of it my father had taken me. 

I don't know where he had gone, but I was sure that it wasn't here. But on the other hand, my brothers were here, which could mean that my mother knew and had brought the younger boys, or that my older brothers were here, just to stand over me and make sure that I knew that I was nothing more than the thin pieces of clothing that I was wearing and the bed that I was laying on. 

But what surprised me the most, was the tray of food that my eldest brother was carrying and the bag of clothes that my other brother had in his hand. What continued to surprise me even further, was the smiles that were adorning there faces. "I will be back in about an hour or so to discharge her" the nurse murmured to my brother as he placed the tray down, murmuring something to the nurse. 

"Hey" Ben muttered, as he placed the bags on the couch, before walking over to me. I knew, that he had been the one that had caught me when I had fallen into him, and I knew that was because I had lost a lot of blood. I knew that, from learning in class, that the color of my skin was from blood loss, and that would have meant that I would of had to have been given a way to survive with the blood I had if I didn't have a donor. 

I knew that wouldn't of been my brothers, or at least I thought it wasn't, but looking at Ben and Nic, I saw the patches on their forearms, was that they had indeed, donated their blood for me. My heart swelled, but I knew that this was all fake, or at least that was what I thinking it was. I hoped the it wasn't, but there wasn't any hope in this world, or was there. I mean, I guess I could forgive them for now, as they had saved me, but nothing was forgotten. 

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Updated: 11.04.22

Rewritten: 7.08.24