Blue

Chapter 3

When I walked into the house everything looked normal and I released a breath. I walked further into the house to find my dad passed out on the couch. He always looked confused when he slept, if that made any sense. His eyebrows were always slightly furrowed and his nose would scrunch up at times.

I quietly walked up the flight of stairs, going to check on Milo. When I opened his bedroom door, he wasn't in there. I slightly panicked and went to check my room to see if maybe he fell asleep in there. Opening my door I found him asleep on my bed, softly snoring. I relaxed my body, sitting on my bed.

I put my hand on his forehead and he didn't feel too hot. I did notice though that his eyes looked darker than usual. Almost like a bruise but I could tell that it wasn't one. Under his eyes were just really dark.

He also looked slightly pale and this kind of worried me.

"Hey buddy," I whispered, slightly shaking him

He turned on his back, slowly opening his eyes to look at me.

"You hungry? I can make you some soup if you want." I offered with a small smile, to which he shook his head.

"Alright. Well, what's wrong so I can get you some medicine."

He pointed to his stomach and I nodded.

I went downstairs to find my dad awake, getting something out of the fridge, I froze.

"What are you doing home?" he asked sharply when he saw me.

"Y- you told me that I needed to come home. Milo is sick and Sarah couldn't watch him."

"Come here," he said shortly, waving his hand towards him.

I took a breath, preparing for what was about to happen. I slowly walked towards him and when I was in front of him, he slapped me.

"Your mother not Sarah!" he yelled

I felt the tears coming but knew that it would be worse if they fell. "Yes sir."

"Good, now go on before you get it worse."

I nodded before continuing my way to the bathroom. I shut the door, looking in the mirror. My cheek was red and had a clear hand mark on it. That was going to be hard to cover. As I grabbed the medicine I heard Milo yell and it sounded like he was scared.

I quickly ran to my room with the medicine in hand and saw that my dad was in my room. He had yanked Milo out of bed and was yelling at him.

"You're not even sick! Get back to school both of you!" he yelled seeing me.

"Dad! Get off of him!" I screamed, grabbing Milo's arm and pulling him behind me. Hoping to provide some sort of protection for him.

"Annalise. Move." he said in almost a whisper.

"You're not gonna hurt him! He's a kid!" I yelled, my voice cracking. I never talked back to my dad but when I did it was for Milo. I need to keep telling myself that. 

He grabbed my arm, pulling me to the side. By the time he'd moved me, Milo was already gone. I made a little spot under my bed a while ago for him to hide behind. My dad had checked multiple times and has never suspected him of being under there.

My dad turned and looked at me "Where's he at?"

"I don't know."

"Annalise. Where is he? He's not gonna get hurt, I'm just gonna talk with him." he tried to explain.

"I don't know." I shrugged, hoping he would leave it at that. Hoping.

He walked over to me, grabbing a leather belt that was hung on my wall. He held out his hand, signaling for me to put mine in his.