Disappeared

The good, The bad, and The abused

Slam. I have been home only an hour or two before he walks in the door. The good ole dad you see on the tv, or in the commercials playing with there kids outside. Nope, not him. He's the dad you hear about if you're shrink or a psychotherapist when a young adult comes in with daddy issues, because their dad was only good when it came to how hard he hit, or what kind of words he used to describe you. Not to mention all the drunk episodes he would have and hit my mother, Well I'm a spitting image of her. She left when when I was seven because she couldn't take the abuse. She left me her all alone with him. We live in a two bedroom apartment on 2nd street, the rough side of town. Where if you don't carry a bat or a gun you'll end up dead if you walk on the wrong side of the street. Hence why I stay indoors all the time. I keep my bedroom door locked while he's home. I have nothing in my room. Just a bed, white desk and a broken clock. The second hands way to fast, so I'm always early to school.
After my dad walked in I hear him yell for me.

"Tyler get your ugly ass out of your room right now," dad said in a slur.

I rushed out of my room, standing at attention waiting for what he was about to say.

"Son," he said, "You can't spend all your time locked behind that door in that room of yours," he continued, "You need to spend some time with your dad once and awhile."

A glaze fell across my eyes as he said this. He was either too drunk to know what he was saying, or too high. He never wants to spend time with me. He just comes home, flops in his chair, and watches bowling.

"Dad are you sure?" I reply, "you've never wanted to spend time with me before..."

Smack. I knew right as I said that I should've shut my mouth. He smacked me across the face, knocking me onto the kitchen floor.

"Don't you know your father loves you boy!" He insisted, "Don't you know what your father does to put food on the table for you!"

Yeah I do know what he does. He sells meth and heroin on his street corner from 9pm-4pm everyday but Sunday. He acts like he deserves respect, but really deserves pity for the life style he's chosen.
He kicks me in the stomach. Making me feel as if I'm going to throw up.

"Austin I am so sick and tired of your attitude, I give you a home, and clothes, and..." He stammers on.

I block his voice out and try to think of a time when life wasn't like this. A place a could go to, to be safe. I quickly get up as I think of the grocery store on 4th street and bolt for the door. I hear him still yelling as I slam it shut and run to the grocery.
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I ran to the grocery on 4th and opened and quickly slammed the door. I headed for the front counter to talk to the old man behind it. His name is Wallace. Everyone around here calls him "Big W" since Wallace was a body builder in his younger days. I used to run In here when I was being chases by bullies in middle school and Big W would chase them off. I felt like I could go to him even now, as a place for safety.

"Hey there Tyler, I haven't seen you in awhile," Wallace said,"What brings you in today?"

"I'm getting away from trouble." I said out of breath.

"What kind of trouble, not them bullies again?" Big W said concerned.

"No no them..." I paused for a moment , not knowing how to describe my situation, "it's... Well it's my dad." I managed to get that much out of me to tell him.

"Well what about your dad?" Wallace insisted.

"He... he hits me, not justly. He comes home either drunk or high everyday and takes his anger out on me and hits me."

Wallace looked shocked. He knew that I had bullies at school, but not about the abuse from my father.

"How often does he do this?" Wallace was impatient with worry.

"Almost everyday now, since I was little," I said.

I then went on to tell him my daily abuse at school, followed by my daily abuse at home.

"Well son you really should alert the authorities of your situation,"Big W said sternly.

I couldn't do that, I thought. This is the rough side of town. Bringing the fuzz down here would just cause trouble from everyone. I nodded in agreement and walked out of the store. Thinking of where I could go next.