"I'm not getting out." She told me firmly.
"You absolutely are." I told her.
She stayed completely out, not even looking to me.
"Briley- get out or I'm going to call him!" I found myself screaming to her.
"Do you think you're the only fucking person that he hurts?" She suddenly screamed back to me.
She had never screamed at me before, so I knew I had pushed her beyond her limit.
"Last night you brought up me not eating and then watched him choke me- I couldn't fucking breathe- he held me by my fucking neck in the air!" She screamed to me, tears running down her face.
"And you said nothing" she finally got quieter.
"Just because he doesn't punch me, doesn't mean he doesn't hurt me and it doesn't mean that I'm not scared of him." She almost sobbed out.
"So tell him what you want, but I am not walking home."
I started driving us home, the car was silent.
"I never know what to say when he is hurting you, it's like I freeze up." I tried to explain to her.
"You don't have to explain, it's not your job to stop my dad from hurting me."
"I'm sorry- about all of this" I told her, watching her wipe her tears calmly.
"Me too" she exhaled.
We went inside, herself immediately starting to cook as she did homework, I went to my room to do homework, knowing he wouldn't be home for a few hours.
I woke up to a gentle touch on my back.
"Roy needs to speak to you" her voice was slurring, making me immediately realize that I had fallen asleep at my desk, making me flip on my lamp, seeing a sight I didn't want to see.
She most definitely had taken a hit to the eye, blood was dripping from her lip, a perfect hand print going from her neck to the top of her jaw.
"What happened?" I panicked, quickly trying to inspect the cut on her lip, but she flinched away from me.
"He was angry about what the doctors told him, but then he also didn't like dinner."
She left without another word.
I went downstairs, preparing myself for the worst.
"Hey buddy!" I could tell he was drunk, but I was relieved at his attitude.
"Hey" I spoke calmly back to him.
"I ordered pizza, your sister cooked a shitty meal, but I was wondering if you wanted to play video games until it comes?"
I knew he wasn't genuinely asking, so I sat on the couch with him and played video games.
"So those doctors want to see Briley Friday, huh" he huffed out after one round ended, taking a swig of his beer.
"Yeah they said she's malnourished or something-" I couldn't remember the exact term they used.
"Well- I went a bit overboard with her, so I'm going to let her skip school tomorrow and hopefully by Friday she will look better." He laughed out, nudging me as if I was supposed to laugh as well.
"Ah- you'll understand it one day" he exhaled once he acknowledged that I wasn't laughing.
"This world is giving women way too much power"
