The Ballerina

Chapter 4

I stopped at my locker and grabbed my skate board. I didn't know where I was going to go, I just wanted out of here. I skate boarded out of the parking lot. I didn't care that the school would call Mrs. Parker and that I would be in a load of trouble when I got home, I just didn't care. I went onto the street and made a couple turns and then I just kept on going straight, not caring where I went. It took me three hours until I decided to finally stop, I didn't realize that I was going to go to my hideaway spot. I arrived at the abandoned apartment building, it went out of business several years ago because the owners didn't have enough money to keep it on its feet.
I skitted to a stop and got off my skate board before picking it up. I opened the door, that had been boarded up before I took them down about five years ago. I left my board to prop the door open like I always did. I walked into the abandoned apartment building, it was starting to crumple a bit, but other than that it was still in a pretty good shape. I went to the stairway and ran up several flights of stairs. I opened the door that entered to the fifth floor. The door creaked behind me, before shutting completely. I headed straight, passing rooms 142 and 143, where two of my best friends had lived for a longest time before they finally moved away. When I got to room 160, I simply push the door open. I had broken the door handle the first time I broke into the building.
I sighed and walked over to a corner and sat down. The walls were stained from the times she and I had written on it or had a food fight. I remember my mother yelling at the two of us to stop. I remember the way smoke would fill the room when my mom would light a cigarette and the way Amelia would scream and cry from the terrible smell and how she would struggle to breathe. She would sometimes cry in the middle of the night because she had nightmares sometimes, though neither my mother or I knew why. I was the one always waking up in the middle of the night comforting her. We had a hard life growing up and my mom struggled with raising the two of us and working full time without anyone else helping her. My dad had walked out on her when I was a baby, saying that he didn't want kids that it wasn't what he signed up for. My mom found someone else, but that didn't work out either. He would beat us whenever he didn't have his way, though it was mainly my little sister, Amelia.
It was a dreary night, lightning was flashing and thunder boomed, almost skaing the whole apartment. You could hear the rain, tapping hard against the roof. That same night he and my mother got into an argument, she was telling him to leave, but he didn't want to. The man had pushed her up against the wall and started beating her. Amelia started screaming and crying, tugging on his pants. Brady, my mom's boyfriend at the time backhanded her across the face, which formed a bruise almost immediately. Amelia cried in pain, screaming at the top of her lungs. He pinned her to the wall and slapped her repeatedly. My mom tried to stop him, screaming and tugging at his arm, begging him to let her go. He hit her and she fell to the floor unconscious. Brady began beating on Amelia once again until she fell to the floor, in an attempt to make him stop. He ended up kicking her endlessly and she whimpered each time, he kicked her, breaking several of her ribs. I tried to stop him, but he threw me against the wall like a football and I fell to the floor hardly conscious and barely breathing.
That was where the wall had gotten a hole in it. The floor the still had blood stains on it from where they both bled on the floor. I hadn't realized I had been crying until I felt a warm wet feeling on my cheeks and tasted warm, salty water at the tips of my lips. I got up and wiped my hands against my face, trying to remove any evidence of the tears from my face. I shoved open the door, I didn't want to be in there anymore.
I grabbed my skate board and the door slammed shut. I arrived Mrs. and Mr. Parker's house at around eleven o'clock. I climbed up the house and went into my room through the window, not wanting to get lecture about ditching school and coming back late again. Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Parker were sitting on my bed, probably waiting for me.
"Hello, Dylan," said Mrs. Parker.
"Hey, Mrs. Parker, Mr. Parker," I said, nodding at the both of them.
"This isn't time for joking around, Dylan. Where were you," Mr. Parker asked sternly.
I shifted uneasily. "Somewhere."
"Where were you, Dylan," Mr. Parker repeated.
I didn't answer. I had told them about visiting the old apartment building once and they panicked, telling me that I shouldn't be going there, but of course I didn't listen.
Mrs. Parker sighed. "You went to that apartment building didn't you," she asked.
I stared at the floor with my hands in my pockets. "No," I lied.
"Don't lie to me boy," Mr. Parker screamed.
I stiffened, remembering a time when I had lied to Brady and in return he beat me, teaching me a lesson was what he called it.
Mr. Parker cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about that, Dylan."
"Just get out," I muttered under my breath.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Parker got up from my bed. "Goodnight, Dylan," Mrs. Parker said sweetly.
I didn't respond as soon as the door closed I tugged off my shirt and jeans. I turned off all my lights in only my boxers. I made my way to my bed and laid down. I laid on my back, my mind just did not want to shut off. I laid there, with sleep being no possibility. It would be another sleepless night.
I heard Mr. and Mrs. Parker outside of my room whispering in the morning. "I think you should tell him, Jonathan, he deserves to know," Mrs. Parker whispered.
"I don't think he's ready to know, Ava."
Mrs. Parker sighed and they both walked away.
I frowned, I wanted to go out there and ask them what they were talking about, what Mrs. Parker thought I should know, but I chose not to. My alarm went off soon after and there were three knocks on the door.
Mrs. Parker opened the door slightly. "It's time to get up, Dylan," she said.
"Okay, give me a minute, I'll be right out."
Mrs. Parker didn't respond instead she just shut the door, leaving me in my room by myself. I kicked off the covers and threw on a gray t shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, both of which I had worn sometime last week. I didn't bother with my hair again, not caring if it looked messy. I walked into my bathroom and quickly brushed my teeth and garguled with water to rinse out whatever toothpaste I didn't get out.
"Did you want me to give you a ride," Mr. Parker asked like he did every morning.
"Nah, I'm good."
"Are you sure," he asked, looking above his glasses lenses.
"Yeah," I said. "I'll probably walk with Charlie or Vincent if I see them," I add.
"Okay, well have fun. Oh, and don't forget that you have a meeting with your therapist today."
I sighed. "Yep," I replied, before closing the front door behind me.
Once I was about a block away, I lit a cigarette.
"Hey buddy," Charlie said, coming up from me.
"Hey."
"So did you hear about the new girl," he asked.
"Yeah, her name is Niña."
"She's sexy, ain't she?"
I didn't respond and Charlie didn't seem to care. I concentrated on the cigarette I was smoking. I threw it to the ground once we were in sight of the school. We walked into the school, Charlie trying to convince me to skip school, but again I denied. I didn't know why, but I actually wanted to stay, even though I didn't want to be there.
Charlie and I said our goodbyes and I walked to first period alone. I sat in my chair, tapping my foot against the floor as I patiently waited for the hell that would start as soon as that bell rung.