Intrepid

one - everyone has a past, this is hers.

It was a rare occurrence when nobody was yelling by six pm at the Rodriguez house. But Erin knew that this was worse; the silence before the storm.

She was sitting on the ugly green rug that sat right in front of the tv, scribbling on a piece of paper with some crayons.

Her older sister, Rebecca, was nowhere to be found, probably out with friends–as she often was.

Erin's mother was laying on the couch. She let out a soft moan of pain as one of her hands rubbed her forehead. and the other was wrapped around a bottle of alcohol.

Her father was probably on his way home from work.

Erin grinned down at her drawing when she had finished it.

"Mom!" She shouted with glee. "Mom, look it's us!" She jumped to her feet and showed the picture of four stick figures to her mother.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She said, without opening her eyes.

"Mom, look." She said, pushing on her moms arm. Her mom sighed, and glanced over.

"Yeah. Nice. Go watch your show." It was an old cartoon that Erin had seen so many times she could almost recite the whole show from memory. They watched that cartoon so many times because they couldn't afford cable, and it was the only cartoon they had the DVD for.

Erin sat down on the coffee table and looked at her mom.

"What's for dinner?" Erin asked, her stomach growling. Erin hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, because her mother neglected to make any. She had given half of her lunch to the neighbor girl Hinley.

"Can we have pascetti?" Erin asked, struggling to pronounce the word.

"Spaghetti, Erin. It's spaghetti." Her mom groaned, and clutched the bottle tighter in her hand, "And only if you're making it."

"But-"

"Erin, please. I have a headache, just go to your room." Erin sighed and grabbed her box of crayons before walking down the hall into her room. She climbed up onto her bed, and started coloring on the other side of her paper.

She layed on the bed, coloring peacefully until she heard the sound of a truck driving near their mobile home. She scrambled off her bed and hurried to her bedroom window.

Her fathers truck parked and she saw him get out.

Daniel Rodriguez had shoulder-length greasy black hair. In his mouth was a cigarette, and he spun his keys around his finger casually. Erin hurried and scrambled off of her bed.

She sprinted to the front door, and flung it open, wrapping her arms around her fathers legs.

"Watch it, Short stuff, I almost kicked you over." He said, scooping her up in his arms.

"Sorry, dad." He beamed at her, displaying his yellow teeth. Tired lines were etched into his face, making him seem older than he was, only thirty-two.

"That's okay, sweetie." He said, "Where's your mama?"

"I'm right here, Danny." Her mother said, walking in from the living room. His expression hardened painfully when his wife spoke.

"Hey, sweetheart, why don't you go play in your room for a little while?" Her dad said, smiling before setting her down on the floor.

Erin did not need to be told twice. She sprinted to her bedroom and crawled under her bed. It had become a habit of sorts to curl up in the blankets that she stored under the bed.

She listened carefully, but she didn't need to. Her parents were loud enough to hear from next door.

"Where's Becks?" Her father asked, his voice neutral, but raised slightly louder than it needed to be.