A Second Chance

"two times worse"

Sara

I opened up the book and read silently.

"Dear Journal,

I think he's hurting Sara again. I can hear her crying through the thin walls. Sometimes I wish I could just run away from this house, with Sara right next to me. Away from the house that smelled of garbage and dirt. The house with a dying tree next to it. The house with a dead front yard. The worst house out of all of the ones in the neighborhood.

And even worse, the house Sara and I were locked in.I wish one day, Papa would stop being so aggressive and that he would let us go. All we ever wanted was to have my own life, house, family. But to think of it, maybe he kept us here for a reason. He just couldn't think of another way to make us agree on staying here forever.

Maybe he'd be lonely, and have no one to cook him food, or clean the house. But then again, he could hire a maid. Maybe he's scared we might get hurt out there in the big bad world. But then again, the big bad world is probably better than in here. Maybe it's because of mum. Maybe he doesn't want to lose us too. Maybe he just can't express those feelings, and instead he has to force us to stay here.

But while I thought of all those reasons, I took them back, knowing he's always been like this. It's just that now, he doesn't have mum to keep him from getting much more aggressive then before.

-Samuel

P.S.: I forgot what day it is, and I didn't put a date yesterday. Or the days before that."

Those last weeks he'd been alive, Papa had kept him in his room for so long, Sam forgot the date.

When he said "But while I thought of all those reasons, I took them back, knowing he's always been like this." I knew what he meant.

Papa was always hurting us, but Mum always stopped him from hurting us a lot. She tried to stop him every time. She even tried to make him promise to never hurt us again. He never promised.

I can still remember her tear stained face when he didn't say those two words. He didn't say "I promise."

He never told her "I love you." Or at least not when Sam and I were around. He never showed any type of affection towards any of us. He always made mum be the one to work for money to sustain our lives. And when she left for good, Papa just took the money mum left us and used it for himself. He didn't even think of feeding us, or letting us do our thing. He didn't even let us go to school. I never got to graduate, go to prom, have a boyfriend. I never got any privileges.

But Sam had it two times as worse than I did.

Luke

I laid down in my bed, pressing a wet towel onto my bleeding jaw. My jaw was still numb, so the others didn't make me speak until I got better. The man had to be Sara's father. He was the only one who knew her. He was the only one who reacted to her name. All the other people just looked at us dumbfounded and said, "Who's Sara?" Or "Sorry, I don't know who she is."

Her father must have really not let them out, ever.