All The Faith In The World

Chapter 8: "Umm Dad?"

"Dad?" I stood there in disbelief as I looked at the man in the truck who claimed he was picking me up.

"I know we didn't leave off in the best of terms, but your mother called me in a panic about how she couldn't make it on time and she couldn't get you until about 9:00 tonight because she had work, blah, blah, blah, so I am here to get you instead," he said, opening the door and waiting for me to get in.

"Are we still going to dance?" I asked.

"Well........... No, not tonight. We are all just too busy." He locked the doors and started pulling out into the parking lot. I was secretly glad. I still didn't want to go to dance at all.

"Where are we going, then?" I looked at him.

"My house for a bit, then we will take you home," he turned on his blinker and went on to a high way that I had never seen before in my life. I had no clue where he lived or how long it would take to get there, and I didn't like that feeling. I wanted to go back to that familiar feeling I felt everyday, but I knew I couldn't. Things were changing, and I would have to change with them. Whether I wanted to or not.

8 years earlier.......

"Can I have a strawberry ice cream cone with sprinkles on top?" said six-year-old me to a teenage girl cashier behind the ice cream counter.

"Of course, princess," she said, smiling as she got me one of my all time favorite snacks. When she delivered it to me, I grabbed it with my small hands, and walked over to where my brothers and parents were sitting. I bit into my cone and watched everyone around me. Connor, who was then, 11, eating his hot fudge sundae with one scoop of chocolate chunk ice cream. Noah, 8 years old, with his clown face ice cream. Mom didn't want anything, because she had a head ache, but dad got cherry ice cream in a bowl. We sat at a table outside and watched the sun set behind the market across the street. I noticed my mom sat with her head in her hands and she looked down at the table, only talking once in a while, and usually complaining when she did. My dad was asking everyone everything. He asked Connor about school and Noah about his soccer team. I didn't talk much, mostly because I was concentrating on not letting my ice cream spill on my shirt or anything. About 15 minutes into the trip, we decide to get into the car and get home because mom needed to get an aspirin for her head. I still had not fully finished my ice cream and I was very careful walking to the car. When I was about to get into the back seat of our white, 4 door, sedan, I drop my cone on the ground. Looking back, it was only a little left, but even then, I started crying my eyes out. I had tried so hard to not let it fall, and I wanted to show my barbie doll how good I had been by carrying it home all by myself, with no help from daddy, like normal.

"Oh, stop crying, there was only a little left, and we will probably be back later this week to get more ice cream anyways," my mom said in an annoyed voice as she buckled me into my car seat. I stopped bawling, but I did keep sniffling and the tears kept coming. Connor and Noah just watched me cry. At one point, Connor whispered something to Noah and he reached back and got something pink from the trunk. It was a blanket with ballerinas on it. He handed it to me and I took it and wiped my tears on it. I'm not sure if that's what it's for, but it was a little comforting. Finally, we turned into our neighborhood and arrived at our house. We opened the door and discovered that my ice cream had gotten on the carpet of the car when it spilled. So, now there was a small, pink stain on the floor of the car's floor.

"YOU BRAT!! NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!!" my mom screamed at me when she ripped me out of my car seat, which only made me cry harder.

"It's not that big of a deal, it will come out when we wash it," my dad told her as he tried to distract her from totally murdering me.

"BUT LOOK WHAT SHE SCREWED UP NOW!!!! MY NEW CAR!!!!" she still held on tightly to my wrist. Connor and Noah watched me with concern in their eyes. They wanted to help me, I could see it, but what could a 11 year old and an 8 year old do? She let go of my arm and I fell to the concrete.

"Tomorrow, you are cleaning that up, until it's SPOTLESS!" she screamed in my face. Then, she put her hand on her head and walked inside with dad trailing behind her, trying to calm her down. I looked at my knee that was bleeding and my elbow was throbbing. I was crying again and I had never felt more alone as 6 year old.

"Come on Faith, we know where the band aids are, and Connor is tall enough to get them," Noah said, helping me up from the ground. Connor got out of the car and closed the door.

"Don't worry about her, she is just in a mood," Connor said. When I stood up, it hurt to put weight on my knee. I put my arm around Noah's and Connor's necks, even though I was a very short child and Connor was pretty tall, we made it work, and we walked inside to get a blue and yellow stripped band aid.

That was the first time I knew, things were changing.

Present day.......

"So, how was school?" my dad asked when we arrived at his apartment.

"Fine, we didn't do much today," I said as I put my backpack down. I looked around the 2 bedroom apartment with 1 bathroom. It was pretty boring with not much in it so there wasn't much to look at.

"Sometimes those are the best days," he said," there is a bed in the other room in case you want to chill or sleep or whatever you kids do."

"Ok, I will be in there if you need me," I said. I walked into the other room. There was a small bed in the corner and a closet full of t-shirts. I wiped my hand across the soft, good smelling shirts. I stopped at the hanger that looked empty, but there was something hanging on it. I pushed aside the shirts and found a medium sized pink blanket with ballerinas on it folded nicely on a hanger with the smell of strawberry's still on it. I take it off and open it wide. I look in the corner and still see the blood stains from when Connor and Noah tried to clean off my knee and we had run out of toilet paper that night. I thought I had lost this years ago! I took the blanket to the bed and curled up under it. In that moment, it felt like nothing had changed. It felt like I had gone back in time to a place where I couldn't be hurt and no one could hurt me. I felt at peace.