Belladonna | 18 +

Six | Phone calls & TA sessions

"Jesus girl, your phones been ringing for like ten minutes straight and it's almost 3 am," Ella said beside me.

"What?" I asked slightly disoriented and still coming out of my dream state.

"Here, it's someone named Emerson." She handed me my phone.

My brother's name was bright on my screen. That woke me up. Emerson calls me on a daily but he only ever calls relentlessly if it has something to do with our parents and either of them can't get through to me.

"Oh fuck," I scrambled to sit up properly. "Thank you Ella and I'm so sorry," I said frantically.

"Don't worry it's okay, you've got the coffee order in the morning though," Ella said with a smile.

"I'll take it," I said and she headed out of my room after saying goodnight.

I quickly answered what was my brother's eleventh call now. "Hey," I answered and ran my palm over my forehead brushing some of my curly hair back.

"Hey B, mama wanted to talk to you." He said. I could hear the undertone of anger in his voice.

Something happened. My stomach instantly fell and I felt my palms begin to sweat.

"Yeah, yes, put her on," I said as I stood up from my bed.

"Hi baby girl," she said with a little sniffle.

"Hi Mama, are you okay?" I asked her softly even if I knew the obvious answer.

"I just wanted to hear your voice a little. Tell me about your first day at Berkeley," she said.

Before I got a chance to answer I could hear the shouting in the background, something broke and my mom winced on the other line. "Is everything okay?" I asked her.

"Tell me about it your first day," she said. Her voice was strained and she was trying to get it under control.

"Is Dad okay?" I asked.

Ever since I was little, my father has not been a good man. He's been abusive towards both me and my mom.

It's not like we do anything to provoke him, he just gets in his moods sometimes and looks for arguments in any place. I remember my first interaction with him when he was angry. He'd had a meeting go badly and took it out on me.

I was five.

I'd screamed a little too loudly because Travis threw an earthworm at me in our backyard and that was enough fuel to light the fire.

He beat me so badly I broke an arm. And when he took me to the ER he said I was being childish and climbing a tree in the most loving tone I'd ever heard, like he was fooling the doctors.

He was successful too. They believed every word he spoke. Who was going to listen to a five-year-old anyway?

And when we got home and I cried to my mom, he beat her for coddling me. I don't think the echoes of your father's hand hitting your mom should be a sound engraved into any child's mind.

He gets these moods where he'll just wake up angry and start issues for nothing, over a phone call I get from one of my friends or the fact that I didn't do something right. While it's all minor stuff it's enough reason for him to start beating us relentlessly.

We've stopped going to the hospital because if we did, people would get suspicious. Instead, my mom and I have come to learn to treat our wounds ourselves, nothing rubbing alcohol and a few bandages and bandaids couldn't fix.

Often times he takes our phones away. Anything we have really. It's his way of controlling us I guess, if we don't have anything, we can't cause trouble for him outside our house.