Weightless

10

*WARNING CONTAINS PHYSICAL AND VERBAL ABUSE*

"John stop!", Devin exclaimed.

"What!? Why are you defending this piece of shit!? All he's doing is taking advantage of us!", John choked.

Devin didn't say anything.

"Fine.", John said.

He grabbed his bag and stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Devin sighed.

His father flipped a coffee table over, knocking a lamp down and breaking it in the process.

"Clean this shit up!", his father yelled, walking into another room.

"Mom, where are you? ", Devin choked. "I miss you. Why'd you leave us with him?"

Devin grabbed a broom, swept up the broken glass, then threw it away.

He climbed the stairs and approached his room.
He stood there for a moment, then opened the door.

He always kept his window open, not because it was broken and was difficult to close, but he liked to feel the breeze flow into the room. It soothed him.

He sat on his bed and grabbed his composition notebook.
It was tattered, and some pages were falling out. He wrote in it all the time, mostly when he felt down.

He had just finished writing a poem, inspired by his mother.

She stood there on the ledge, with
Her hair: the deepest of black, her eyes
Shined of bronze, her lips:
The beautiful pigment of roses.

She stood alone with herself.
She stopped and stared at the sky,
The sky that will soon turn grey,
In mourning.

She closed her eyes and remembered
The days that did her wrong,
Where she had neither friend nor companion
Nor acquaintance.

Each mark on her arm was a day
Where she couldn't stop crying.
Each tear that ran down her cheek
Was a moment she had no one.

She opened her eyes and once again
Stared at the serene sky.
She sighed.
She glanced at the traffic below.

She turned around.
She closed her eyes
She leaned back
She fell.

In that fall, she faded into dust-
The dust of her joyful memories
The dust of her pristine beauty
The dust of her.

Devin closed the book and lied down on the bed.
He didn't mean to anger John, it was just that he doesn't want to lose another parent, even though he doesn't deserve that title.

Devin heard a creak.
His father was approaching the room.
Devin braced himself.

"Where did your shit brother go?", he slurred.

"I-I don't know"

"Yes you do, don't lie to me you fucking slut"

"I told you I don't know"

"Watcha got there?"

Devin gripped his notebook tightly.

"Nothing"

"Yes you do. What the fuck are you hiding?"

"Nothing!"

His dad walked over to him and ripped the notebook out of his hands.

"What the fuck is this shit?"

Devin didn't say anything.

"Answer me dipshit!"

"I write in it", Devin replied in a low voice.

"Write? You can't do shit!"

He opened the notebook and started to read it's contents.

"Aw, aren't you a stupid, worthless, pathetic cunt?"

He approached the window.

"No! Stop! Don't!", Devin pleaded.

"Oh yeah? Why should I? You're useless. This is utter shit"

He tossed the notebook out the window.

"You fucking asshole!"

"Shut the fuck up!", his father growled, slapping Devin.

Devin sat upright on his bed.

"You're a monster"

His father threw a punch, hitting Devin's jaw.

"I've had enough of your cock sucking mouth for one day"

He pinned Devin down on the bed.

"Get the fuck off of me!"

He took Devin's throat and began to squeeze it.

"Shhhh. Faggot musn't speak"

He couldn't move.

He couldn't speak.

"Devin!"

His father's hand went towards Devin's belt.

He couldn't breathe.

"Devin! Devin! Wake up!"

He couldn't see.

Everything went dark.