Life Is Surely Killing Me

Chapter 1

"Hope!" Justice whispered loudly, "Hope! Hope, wake up!" I barely opened my eyes to see Justice standing in front of me, our noses inches away from touching. "What?" I mumbled. That's when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and towards us, I assumed.

I pulled Justice close to me and hugged her, and she whispered softly in my ear, "Daddy's home!" I groaned, knowing what was bound to happen next. I tucked Justice behind the couch, assuring that she wasn't to be seen, and I prepared myself with a gasp, and then a sigh. When Dad reached the top of the stairs, he could barely hold himself up. When he saw me, he started to wobble towards me, and I stepped back slowly. I glanced at Justice, who was clamping her eyes shut, and pulling the blanket I had given her over her head. I'm scared, too, I thought.

I looked back at my dad and gulped. I watched him as he raised his hand slowly, and crashed it down on my cheek fiercely, causing me to fall. Tears filled my eyes as he kicked me until I was whimpering and could barely breathe. Then, he simply walked away, and soon passed out on the couch downstairs. I grabbed my aching sides as I lifted my self off the floor, and I grabbed Justice out from behind the couch and saw that her eyes were just as puffy as mine from crying. I hugged her tightly, and heard her ask between her hiccups, "Why is Daddy always angry when he comes home?" I didn't know what to say.

All I could say was, "I don't know." But I did know. I knew it was because he was drunk, and because he missed Mom, and because he felt as if he deserved better than us, and because he didn't love us when he was drunk, he only loved us when he was sober, that was the only time he really cared. But how am I supposed to tell that to a 5 year old? I'm not. She wouldn't understand, thank God.

Where the fuck is Austin, I thought to myself, it's 1:43am! About 15 minutes later, I heard the front door swing open, then slam shut. I knew it wasn't Dad, and I knew it wasn't going to wake Dad up, either. He was out cold. It was Austin, high as hell. I rolled my eyes and turned over, seeing Justice, sleeping like an angel.

I heard Austin stomp upstairs and I felt him staring at me. What a creep, I thought to myself. Then I turned over and whispered, "Can I help you?" And he glanced at Justice, realizing why I was whispering, then said quietly, "Yeah, you can, actually. I need you to fuck me. Right here, right now." I gagged in response and turned back over, mumbling, "In your dreams, creep." He shrugged and lied down on the couch a few feet away from me, and fell asleep.

The next morning, Dad was already gone. It was 9:30am, and Justice and Austin were still asleep, so I got up and made breakfast, so in other words, I poured some cereal and milk into a few bowls and called it breakfast. Then I heard Austin groaning and yawning, dragging his feet down the stairs, and adjusting his bottom into the seat across from me.

As we started to eat, Justice came down the stairs, yawning and stretching, then, plopping her butt into the seat between Austin and me. We were all eating, almost as if we were a normal family.

Almost.