Home || afi

● 1 ●

I opened the door to my house. Same old house I'd been living in since I was five. I kicked my shoes off, went straight to my room and swung my backpack off of my shoulder.

I went to the kitchen, grabbed a packet of crisps and went to my room. I fell onto my bed and started eating my crisps.

When I'd finished, I got changed, then went to my bookshelf and picked up my small red book at the end. I lay down on my stomach on the bed and continued writing poems.

My poems were either depressing or dreaming of a better life - there was no other kind of thoughts I had that I could write about.

About half an hour later, I heard the front door unlock; Joseph was probably home.

"Grace," I heard my older brother shout from the front door, "did we finish the pizza yesterday?"

"I don't know, let me check." I replied. I rolled off the bed and walked to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and saw one slice left.

"There's only one slice left. You should probably get another one." I said.

"Shotgun not eating that slice." Joseph said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Oh come on," I whined, "I had it last time!"

"No you didn't!" He said. "Oh wait... yeah you did. Oh well, you can have it again this time."

"That's not fair, though."

"You can't do anything about it, can you."

I groaned, knowing that I couldn't argue with him. Oh well, I'd eat a leftover slice. I'd done it before anyway. I could have a couple of slices from the new pizza anyway.

I went over to the joint
living room and sat on the sofa. I turned the TV on.

Joseph was my older brother - he was 4 years older than me. I was 14, he was 18. We lived with our single father, David. Our mum left us when I was 5 and Joseph was 10.

It was a crazy life. Our dad was completely mad, but we couldn't do anything. We just had to deal with it.

Coming to Joseph, I can't really say if I love him or not (as a sibling of course) because we never really talk. We don't have any jokes or anything. We sometimes might have a small conversion, like if we need to get more food or toiletries or something. Not exactly a conversation.

I don't really have a family. The only person I've remembered loving and being loved by is my mum. It was such a long time ago, I can barely remember a lot. I used to call her Mummy, and I talk to her in my mind sometimes, still calling her Mummy.

The best and clearest memory I have with her is when she took me to this beautiful place where she told me to come every time I ever felt the need to. I do sometimes, very often. It's about a 3 minute walk from home, but it's not that easy to find. No one ever goes there, even though it's such a beautiful place. She told me not to tell dad or Joseph, and as far as I know, niether of them know it exists.

I heard Joseph ordering pizza from the other room. A few minutes later, Joseph came in. "I just ordered 2 pizzas. They'll be here soon. I'm about to take a shower so you're gonna have to take the pizza and bring it inside. Here's the money," he said, putting some money on the coffee table.

"Okay." I replied. With that, he left the room, presumably to take his shower.

About a minute later, the doorbell rang. I grabbed the money on the table and went to the front door. As I'd expected, a man was standing there with two pizza boxes in his hands. We exchanged the pizza boxes and the money, and I closed the door.

About an hour later, dad came home. Not alone, with a girl.

"Another one?" I saw Joseph mouth to himself. Luckily, dad didn't see. He would've gotten a beating.

Dad was clearly drunk, as was the woman with him. And I knew I probably shouldn't be in the house. Joseph went and locked himself in his room. I went to the front door, slipped my shoes on and stepped outside the house.

I started walking to the lake. I got to the part where the path splits. They both lead to school, even though that's not where I'm going right now. I took the right one. I really loved this path, most of it was walking on a smooth path between rows of trees that touch the sky. The path went straight to the lake, my favourite place where I'd sit down on the bench next to a few trees which, further down, turned into a forest. I'd sit on the bench and listen to the flowing lake and let it wash away all my troubles. The mountains behind would fade into the cloudless sky, cooling my eyes.

Time is like a river. It keeps flowing, even when things fall into it, even when it's hard to keep up, it keeps flowing regardless.

I spent a few hours there, sometimes sitting on the bench, sometimes lying on the grass, sometimes picking leaves on trees, sometimes brushing my hands over flowers.

I looked at my watch; it was 6:37 pm. I got up and started walking home.

When I got home I kicked my shoes off and started walking down the corridor and saw that Joseph's door was still locked, telling me that dad and his new girl was still here. But dad's room was wide open. He was probably in the living room.

I sighed - I couldn't go to the kitchen because dad would be severely drunk and could do anything, and he'd see me since the kitchen and living room were joined. No dinner tonight.

I went to my room, lay down in my bed, read for a while and fell asleep.