Timeless

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

            Ethan was big. Not fat-big, but muscular-big. And he was tall. And cocky and arrogant. And a total jerk. And drinks. And has anger issues. And there is a hell of a lot of names I’d like to call him, but he’d shoot me with a 9-millimeter.

            And Starburst had completely fallen for him.

          At first, it didn’t really bother me. Back when they had started dating, Starburst was fourteen and I had thought she was just stupid and careless then. I thought she would stay with him a couple of weeks and then get over her attraction towards him. But then...when they didn’t stop seeing each other, when they were still dating, when Starburst never came home crying and saying he had dumped her or she dumped him...when those moments never came, I became worried. I didn’t like Ethan. The first time he had come over, Starburst had acted like a little puppy dog, trailing behind Ethan and respecting him at all times. There wasn’t even any playful talk between them like in the movies. His arms weren’t wrapped around her, they hardly looked at each other—and when they did, it was a slave looking at its master— and she wasn’t clinging to him. It was serious. You could feel the intensity hang in the air and taste the venom Ethan radiated. He had that look that told you he would do something bad to you. Something terrible. And my sister was wrapped around his little finger.

            My parents were oblivious. Despite how constantly worried and watchful they were of Starburst, they were oblivious. Oblivious to the obvious scent of alcohol discharging from Ethan’s breath when he spoke. How he spoke. With dominance. I think mostly they were just happy that Starburst was able to find someone who accepted her because I’m gonna be straightforward: it’s hard to find even an acquaintance in high school when you hear voices. Starburst has always been a loner. Even though Starburst never told a soul, people knew something was up with her. I could see it in her eyes when she came home from school every day. That everyone-thought-I-was-crazy-today look in her eyes. Now she’d found someone. Someone who didn’t notice (or didn’t mind) the craziness of my sister. That’s the only thing my parents were concerned with.

            Then the fights started. They were just disagreements at first with Ethan always the more aggressive of the two. Of course, Starburst just being Starburst, was just as tough and hostile in an argument. Verbally. She hated losing a quarrel. My parents always joked that she could be lawyer when she grew up with her passion for defending and figuring things out and insistence. But physically, Starburst had the weaker side.

            And that’s when the abuse started.

***

           English is a strange place to be just in general, but it’s even stranger first thing in the morning. You’re not awake, you’re uncoordinated; everything’s just a mess.

       Dazing off like I normally do in first period the next day, I have this terrible habit to not necessarily know where I focus in on when I’m dazing off, and more than often I’ll catch myself staring at something arrantly irrelevant to stare at, or I’ll be staring at someone. Like this one time, I accidentally was zoning out and I ended up staring at Allie Rari. Now, her and I, we go back to elementary school. I have the most memories of her in first grade. Like once, we were coloring, and being the artistically talented, fully capable person that I am, drew my suns like they’re supposed to be drawn: yellow. But then here comes Allie acting all...Allieish and she tells me, “You’re drawing your suns wrong” in her annoying, high-pitched voice.