Apart

Paragraphs

March 6th
Emma
I gripped the edges of my small bed, rocking back and forth, screwing my eyes shut. Trying to drown out the sound. Shouting... Shouting... And more shouting.
Sometimes I can't take it. I don't know what to do.
So I hop onto my phone. It's a Saturday night, so Alice will be here.
"Their arguing again. Alice, I don't know if I can go on like this anymore. I mean, all this fighting shit is tearing my little family apart. I just can't. I don't know what to do. I don't want my step dad to do anything, and I know he will eventually. And I'm dreading that day. My life is a living nightmare sometimes. Please tell me what to do. If there is anything." I sighed as I hit send. I buried my hands in my face, crying.
Then I heard it. A glass broke. A scream. I rushed out of my room to see my mom laying on the floor, the door outside open, my stepdad rushing down the street.
"Get back here, you bastard!" I screeched.
I rushed to the phone and called 911. Shattered glass spewed all over the floor. He'd thrown a empty beer bottle at her. After a couple minutes I spotted lights and heard sirens.

***

I sat, waiting at the hospital. I'm in the children's room, watching them play without a care in the world. Books were piled up neatly on a shelf on the left wall. A chalk board with a few pieces of a assortment of colors was on the next brightly painted wall. Then windows on the next. Then a row of chairs, where I sat.
To be honest, I don't know why I'm in the kids room. The last time I was when I was seven, and my real dad got in a car accident, which killed him.
A nurse walked in and told me that my mom was all right, just still unconscious and with only a couple deep cuts.
I let out a breath I'd seemed to be holding in forever. "Can I see her?" I stood up.
"No, not yet?"
"What about that jackass that did it?" What's gonna happen to him, huh?"
She shushed me. "We are in the kids room."
"O-oh sorry." I stuttered.
"The police are after him." The nurse assured me.
I nodded, "K", and sat down again.

***

March 7th
Over night I'd slipped into the world of depression. Being home alone. Wishing for my mom to come home but dreading if my stepdad showed his face again. I haven't gone on my phone since yesterday, when I dmed Alice the paragraph and received no reply.
I glanced down out it. One unread message. It read. What? I didn't see this before. I opened my phone up and saw a long paragraph I hadn't seen yesterday.
"It's going to be ok. I'm here for you. I love you. Whatever happens, I'm here for you. Whatever happened, I hope I was there for you. You are my other half. Without you I am nothing. Please, please, don't do anything to hurt yourself. From here it will only get better. We are meeting in what, five months? When we do I'm going to scream and give you the biggest hug in the history of hugs. I already have a reminder set for that day ;) To sum this up, you have to stay strong and look at the positives. You know that taking a bullet for your friend shit? Yeah, I'd do it for you. Ilysm." -Alice