Unexpected Crosses

Chapter 1

Marissa Daniels
**ten years ago**
"You ain't sleep yet? It's bout ta be 11:30" My cousin James questioned as his deep country accent boomed in my room.

Me being an only child, I always saw James as an older brother figure, nothing more nothing less. He would always take me to the movies or to the park and get ice cream when I wanted to, just like an older brother would.

"Nah, just coloring in my book a little bit befo' I go to bed..." I responded as I grabbed another crayon.

Me coming from a southern family, my accent always surprised people due to how  I spoke with less of an accent than the rest of the family.

He mumbled something under his breath as he sat on the edge of my bed, and watched me.
"You gon' miss me when I leave Mississippi to go to Florida for college?" He asked as he began to take his shoes off.

Not thinking much of it I continued to color.

"Yeah I'm gonna miss you taking me to the movies, and eating ice cream with ya." I said with a small pout,as I closed my coloring book and put my crayons in the box.

"Aw, don't miss meh too much kiddo, I'll come back to visit cha on Christmas Break,New Years, and I'll even visit ya for ya birthday how dat sound?" He responded and began to rub my shoulder.

Becoming uncomfortable, I got out of my bed and slowly backing towards the door.

"Umm... I'm gonna say goodnight to Mama" I said as he too got up and locked my room door.
"Don't cha rememba', they went ova to my Mama house to watch a movie? He said with a smirk while towering over me.
I looked around my room and before i knew it, he picked me up and slammed me on my bed, my vision became blurry from my eyes welling up with tears.

**Present Day**
"Marissa wake yo punk ass up! The bus a be hea soon now" Eric yelled with his country accent. I mentally rolled my eyes at the sound of his voice.
Eric was the horrible man my mother decided to marry, my stepfather.

As I threw the covers off of my body I noticed a red substance on the sheets and on my shorts, I let out a small whimper to myself before mumbling "Not again". I glanced at the clock and it read "5:42 a.m" meaning that if i didn't get up now, I would be late for school.
I was kind of sad at the fact that i was desensitized to my stepfather coming into my room and forcing himself into me as i slept. Only this time I wasn't awake.
I sighed, taking the sheets off the bed as I heard my door creak open, "Mimi I had another accident, can you help me before papa notices?" My little sister Morgan asked with pleading eyes. I gazed at the large bruise that was still on her face from last week for having an accident,
Morgan was the daughter of my mother and stepfather. She is three years old, and sadly receives the same abuse from her father as he does to me. Most of the time she receives physical abuse more than sexual abuse from him, though she she still gets sexually abused from time to time. I usually have her sleep in my room on my bed with me, so he doesn't bother her as much at night, but last night was one of the nights where he made sure she slept in her own bed.

I sat the blanket and sheets on the floor and headed to the bathroom to get the things I would need to clean the floor. With Morgan sniffling  behind me, I headed towards her room. I began to blink away the tears  at the sight I had seen. Morgan did not have an accident, there was a large pool of blood on the mattress and pillows. I turned and look down at her, "Mo, did he hurt you again?".
She nodded.
This was the final straw for me, I took the sheets off her bed, sprayed the mattress and put fresh sheets on. I then picked Morgan up and headed towards the bathroom. I filled the tub with water and bubbles and peeled the clothes off of her. I then sat her in the tub, she began to cry at the pain and I decided to speed up the process of bathing her. I took her out the tub and dried her off.
After drying her off, I wrapped her in her towel, and then headed back to her room as she trailed behind me. I put some underwear, shorts, and a basic white tee and her favorite "Doc McStuffins" sneakers on.
I then went in the shower for about ten minutes, brushed my teeth, washed my face and headed back into my room. I pulled out the first thing that was insight, i wasn't trying to make a fashion statement.
I looked into Morgan's room to see she was still asleep, I walked to my "parents" room to see they were asleep. Now you're probably wondering, "what does your mom have to say about this?".
Well to be honest with you, my mom is oblivious to the whole situation she's been at work so much that it's her first priority, but today as soon as Morgan and I get back home I'm going to sit her down and have a talk with her about this.

I glanced at my phone and noticed that it was 7:00 a.m, meaning that I had exactly 20 minutes to get Morgan to daycare and me to school before being considered "late". I knew that wouldn't be possible so I didn't even bother rushing . I requested the uber and walked upstairs to Morgan's room. After successfully waking her up, I placed her bookbag on her back and grabbed her hand as we walked outside and waited for our ride to arrive .
"Today should be interesting" I mumbled to myself as we got into the car.
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HEY GUYS!! This is the first book I have ever written so please bare with me here😂
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Until next update

-LittyLiyah❤️️