Thin Ice

The start

"Aeron?" My mom said to me one day when I was doing my homework at the kitchen counter.

"We need to talk."

I looked up at her with my green eyes.

"You need to move in with your uncle for a few weeks until I straighten things out."

I was a little nervous, since I wasn't close with my uncle at all.

"You're just gonna leave us there?"

"Just for a little while, maybe only a couple of weeks."

I took a deep breath.

"Ok." I feel a tear in my eye but I let it go.

2 days later we were dropped off, my black duffle bag, my siblings and their stuff. We said bye to our mom as she gave us Hugs. Maybe It wouldn't be so bad.

I was definitely wrong.

•••

Things started off slow but then he got mad at me. He said I was worthless, fat, ugly. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt absolutely worthless. My uncle is an alcoholic, he started to 'Abuse' us, or at least me. My uncle Ed got really mad at me one night, I'm pretty sure he was drunk. My sister accidentally spilled her water during dinner. He lifted his hand to hit her.
"Leave her alone!" He turned around then knocked me to the ground.

"You stay outta this, you hear me?"

He turned around and continued to hit her.
"Stop! You're hurting her!" He turned around once more, then pushed up against the wall, holding my neck. "She made a mistake, you're not gonna take the bullet for something she did! Got it?" I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was drowning, I felt dizzy, confused.
"D...don't...hurt... Her..." I managed to get out, with tears in my eyes. My poor little sister, who was only 8, was getting smacked by my uncle. I didn't want my 10 year old brother to get whacked either. "Get out of here." He said to my brother and sister. They rushed out of the room as fast as they could upstairs to the guest bedroom.

       He pulled his hand back, then BAM! I fell to the ground, feeling my cheek slowly starting to turn red. I remember getting hit at least a dozen times after that. Finally, he let me go. I felt weak, like I'd just been hit with a wrecking ball.

       I stepped into the dark guest room, to see my brother holding my crying sister in his arms on the bed.
"Aeron!" She grabbed and hugged me.
"It's okay, I'm alright. Are you okay?" I was crying a little from the pain.
"Are you okay?" My brother, Aidan, asked me.

"I'm fine."

       The first of many lies, that 4 letter word. But what people don't understand, is that fine doesn't mean fine. It goes: great, good, okay, not okay, I hate you, fine. The word itself is just one big lie... So is my happiness.