Stay Strong

Chapter Nineteen

Here this goes again.

Carly POV!

"Alex." I say cautiously as he starts to advance towards me, "Alex what are you doing."

I hold my hands up as he squeezes his eyes shut, "Shut up! Just shut up Carlotta!" Alex opens his Brown eyes, growing darker by the moment.

I look around the living room where we are, my parents aren't home as always, they never are. I didn't go to meet them yesterday when Drew was here. I just had to leave, I had to stop him, stop him from digging deeper. Finding out about Alex.

I stumble backwards as Alex starts to walk towards me again and I hit the wall, "Alex, please, you don't want to do this."

His deep Brown eyes flash up to mine and he grins maniacally, "But that's what you'll never understand Carlotta. I do." Glances on the couch beside him and smirks when he notices the textbook I left there earlier. "You don't understand what it's like, to go up there, to only be a shadow."

Alex grasps the text book in one hand, then transfers it from hand to hand, probably scheming what he's going to do next. I remain silent, knowing that a response is what he wants, how he's going to fuel his rage. With no one to ever stop him, his violent rages have gotten worse over the past two years since he got home.

"I was so closely monitored up there my dear sister, that I wasn't able to do this." I throw my arms up over my head as Alex brings the heavy book down on my arms. Pain shoots through my arms as he brings the book down again. "I wasn't able to be who I truly am."

Alex throws the book away as I dare to peek up at him through my raised arms, "This isn't who you are Alex." I manage to say in a shaky voice.

His head tilts to the side, "Of course it isn't." Alex grabs a lamp sitting on a table beside the sofa. He steps closer and crutches down to my level as I push myself further against the wall. I force my face away from him, squeezing my eyes shut. Alex puts his thumb under my chin and forces me to look him in the eyes. "I'm much worse Carlotta."

Before I have time to defend myself, Alex steps back and slams the lamp I forgot he had in his hand into the left side of my face. Pain screams through my head as part of the ceramic lamp base shatters and cuts my face.

In a daze, my head rolls back in slow motion. First my head hits the wooden floor, making a loud 'thunk' noise. I hear Alex say something above me but I just sit there dazed and confused. I blink a few times, Alex walks away. I'm sure he'll be back, but with his favorite method of hurting me. An old rusted softball bat from when I used to play softball when I was twelve.

I'm shaking out of both fear and of hurt. Blood drips into my eyes from my forehead. I try to pick myself up before Alex comes back into the room but I fall down causing a thud. "You'd better not be going anywhere!" Alex shouts from the garage where his bat is.

I start to drag myself towards where the phone is, I've never called the police on Alex before, he's also never been this bad. He's hit me and slapped me around, threatening me with the baseball bat, but never using it, this time I feel like he's not joking about it, he's actually going to bring out the bat, and use it.

I reach the small glass top table that has my phone along with some other objects I can't tell from the ground on it. My phone finds my grasp and I manage to turn it on before the glass table next to me shatters, showering glass on me and the hardwood floor.

I look up in terror, "You didn't think you were going to be able to escape me did you?"

Without Alex noticing I manage to hit the panic button on my phone that automatically calls 911. I slowly slide the phone behind me so that he won't see the faint glow from the lit up screen. Alex creeps closer with the bat slung over his shoulder, "Alex please, don't." I try to say but my words come out a jumble of sounds due to being disoriented from the lamp.