Oceans ❀ Embry Call

一

"You can't keep pushing me away Paul!" Graciella stormed after Paul. Her throat was on fire from the screaming match she was having with him. She was tired of all the yelling, but whenever a fight between her and Paul broke out, there was no way in hell that it would be a quiet one.

"Oh yeah?" Paul abruptly turned around, causing Graciella to bump into his chest. "Just watch me," he spit out through clenched teeth. His eyes held so much anger as they scorched and burned down on Graciella.

Her heart crumbled at his words, he turned around sharply before ripping the door open and slamming it shut behind him, the house shook from the excessive force. She watched him run off into the woods through the small living room window.

Her legs gave out and she dramatically collapsed on the hard floor. Tears pricked at her eyes, she desperately tried to hold them back. It was useless. They flowed down rapidly at her poor attempt to block out the hateful looks and harsh words Paul had thrown her way.

It was always like this now. Brutal, verbal fights with Paul every time he came home.

Paul was ever hardly home anymore, and when he was, the result was a screaming match between Graciella and Paul. All Graciella did was worry for him, even if he was the older sibling. She wanted to know what was up with him, why the sudden change?

First, Paul had disappeared for almost two weeks, he came home a foot taller, with bulging muscles and an even worse temper than before. Second, he isolated himself and became hostile towards his sister. Snarling nasty things to her and shoving her out of his life. Third, no matter how hard Graciella had tried to come up with some sort of explanation to his odd behavior, she came up empty handed. Graciella was confused, she was in the dark. She was desperate to help. But Paul would either ignore or curse at her to mind her own fucking business every time she tried to get close.

She attempted to run her fingers through her hair in frustration, but it was a hopeless act. Her fingers soon got caught in her wild, curly locks. She let out a deep sigh, she really despised her hair at times.

Forcing herself off the floor, she wiped her tears away. Damn, she thought to herself, I really need to stop falling to the floor every time he storms out.

And she was right, this kind of thing had been happening for weeks now. It was about time she got over it, but Graciella knew it couldn't be helped. It was so draining to fight with him, and the pain of his ruthless words never eased up. His cruel comments stung immensely, the cold glare in his eyes broke her heart.

Where was the old Paul?

The Paul who swore to never hurt her and to always protect her, where had that Paul gone?

She trudged upstairs, needing to get out of the house. It was way too depressing and lonely there, neither Paul nor her father were ever home.

Her father, Bryan was both a workaholic and an alcoholic, his line of work a helpful factor to his alcohol problem. He worked at a nearby casino, bartending. Then once his shift ended at five o'clock, the roles would switch up and he would be the one drinks were being served to.

He'd come home around one in the morning, throwing himself onto the couch and knocking out. The next morning, he'd be up at nine. He'd get in the shower and then head off to work. That was his daily routine. Never did he speak a word to Graciella. She couldn't remember the last time they had a proper conversation. He just left money for food and the bills on the counter for them.