Shattered Lives

Chapter 1: Intrigued

Ava's POV

"Sissy, sissy wake up!"

I opened my eyes in protest to see my little sister standing over my bed, staring down at me. I rubbed my eyes, trying desperately to rid them of the ache from lack of sleep. I picked up my phone that was laying on the nightstand and checked the time. It was 4:30 in the morning.

"Ugh, Kennedy, it's past 4 am, why are you up right now?" I groaned, shoving my face back into my pillow.

The sound of loud, sloppy footsteps jolted me awake. They were coming from the living room. Whoever it was was fumbling around, bumping into things. I heard glass shatter. I jumped out of bed and pushed Kennedy behind me. My breathe stilled as I peeked through the crack of my door. I could barely make out the dark figure stumbling over the furniture, searching for a light switch. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted my old softball bat I kept in my room. I slowly inched my way towards it. It was almost in my grasp when I saw the light turn on. I looked back into the living room. The "culprit" turned out to be my dad who had returned home in a drunken stupor. I breathed a sigh of relief, then huffed in annoyance. Of course it was him; I should've known. This was the third time this week he's come home drunk. I glanced over at Kennedy. She had just turned 12 and was already up to my chin in height. It won't be long before she passes me up. But I'll always see her as my baby sister, no matter how big she gets. She gazed up at me. One look at her tear-stained cheeks and big, golden brown eyes and I knew I was a goner. She continued to stare at me. I could see in her eyes she didn't wanna be alone. I let out a long sigh before asking her,

"Do you wanna sleep in here with me until-"

I hadn't even finished the question and she was already climbing in my bed. I might miss out on sleep, but it was worth it if she got some. I crawled back into bed and wrapped her in my arms. I began smoothing her hair while quietly humming a lullaby our mom used to sing to us when we were little.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away."

This always calmed her down. Within minutes she had passed out again. I knew sleep was out of the question for me, so I slowly slid my arms from around her and quietly made my way out of bed to my closet. I threw on a pair ripped, black skinny jeans, a maroon v-neck, and my black and white Chuck-Taylors. After getting dressed, I grabbed my makeup bag and went into the bathroom. After I finished brushing my teeth, I stood in front of the mirror and carefully winged out my eyeliner, adding some black eyeshadow to the outer corners of my eyelids to intensify the color. Then I curled my eyelashes and applied my mascara. When my eye-makeup was finished, I put on a pink-tinted lipgloss to add some color to my face. I took a step back to look in the mirror. My makeup hasn't changed since eighth grade. I am now a senior in high school. To finish off the look I pulled my long, thick hair into a high, messy, punk rock looking ponytail, leaving little wisps dangling around my face. I walked out of the bathroom and went in to the kitchen. I decided to make breakfast since I still had some time left before school started.

As I was finishing up, I heard footsteps come up behind me. They were too heavy to belong to my mother or my sister, so they could only belong to one other person. I turned around to face my dad. He just stood there, grinning like he was the happiest person in the world. But I knew that smile. It only existed when alcohol was in his system. Behind it was a ticking time bomb just waiting to be set off. He enveloped me in a hug that was way too tight to be considered affectionate. It was more of a dominant hug than a sweet one. I groaned in annoyance, trying my best to wriggle out of his embrace.

"Man, why do you always do this? Why do you constantly have to come home and fuck with people?" I asked, my irritation growing stronger with each word.