A Single Stroke ✔️

49: Ruins

I didn't even have to unlock the door once I was home. It was already unlocked and the lights were on.

And as soon as I stepped inside, I froze.

A woman probably only a few years older than me sat in one of our couches, a cigarette between her fingers. Her lips were cracked and her dark hair was tied up sloppily into either a ponytail or bun, I couldn't tell which.

My dad was nowhere in sight.

"Who the hell are you?" I slammed the door behind me.

"So you're the little brat he was telling me about. Hi, I'm your father's girlfriend."

Girlfriend? "You don't belong here."

"You sure? Maybe you should ask daddy about that."

"Get out of my house."

She brought the cigarette to her lips and sucked in, her cheeks hollowing, before blowing out slowly in my direction. "I live here now."

What?

Before I could respond, someone grabbed me by the collar and yanked me to the side. The shirt choked me for a moment until I got my bearings and rammed my elbow into something solid. The hand let me go. Once I straightened, I turned and faced Allen.

When he lunged for me again, I shoved him back until he rammed his back into the wall. The woman shouted, "Allen!" but he was already straightening and shaking himself off. I stepped back, but he didn't lunge again. At least not yet.

"You fucking piece of shit." He pointed at me. "Where the hell have you been?"

"I'm eighteen, I can do what I want!"

"Bullshit."

"Fine, you wanna know, really? I came from a party with Max. We were celebrating our final win of the basketball season. I play basketball, remember? Of course you don't, you don't know anything about my life. You're the worst father in the world and I hate you, and who the hell is this woman in our front room? Make her leave before I do!"

"That woman is staying with us now and you're not gonna have a problem with it. All you do is fucking deplete our money anyway."

"Me? You're bringing up this shit again? You know what?" I slammed him against the wall and pinned him there. "You stole from me! You fucking stole everything mom saved up for me! I wanted to go to college. I wanted to leave. I wanted to get away from your sorry ass. But you stole everything!"

He grabbed my wrists and squeezed tight but I wouldn't let go. Then his fist collided with the side of my face and I couldn't react fast enough. My head was still a little foggy and my movements were slow from the alcohol.

He landed another punch at my stomach and kicked my shin. I stumbled and fell back onto the floor. Before he could kick me, I managed to scoot out of the way and he kicked the couch.

"You don't even visit mom anymore. You don't care about her or me."

"You don't have the right-" He leaned down and grabbed my arms to pull me to my feet, but I kicked his ankle into his other one and he fell to the floor.

"Knock it off, now!" The woman screamed.

I pushed myself to my feet slowly, but I wobbled. I almost fell over but steadied myself against the wall. Caught my breath. Dad was still down.

"You know what," I breathed hard. "I'm leaving. You'd rather have this random woman from the bar than your own son. Congratulations, you've officially lost all your family." I mustered my remaining strength and coordination to climb the stairs to my room.

Once I was there, I grabbed my backpack and stared at my empty, plain room. What could I bring? What would I possibly bring? I threw out everything I cared about. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know how I would get there. I didn't know what I needed.

So I grabbed random clothes from my floor and stuffed them in my backpack and then dug through my desk drawers. There was the bong. I took that. There was the weed. I took that. There was the heroin.

I took that too.

Then I padded downstairs, ignored the woman helping my dad up, and left the house.