Forbidden

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The alarm from the small old watch began to go off. Muffled by the pillow, Callie almost didn't hear it. But lucky for her, her body was already in autopilot. A routine that it has become used to doing now after so long.

4am. Only four hours of sleep. But she didn't have a choice but to begin her day. She rolled over in her shared twin sized bed and looked over at Jude who was still fast asleep. She is able to ease out of the bed without waking him up. Even if she could allow him to sleep for just another hour, it would be worth it.

Pulling their duffle bag from under the bed she grabbed a pair of clothes and what she needed for the bathroom. She also did the same for Jude and laid them on the bed for when he was ready to get up. One thing that she has learned after their many foster homes is that there's no use in unpacking. Either they wouldn't be staying long or their things would be taken. They barely had anything as it was, but in the back of her mind she knew that she needed to always be ready for a quick escape.

Callie quickly filled the sink not wanting to wake Allen and have him complaining about the water. She washed up as best as she could and got dressed. Looking in the mirror she couldn't help but silently cry as she looked at her new busted lip and developing black eye. Pulling herself together she tried her hardest to cover everything up with the cheap makeup that Daphne was able to snag for her.

She made her way to the kitchen and froze when she saw Allen on the couch. After waiting a moment to see how he will react she realized that he was asleep. Knowing his nightly hobbies she knew that he was more than likely going to be sound asleep at least for a little while longer.

She began to pull out everything she needed from the refrigerator and started to make breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage; same thing everyday. Her mouth was practically watering with wishful anticipation. For a moment she thought about making an extra sausage to give to Jude, but then she knew of the possible consequences of that and thought otherwise. After placing all of the cooked food in the microwave, she began to quickly clean the kitchen.

She washed all of the dirty dishes that she saw both in the sink and laying around from overnight alone. She swept up all of the broken glass, and washed the blood from off of the refrigerator door; not even remembering being hit hard enough for it to reach that far. But she was glad it was hers instead of Jude's.

After everything was cleaned up she ran back to the room and woke up Jude for school. The moment he woke up he gave his sister a tight hug, knowing that something had to have happened to her last night in her efforts to protect him. But she made him go hide before he witnessed anything. He was just happy that she was there to wake him up.

It was his turn to take a quick wash, as Callie sat outside of the bathroom door, on guard, making sure he felt safe.

As soon as Jude was done Callie grabbed his hand as they made their way to the front of the house. Tiptoeing past Allen they could see that he was still fast asleep. He had a cocktail of drugs and empty bottles laid out in front of him. Pushing Jude in front of her trying to block his view of all of the negative influences they opened the door but not without it making a loud creaking noise.

With that one noise Allen woke up in a huff. "Where the hell do you think you are going?" Callie pushed Jude through the door before turning to speak. "It's morning. We are going to school", she spoke confidently and defensively. Determined to never let him believe that she is actually afraid of him. "Did you clean up?" he said reaching for a half empty bottle. "Yes"

"Is the breakfast in the microwave"

"Yup".

After that Allen didn't reply. He just put his beer down and laid back down.