Alice
Screams of agonizing pain fill the room as I cower in fear. I'm not even hurting yet, I can just imagine what it will feel like. Just as the whip is coming, a younger boy jumps in front, taking the brunt of the impact. When he lands he hits his head on the corner of a table. I scream, somehow knowing his name "Andrew!" He doesn't respond, and he never will. I won't see his smiling face anymore.
The tears start to come but I push them back, insisting they don't spill over.
It's been about a week since I last went to school. Today is Saturday, and I am feeling worse than ever. Even though I'm not associating with them anymore, Brady keeps texting me about Asher. He tells me about how Asher got the Flu and how Asher hasn't been eating. Even though something inside of me tells me to respond and make sure Ash isn't dying I still hold my grudge. He betrayed me, after all.
I've been trying to convince my mom to let me stay at home. Everyday I ask. Everyday she says no. I move my legs off of my couch and head into the kitchen where Mom is reading the newspaper at the table.
"Hello darling, we are going to go to the park in about thirty minutes so dress up all nice and presentable." Mom says
"I don't want to go." I reply
"Yeah, well that is so terrible because you are going." Mom retorts, not looking up from her newspaper
"I am not going. You said I don't have to do anything I feel I don't want to do." I whine
"Looks like I may have lied to you more than once. I'm not perfect. Neither are you. I am your mother and I am telling you that you need to go get dressed unless you want me to drag you to the park while you are in your pajamas." She yells at me
"Okay," I huff.
Marching off back to my room I pull off my old clothes and put on an old band t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. To match I slip on some sneakers and go back to the kitchen while tying my hair up in a ponytail holder. Mom is still sitting at the table but instead she is talking on the phone instead of reading the morning paper.
"Yeah, we are on our way. I'm glad you got this all planned out. We will be there in a moment. Bye sweetheart." Mom says secretly into the phone.
I wonder who she is talking to. Who could we be meeting at the park? When Mom notices I'm standing here we head out to the car and start our drive to the neighborhood park. It doesn't take me long to figure out what is going on. Especially when I see that Asher is sitting on one of the many benches near us.
I look over at my mother, astonished that she would do this to me. Apparently she can read my face and she responds accordingly "You need this, Alisa."
With that she pushes me out of the car and drives off. Forcing me to join Asher on the bench. Playing my cards wisely I cram into the far corner of the rotting wooden seat, just so I can be fare enough away from him.
"Hey Ali," He greets
"Asher," I respond timidly
"I have been a jerk. I've been forcing you to tell me some of your past that you obviously don't want to revisit, and then when you react the way you have grown accustom to, I judge you. I've been a terrible friend so I invited you here to tell you some of my past because I trust you and I also think this might help you understand that I know pain." Asher starts, pausing for me incase I want to say anything, I don't so he continues "When I was eleven, my sister Lucy was five. London and I took turns watching over her when Mom and Dad went out."
"It was April second and they were both at work, leaving London and I home alone with the youngster, heck, we were youngsters ourselves. It was London's turn but he bargained to do my chores if I watched Lucy. What a deal right? So, I took the watch. We were blowing bubbles and spinning around. I became parched, so I went back inside for just a minute to grab a glass of water. While I was getting a cup I heard the screeching of brakes and squealing wheels outside. Terrified I rushed out to see my baby sister under the wheels of a passing SUV. She was in the road, dead." Asher stops to stifle his sobs and even though I am angry with him, it seems some of it has dispersed, and I move to put my hand on his arm to comfort him.
"You can keep going," I encourage him quietly
"Well of course the couple called nine-one-one but it was too late, she had already died. I yelped for London and he looked at me like I was a killer, but that didn't even compare to the look that my mother gave me. Once she had arrived at the hospital she looked at me like I was a monster. She yelled and screamed and hit me until she decided she couldn't take it anymore. She left. I am the reason my Dad lost his love." He finishes
"Asher, I-" I get interrupted
"No, don't be sorry. I have come to cope with it, but I still have a little bit more to tell you. Mandy isn't my real sister. She isn't even my blood. Her crazy Mom dropped her on our doorstep after she broke it off with my Dad. I wish she was my sister, she is really sweet, but sometimes I wish that I didn't have her. I wish I had Lucy." Asher continues to sob, putting his hands over his face to obscure his crying face. I don't blame him.
"Asher, It's okay. You are human to think that. I, I realize now that you have experienced so much and I'm not mad at you anymore. At first, I felt betrayed, like you just spit in my face but I also know that you have no ability to understand my situation if I don't let you in, so here I go." I say before I even know what I am doing I have started into my story.
"As long as I can remember, my father had always been a drunk. He came home late with the smell of whiskey on his breath and the color of too many cigarettes on his teeth. He drowned away his sorrows in alcohol, but he was an angry drunk, and there was nothing my Mother could do. We were poor, and Tara worked around the clock almost every day and when she was home, she was asleep. It honestly isn't her fault that this was happening and she didn't stop it, but sometimes I do resent her. Day in and day out my dad would come home angry, smashing the furniture and tearing up the house until we were living in the dumpiest two bedroom house in the ghetto." I start
Asher nods for me to keep going so I do "Once most of the house was torn apart he had nothing else to beat, so he turned to his children. Andrew, my half brother, was seventeen at the time, and I was twelve. My Dad was going on his daily ritual and was about to whip me when Andrew had enough of it. He jumped in front of me and took the hit himself. When he landed his head hit a board of the coffee table in just the right place. It crushed his windpipe and he suffocated. After that Mom got us out of there. It took about a year but Dad got into prison and we sought the help of a protection agency who placed us in this lovely town as Alice and Tara Daily. My real name is Alisa Seethe."
Asher seems dumbfounded as he awkwardly pats my back "Wow."
"Don't look at me like I'm some damaged child. I came out of this and even though I am not as strong as I could be, I am better, and I am healing. The reason I freak out with guys randomly kissing me and stuff is because of Father. Men scare me, and it has taken me this long to trust you. You are special, Mr. Asher." I tell him
"Your story does not make you seem damaged. It just makes you seem stronger and more beautiful than ever. You are vulnerable, yes, but you have me here to protect your vulnerabilities to the best of my abilities. I am here for you, Ali." Asher says, holding my head in his hands so that I am looking at him.
I lean forward and hug him tightly. It is nice to have a brother again. It is also nice to finally have someone who understands and knows my terrible life. I don't think I will be able to tell him all the details for a while, but at least he knows this. We sit and talk for a long time before heading back to our own homes. I think I will be able to go back to school again tomorrow.
