Heroes Just The Same

Scarlet Blood

"Scarlet get your ass in here!" my father called out to me drunkenly from our living room. I got my bearings quickly and shushed my brother for a moment while I walked out of our combined room. Our room was under the stairs very Harry Potter-esk but without the destiny of a magic user. Our house was littered with trash, dirty dishes, mold, and other disgusting things.

"Scarlet!" my mother screamed. I stepped into the just as crappy living room where we had nothing more than two brown chairs and a small television. My drunk as fuck father was in one chair and my also drunk off her ass mother was in the other. They were watching tv when I walked directly between them. I was careful not to step between them and the tv.

"I'm here" I said sweetly with my Irish charm. Whenever I had to use that voice I felt sick. My mother had bright red grimy hair and greasy skin with practically glazed over green eyes. My father had dark oily black hair and a thick, untamed beard and moustache with blue eyes. They were both fat as pigs too. Maybe it was because the only time they got off their asses was when father went to work. Our family didn't know what he did for a living and none of us really gave a damn.

"Are you gonna make dinner?!" my father yelled like I was still in the other room. They didn't even tear their eyes away from the screen as they spoke. They both had empty glasses of beer and wine all over the place and multiple glasses yet to be. My red hair was tied up behind me out of my blue dirty lake water eyes in not exactly the cleanest manner.

"Absolutely" I said. I went back to the stairs and told my younger brother Toby to stay there and that I was making dinner. He had the black hair and blue eyes from our father and he looked so handsome despite everything our parents did. I always did my best to make him look like any other child. That was my job, to take care of my brother that was 6 years younger than I was. From the moment he was born.

I smiled and ruffled my baby brother's thick hair before closing the door quietly and walking somberly into the kitchen through the living room. I hugged tightly to the wall trying not to alert my parents because they could be temperamental. I grabbed a dirty pot and took it outside to spray it with the hose to clean it as best I could. If I tried to wash it with the sink my parents would be pissed for being loud.

I took the pot inside and rummaged through the fridge for something to cook with. Some of the food in there was clearly dead so I threw it in the can and grabbed some things settling on making tater tot casserole with mystery meat and tater tots from the freezer and chicken soup. I layed sliced cheese over the top and put it in the oven to cook. When it came out it looked disgusting but when I dipped my finger in it the casserole wasn't that bad. I had to get good at cooking with crap ingredients quickly cause that's all we had.

I put the food on crap paper plates and gave it to our parents. They didn't even care but instead they just waved me off. I went back to the kitchen to get mine and my brother's food. I took a quick peak to see if my parents were looking my way and when they weren't I took that moment to grab four carrots out of a hidden drawer of food I kept from my parents. This was usually vegetables and fruit or sometimes snacks. I'm our room I kept many hidden compartments of items including money I've been saving do my brother and I can get out of here in two years. I put two carrots on my brother's plate and two on mine before quietly walking to our room.

"Scarlet" Toby said happily. I closed the door quietly with my foot and sat cross legged on the floor. Our room was practically a closet and there was barely enough room meaning absolutely no furniture. Our beds were sleeping bags that took up almost the whole flolr and frequently we were squished together. Those hidden compartments I mentioned earlier were in the walls and floor cause there was no where else to put them. You had to duck to get in our room and the doorway was the only place I could stand to full height.