Custody Granted (Scömìche)

Six

When I woke up, it felt as though some on was poking me. First my shoulder, then my cheek, then my stomach, then my neck. 

"Ow," I mumbled. I had refused to open my eyes yet. I figured whoever it was would just go away if ignored them.

Except they didn't. 

I rolled onto my back and and sighed. Maybe now they'll leave me alone.

Nope, they were still poking me.

I rolled onto my back and groaned again.

"Stop it," I grumbled. They didn't stop. Finally I gave in. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and slowly blinked them open.

Then I froze in the bed.

Something was sitting on my chest.

"AAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I screamed. Whatever it was leaped off my chest and darted underneath the bed in fear. 

Within seconds, the bedroom door flung open, Scott and Mitch both rushing in to my side.

"Alex! What's wrong?!" Scott exclaimed.

"There's a wild animal in the apartment! It was sitting on my chest!" I cried. My eyes were beginning to water as Mitch sat on the bed and wrapped his arms around me.

"Where'd it go?" Scott asked.

"Underneath the bed!" I cried. Scott got down on his hand and knees and looked underneath the bed.

Then Scott broke into a fit of laughter. He came back up holding the creature in his arms. I clung to Mitch tighter. 

"That's it!!" I yelled.

Mitch began to laugh along with Scott as he began to let go of me. 

"What's so funny?!" I asked still frightened. 

"This isn't a wild animal. This is our cat Wyatt," Mitch explained. 

My eyes widened. I started at the creature in Scott's arms, my jaw droppng a bit in astonishment. 

"That is NOT a cat," I stated. 

"Yes it is. He's a Sphinx Cat. He's hairless," Scott explained as he kissed the creature's head. I shuddered watching him. 

"Isn't he so precious?" Mitch squealed letting go of me as Scott handed Mitch the cat. I moved to the other side of the bed as Mitch held the tiny vermin in his arms.

"Oh yeah, adorable," I said.

"Wanna hold him?" Scott asked. My eyes widened.

"Um, no thanks. I'm not really an animal person," I replied trying to hide my disgust. They clearly cared about "Wyatt" and I didn't want to hurt their feelings by saying he was a giant rat tailed creature even though that's what I was thinking. So instead I just asked, "What time is it?"

"It's 8 o'clock. Mitch and I were actually going to come and wake you to see if you were hungry," Scott said.

As if on queue, my stomach began to growl really loudly. 

"I'll take that as a yes," Scott chuckled. Mitch set Wyatt down and he bolted out the door. 

"What do you want for dinner huh? We can have whatever you want" Mitch asked. 

"Um," I wasn't sure what I wanted to be honest. On the street, I usually ate whatever people gave to me. If no one gave me anything, I either went dumpster diving or I simply didn't eat. Having the freedom to pick whatever I wanted felt very overwhelming. "I really can't decide," I mumbled. 

"Hmm, how about we just keep it simple and order pizza?" Scott suggested. 

"YES!!!" Mitch and I both shouted. "JINX!!" we both yelled. The three of us went into a fit of laughter after that. I laughed so hard my sides began to cramp up and tears flowed from Mitch's eyes. Scott wasn't even making any noise, he was just fidgeting around on the floor.

When we finally caught our breath, I came out into the living room to hang out with the boys while we waited for our pizza to be delivered.

"So Alex. If it's OK with you, Mitch and I want to hear a little more about you're old life," Scott said as he sat next to me on the couch. I froze. I never liked to think about my old life. It always made me feel icky.

"What... what would you like to know?" I mumbled.

"What was it that made you decide to run away?" Mitch said sitting on the other side of me. I began to feel claustrophobic for the third time that day. 

"I already told you. My dad wasn't a very nice guy, so I decided to just leave," I said trying to scoot around the subject. 

"Yeah, but there must've been one instance that brought you to make that decision," Mitch said not letting the subject drop," 

"Umm, not really, I just got tired of being beaten every time I did something "wrong"," I lied. "Why don't we watch some TV hmm?" I said trying to change the subject. I leaned over to pick up the remote, but as my hand touched it a hand stopped me from picking it up. I turned my head to see Scott giving me a light, but concerned stare. I sat back, able to tell that neither he or Mitch was going to let this go anytime soon. 

"You can trust us Alex," Mitch said rubbing my shoulder. 

"You can tell us anything," Scott added. I sighed. They really weren't going to drop this. 

"Fine," I said. I took a deep breath and whispered the words I thought I'd never tell anybody.

"My father... my father raped me". 

The room was silent. Tears began to run down my face as I sat inbetween my two caretakers. I could tell neither of them knew what to say, so I just kept talking. 

"I was 13. I'd just gotten home from school when my dad stormed out of his room. He started screaming at me for leaving the house without his permission. I tried to tell him it was against the law for me not to go to school, but he was so mad he wouldn't listen. He started hitting me across the face, then he dragged me into his bedroom. He stuck something sharp in my arm and the next thing I knew I was lying on his bed in pain. I remember him shouting at me, 'You like that. Keep misbehaving and you'll get this every night'. I must've been unconscious for the rest of it because the next thing I remember was waking up in my bloody jeans and t-shirt," At this point I was full on crying, but I was already too deep in the story not to finish it. 

"I couldn't hear or see my father anywhere so I got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. I started cleaning myself up, but he must've been hiding because he walked in on me as I was getting changed. He grabbed me by my shoulders and threw me to the ground. 'How dare you get blood all over my bed' he yelled. I started to cry, but he started kicking me into the bathroom corner. I'm pretty sure he thought I was dead, but I was really just paralyzed from the pain. He went out to the store to buy some alcohol. That's when I ran. I grabbed my guitar and a few other things and just left. I was in so much pain, but I knew I had to get far enough away that my father would never find me, so I kept going until I got to LA's city limits. I slept underneath a tree that night. It rained, and the water burned my scars and bruises, but I didn't dare move. I was too afraid of breaking something else. The next day I walked into the city and found that old records store. That's been my home ever since. I don't know if my father is looking for me and to be honest, I'd really rather forget he even exists, so please don't ask me about him or my old life again,"

I leaped of the couch and ran straight to my room, slamming to door behind me. I threw myself on to the bed and sobbed into my pillow. 

Just when I was beginning to feel comfortable here.