Sarah Bell

Friends

We arrive at an old rundown parking garage. Dad entered the garage and headed up to the second floor. He pulls toward the back corner. There was a group of people standing around. There were three guys and one girl. Dad pulled his truck into the spot next to them. My dad opened the door and got out. He was greeted with heys and look who it is. I took a deep breath, and stepped out of the car. The girl was smoking, and the guys all had beers in their hands. Dad fit right in. I went and stood next to my father. I wasn't smiling but I wasn't frowning. I was studying them just as much as they were studying me.

"Who's this?" One of the guys finally asked

"This is my daughter." My dad said with a smile. A couple of the guys smiled, and came closer to me.

"How can some one so pretty be related to you?" One guy joked. I dropped my gaze to the floor. There were cigarette butts everywhere. My dad stepped away from me, and headed closer to the girl. My hair fell over my face, shielding me from the group. I felt someone brush by my shoulder, and stop directly behind me. He gently puled my hair back and tucked it behind my ears.

"Something so beautiful deserves to be seen." He whispered in my ear. I shuddered.

"Why don't we go join the rest of the group?" He added. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. His arm was covered in tattoos. I hadn't really looked at him. He was a lot younger then he first appeared, maybe only a few years older then me. We took a few steps closer to the group. They were all laughing about something. My dad already had a beer in his hand.

"I didn't know you had a daughter." Said the oldest looking man

"I have two." My dad smiled, like he was so proud. It reminded me of Sarah. She was probably awake by now. She was probably wondering where I was, and why the door was locked. She was probably hungry. "This is Amelia, she's turning fourteen in a couple days. Sarah Bell was still sleeping when we left, she's ten." His friends seemed impressed. I was impressed too; he remembered my birthday. Maybe things were changing.

We spent the rest of the afternoon, hanging with dad's friends. Then they were going to meet their dealer, so we left. Once we got home, he asked if I liked his friends. I didn't but I nodded anyways. He smiled, "I knew you would. Nathan seems to have a thing for you."

"Can I see Sarah now?"

He walked across the room to where I was standing, "She's ten she can handle herself."

"She's scared out of her mind, you did that to her. She has bad dreams every night of you killing us, or leaving us alone, to starve to death. She may be ten but she's not a child, and she'll never get a chance to be one. When you talked to your friends you seemed so proud, but you shouldn't be." By the end of my rant I was screaming. The tears were rolling down my face. I hadn't cried in front of my dad for a long time. He opened his mouth like he was going to yell at me, and raised his hand. I was ready for him to bring the hand crashing into my face, but it didn't. He wiped the tears from my face, "shhh, shhh it'll be ok." He said.

"Let go of me." I said pulling away, "give me the keys, I wanna see my sister." "No." He said, "I tried to be a good father, caring for my daughter but when she wont let me I can't!" He shouted back at me. He pinned me against the wall. "You were so nice all day, now you have to go ruining it." He backed off a bit. "This is why I beat you, cause you won't listen." He was screaming in my face.

"Please stop. I'm sorry." I whispered.

He backed off down the hall toward his room, "Make dinner. Have it ready in fifteen minutes, and if it's good enough I'll let you see your sister." Then he disappeared into the room. I headed to the kitchen. The best thing I could make that quick was spaghetti. I found a clean pot, and filled it with water. While I waited for it to come to a boil, I went to the bathroom. There was still water all over the floor. I grabbed a towel and began mopping it up. I hang the towel on the back of the door, and return to the kitchen. I added pasta to the water and found a can of tomato sauce. As I was opening the can I heard a loud bang. I continued making the sauce and ignored the bang. Then, I heard it again.

I walked down the hall, toward the sound. It was coming from our room. It was Sarah.

"Hey Sarah, it's me. Are you ok?" I called through the door.

A small voice answered from the other side of the door. "I'm fine, but I heard shouting."

"I'm fine, it was nothing. Just hang in there for a little longer." That's when I membered the pasta. I ran back to the kitchen to find the water had overflowed, and the pasta was a little over cooked. The sauce was still fine, I figured I'd put the sauce on the noodles, and hope dad wouldn't notice. Dad walked in as I was cleaning the mess up.

"Where's my food?" He asked sitting down. I stopped cleaning and pilled noodles, and sauce on a plate. I set the plate in front of him. I made another plate and sat across from him. He seemed to like the food well enough. By the time I took my first bite he was halfway through his.

"I can cook, I can clean, I'll be good, but just let me see my sister. Please." I said as I pushed noodles around my plate.

He took his time responding. "You can see her for ten minutes before bed," he paused to shove more food in his mouth. "Then, you and me will watch a movie."

"Deal." As he finished his plate he asked, "Are you going to eat the rest of that?"

"No, take it." I pushed the plate over to him and he didn't spare a single second to let it reach his side of the table. When he finished I cleared the plates, and put them in the dishwasher. I took out a third plate from the cupboard and filled it with the remaining noodles and sauce. Father had unlocked the door, and I carried the plate through the door without him seeing. I barely had time to set the plate sown before Sarah tackled me.

"I missed you! When I woke up and noticed you, weren't here I thought you were dead!" she shouted.

"Shhhh, I'm fine." I hugged her. "I missed you too, and I brought you dinner, but you can't let dad see it. Okay?" She nodded. I sat on the bed, and watched her eat. Dad nocked on the door, "three more minutes."

"Okay!" I called back.

"Wait you aren't staying?" Sarah asked in her sweet voice.

"Dad and I are going to watch a movie, you'll be okay in here by yourself." I sighed, "Now hide the plates, and get into bed." We could hide anything from dad in our secret drawer. We had family pictures hidden in there. After mom left dad went through the whole house tearing mom out of every picture and burning her. We saved a few. I did my monster check. When I looked under the bed I found Sarah's teddy.

"No monster here, just a very huggable friend." I went over to the closet, "no monsters in here." I smiled at my sister, "you're all safe." I sat on the edge of the bed, and kissed her forehead, "goodnight sleep tight, I love you."

"I love you too, Amelia." I got up crossed the room, and disappeared into the hallway.