For Better or Worse

I. FEAR.

Aria laid still in her bed, the sound of her mother and stepfather arguing keeping her awake. Her mother's screaming turned to cries and Aria grabbed a handful of her bedsheets and clutched it for comfort. She could hear glass bottles dropping to the floor, her mother being thrown against the wall and her stepfather screaming Aria's name.

Aria sat up when she heard her name as it seemed to repeat itself and echo through the hollow walls. Suddenly, the noises stopped and Aria heard the dreadful squeaking of the rusty hinges on her door. She started to breath heavy and looked around her room for something that might help her defend herself if her stepfather had come to fight with her too.

She waited for a large body to step in from the door frame, but was utterly relieved to see a little girls head popping out instead. Aria's little sister, Naomi, came running to Aria with tears in her eyes.

Naomi buried her face in Aria's chest and cried out 
"I wish he would just go away!"

Aria held her close and kissed her head. "Me too" she whispered.

After a few minutes, the rest of the kids came in her room, seeking her loving hand to tell them that she would protect them. Naomi, Ivy, and Isaac were huddled around her on her bed. Each one of them clinging to parts of her shirt. Levi was the only one sitting on the floor, resting his head on her legs.

She looked around at the children that viewed her as their savior. All of them were too young to have to experience such levels of fear and stress. Naomi is seven, Ivy is nine, Isaac is ten and Levi is fifteen. The only thing they should be worried about is school, not whether or not their stepfather would use them or their mother as punching bags.

Aria herself was already twenty-one. She graduated college already and was able to obtain a medical degree in just three years thanks to all the dual credit class she took in high school. She landed a job at Saint Mary Hospital and worked as a nurse. Her main goal was to earn enough to buy a nice sized apartment on the nicer side of town, but her savings account took a huge cut when Naomi developed pneumonia last spring and had to remain in the hospital for a few weeks. The costs were outrageously expensive, especially since no one in her family had an insurance policy.

Aria glanced over at her medical bag and remembered she had brought home a broken stethoscope for the kids to play with. She maneuvered her way from the hold of the children crowed around her and grabbed her bag from the battered desk in the corner.

"I bought this home for you guys to test it out. Wanna try it? It's a stethoscope, it lets you listen to people's heartbeat." Aria put the ear tips in Ivy's ears and told her yo place the chest piece on Isaac's chest.  Since this stethoscope was broken, any noise detected would be audible, but faint. Unlike a working stethoscope, the sound of a heartbeat wouldn't hurt the kids' ears with the overpowering thump of a heart beating.

The kids seemed to love it and passed the tool around for everyone to have a turn. She decided that now was the perfect time to check on her mother. After he gives a good beating, her stepfather usually went on a drinking binge and stayed in the living room guzzling down whiskey and mindlessly watching a sports game.

Aria walked towards the door and told the kids that she was going to come back after checking on their mother. Levi grabbed her hand to stop her.

"Are you crazy? What if he sees you and decides to hit you too? Momma should have called the cops on him a long time ago. It's her own fault if he lets him beat her." Levi did have a point, but Aria had to make sure he understood more than just the things he saw.