Love, Pain and Bam

Chapter 4: Age 7

            It was a Saturday afternoon and mom and dad were screaming at each other again. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore so I crawled out my window onto the roof before walking over to the tree that had branches that hung over the roof. I climbed down the tree and ran over to Bam’s house and found him skating in the backyard with some of his friends. “Hey Emma. What are your parents fighting about?’ He asked and I shrugged my shoulders. I had no idea what the fight was about. “Well whatever. Meet Ryan. He just moved to town a few days ago.” He told me and I said hi and introduced myself before sitting down next to our friend Rake and watching Bam try to teach Ryan to skate. “You okay?” Rake asked me and I nodded.

            After about 10 minutes I went inside to see April and see if she needed help with anything. I liked to help her around the house. I wanted to help her too since she always let me stay there. I even kept some clothes there now; it had been her idea since we never knew when my parents were going to decide to not come home. “Is everything okay Emma?” she asked me when I walked into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I just got bored watching the boys skate and wanted to see if you needed help with anything.” I told her. She said she was about to make cookies so I decided to help her with that.

            After the cookies were done I brought some out to all the boys. They devoured them instantly and I went inside to get more but stopped just outside the kitchen when I heard April and Phil talking about me. “I’m really worried about her, Phil. Her parents are never home and when they are they’re fighting. They’re so loud the whole neighborhood can hear them. She’s only 7 Phil but she seems so much older. I wish I could more for her.” April was saying.

“All we can do is keep doing what we’re doing and hope that they work things out.” Phil said.

            They paused in their talk and I skipped into the kitchen. “Bam wants to know if they can have more cookies.” I said presenting the empty plate. April laughed and refilled the plate and I brought it back outside. While the boys ate the cookies I decided to skate a little bit. “Hey Emma, you’re actually starting to get kind of good.” Bam told me. I hadn’t realized he was watching me. I smiled at him. “Thanks. I think I’m heading home. Thank your mom for me again.” I said handing him back his board. “But your parents are still fighting.” He said.

“I know, but it’s okay. I can do my homework.” I told him. I said bye to everyone else then walked to my house, climbed the tree, and crawled back through my window.

            Both my parents left that night and I stayed home, shockingly Tommy was there too. Bam and Jess came over to make sure I was okay. I told them I was fine. Bam tried to get me to go to their house but I told him I was fine and then promised I would come over if I needed anything at any point, no matter what time it was. Finally Bam and Jess left rather reluctantly.

            The fighting with my parents got worse and a lot of nights my dad would just not come home which meant my mom took her frustration out on me. I did my best to ignore her, knowing it wasn’t really me she was mad at, but it was hard. I was still at Bam’s a lot but I tried not to stay over night there quiet so often, and I tried to go home for dinner but April usually insisted I stay. She was worried about me not eating at all if I went home.

            School was the same, I didn’t have many friends in my class but I just did my work and kept to myself. I liked school for the most part. I liked learning and always tried to do my best, even though Bam would make fun of me for doing my homework right away, I liked to have it done so I didn’t have to worry about it.

****Hey guys thanks for reading!! This is my first story so any feedback would be greatly appreciated!! I hope you're enjoying it so far. It gets more interesting as Emma gets older, i promise :)