"You're nothing but a child Neaveh" my mom slurs at me.
"I'm more grown then you'll ever be" I scream . Her small muscled body stands at one side of our small kitchen attempting to make lunch, instead burning it because she can't stop drinking for even a second. I rush around the living room cleaning up my baby brothers toys. It's sad how my 5 year old brother and myself got left behind by my father because he wanted to start over, that was about 2 years ago. " maybe you should leave like your father did" she adds. " I'll be taking Troy before I leave, I dont want him to live with a low life of a mother like you, no wonder why dad left, he couldn't take the drinking and the drugs anymore."I cry out. She comes stomping out to the living room. She was a bit taller that me and have more muscle, she was still really skinny. " you did this Neaveh, it's all because of you" she screams out before grabbing a fist full of my hair and dragging me to the basement door. I've basically lived there. "If you can't leave alone then you'll stay down there alone." She forcefully opens the old wooden door and throws me down the the stairs slamming the door after, leaving me alone, in the cold with dark memories. I scream out in pain as I lay there on the cold hard ground. I slowly try to stand up wincing at the pain in my left leg. I try my best to find the light. I soon find a flashlight and turned it on, then I limp over to the dusty, old mattress that lies in the corner, following the light carefully not to fall I hear mom yelling at Troy. He's only 5, he shouldn't have to go through this, hes such a good kid. I sit down on the bed and shined the light at my leg. Pulling up my pant leg I could feel that it was sticky. I Look down and seen that I had a huge gash about 3 or 4 inches long. Itll probably need stitches. I pull off my thin jacket and ripped off a long enough piece to tie around it, I wince at the pain. "Itll be okay Neaveh"i repeat to myself. Once i finish I begin to cry myself to sleep.
Morning
I wake up to Troy yelling my name from up stairs. I look over at the stairs to see light shining from upstairs. "Neaveh, mom says you can come up stairs" I hear him say. I try to quickly get up off the bed and limp towards the stairs. "Thank you for letting me know Troy." I reply and climb the stairs without putting much weight on my leg. "Are you okay " Troy asks.
"Yes buddy I'm okay" I say as I reach the top. I'm getting us out of here tonight. I walk into the kitchen after shutting the basement door behind me. "What are you doing sissy" Troy asks. "I'm gonna call Devyn" I reply as I look through the kitchen for the home phone. "Where's the phone Troy?"I ask. " I dont know" he responds as he sits down in the livingroom to play with his toy cars.
" do you want to go see what Brennen is up to?"I ask him. "Sure" he stands up and runs to his room to get his shoes. "Neaveh" I hear Troy's soft voice call. "Yes Troy" I ask.
"Can I ride my new bike to show Brennen" he peaks his head out of his room with a smile. "Sure" I smile back. I grab my shoes and my Black sweatshirt Brennen let my borrow a few weeks ago.
Troy comes racing out of his room with his jacket and shoes on.
"Ready?"I ask. He nods his head and i open the door. I met Troy at the front yard on the side walk while he went to go get his bike that I bought him a few days ago.
He runs with the bike by his side and his helmet and stuff on the other side
"Can you help me?" He asks.
"Yeah"
I help him out on his helmet and pads.
"Ride only on the sidewalk" I explain to him "okee" he says with excitement in his voice, Troy loves Brennen and his dog Kobe. We dont get to visit often but when we do we're there for a while. I let Troy ride his bike in front of me, I watch as he ride it like hes been doing this his whole life. Really it's only been a year.
"I hope Brennen is home" Troy says breaking me out of my thoughts. "I hope so too."I reply to him.
As we get closer to his house I notice his truck in the driveway. Troy cheers and rises his bike a little faster, turning into the driveway. I approach the house and noticed Lisa's car was on the other side of Brennens huge white truck. I look over at Troy and noticed Lisa coming out of the house. "Hey Troy" she says in her usual cheerful voice. "Hi Lisa is Brennen here?"he asks. " yes of course" she laughs. Troy goes inside and I walk up to Lisa. " hey Neaveh" she says with a smile " hey" I return with a small smile. Lisa has always been like a mom to me. "Are you okay?"she asks.
" not really. I need to get Troy and I out of that house" i hug her and began to cry. She rubs her hand on my back in small circles. "You're always more than welcome to stay here until you find a place" she assures me. I pull away from the hug, wiping away the falling tears. "I know, I just dont want to seem like I'm intruding " I say. " oh honey no, I care a lot about you, and so does Brennen, he would want you to stay here too" she replies. "Thank you Lisa, for everything."I give her a small smile, and followed her into the house, closing the door behind me.
I heard yelling coming from the livingroom, as I walk in I seen it was Jessica and Brennen. And next to Brennen was Troy.
" what's going on here" Lisa asks Jess.
"Brennen took my phone and his it somewhere and wont give it back, and I have to leave for work in a few minutes."she explains. "Brennen, give her, her phone back please "Lisa says. "Fine" Brennen smiles and goes to get Jessica's phone. "NEAVEH."Troy screams. " Troy inside voice please" I ask him politely. " okay sissy" he smiles and runs up the stairs im guessing to find Brennen. I sit down on the couch and Kobe jumps up next to me.
I pet him And he licks my hand.
"Hey Neaveh what's that on your leg?" Lisa asks as she sits down next to me.
"Are you bleeding" Jes asks.
I look down at my leg. I forgot to change before I got here. I haven't told anyone that mom physically abuses me. "What's going on" I hear Brennen say as he walks down the stairs. "Its nothing"i speak up. "No it's something if there's that much blood Neaveh" Lisa says. Brennen walks over by Lisa and looks at my Pant leg. I begin to shed a few tears. "That's why you were limping when you walked in here" Brennen says. I look into his eyes and they were glossy.
" can I see it?" Lisa asks.
I look at the stairs to my right a noticed Troy coming down. "Hey Troy go out back and help Jake" Brennen says to Troy. "Okay" he replies in his small innocent voice.
Brennen walks in front of me and sits on his knees. Grabbing my hands gently he asks " what happened Neaveh?"
Now is the time to come out. But I dont want Troy to get taken away from me. I dont want the world to see how much of a crappy life I've been through. What if they think I'm faking it? What if they call me a liar?
I look up into Brennens eyes with a tear falling down my cheek.
" Troy can't leave me. He can't get taken away" I cry. " I need him"
Brennen wipes away the fallen tears.
"Its okay, he isn't going no where" he assures me. I look down and grabbed the end of my pant leg. Rolling up slowly revealing a blood soaked fabric wrapped around it. I wince as I take it off. Lisa rushes to the bathroom and brings out a first aid kit. " here lay down, I'll clean it for you and wrap it up" she explains. I slowly move my leg onto the couch. "Last night mom and I got into a fight. I told her she needs to start acting like a mom towards Troy and I. The fight went further and she told me that I was a child. I told her I'm more grown than she'll ever be. She got mad and threw me down the basement stairs. That has been my whole life. Mom never wanted us. She said that we're the worse mistake she ever made."I begin to cry harder. Brennen holds my hand and let's a few tears slip from his eyes. "I'm so sorry Neaveh."he says. Once Lisa finishes she explains to Brennen that he needs to take me to the hospital. She tells her okay and helps me off the couch. " Can you watch Troy please. I dont want him going back there" I ask Lisa. "Yes of course" she says as she hugs me. " we'll see you when you get back, driving safely" she says as Brennen helps me out the door. Once he helps me into the truck he shuts the door and walks to the drivers side. I buckle up and so does he.
"Will they ask how this happened" I ask breaking the silence. "Probably." He replies starting the truck.
I look out the window at all the trees and people we pass.
What will I tell them? That my mother threw me down the stairs? I dont know. My eye lids soon became too heavy and I fall asleep to the soft music playing in the back ground.
