"Love Kills."

Family Loves... The First Incident

Family Loves

The First Incident

Age 14

-

"Family loves."

"Forever."

I smiled at him, my father, my hero. His deep blue eyes, shaded by his dark brows glistened in the light, a look of mischief crossing his face, the corner of his mouth rising playfully as he looked at me. He glanced down at the chocolate ice cream cone in his hands before meeting my eyes once again.

Before I could recognize the trouble that was about to come, my nose was covered in a coat of frozen chocolate and rainbow sprinkles. I gasped and reached for the cone that was stuck to my face, pulling it off.

My father's loud laugh echoed in the parking lot we were sitting in, his head thrown back in glee, happiness brought by my utter demise. I saw him begin to lean forward in laughter and stuck my own chocolate cone in the path his face was headed in, smushing the ice cream into his nose.

He froze immediately and touched the cone as if he couldn't comprehend what had just occurred. He then turned toward me, disbelief covering his face. With my brows raised, I waited for his reaction. Slowly, he reached for the cone, removing it from his schnoz.

The anticipation became too much for me to bare, and I yelled, smushing his ice cream onto the top of his head. I then stood from the curb we had been sitting on, and ran.

It didn't take longer than a few steps for him to catch up and grab me, smashing the ice cream in his hands onto my own head, splattering melted chocolate everywhere.

"Dad!"

"Lenny," my father mocked in a high pitched voice. I let out a high pitched scream as the freezing liquid dripped down my back. My dad let out a laugh and I pushed him away.

"If I smell like rotten milk for a week, it's going to be your fault!" I walked toward my jacket that sat on the curb while my dad laughed some more. "And if you don't, I'll pour chunky milk on you while you sleep!"

He wrapped his arm around my neck and brought me into a hug. "Oh, come on. We both know your mother would kill us both."

"It's gonna happen when we get home anyway," I sighed, shaking my head. I knew as soon as my mother saw what a mess we were, she would scold us. Not only for making a mess, but also for wasting ice cream.

And low and behold, when we stepped in the house, walked into the kitchen and in my mother's sight, she took one glance and a deadpan expression overtook her beautiful features. My mother had long, gorgeous brown hair, just a few shades lighter than my father's and my own and bright green eyes. She was only around 5'2" and a small frame, compared to my father's six foot, large frame and stature.

"What did you two do," she demanded lightly. She was just finishing putting the dishes away.

"It's a funny story actually," my dad chuckled lightly.

Her eyebrows raised knowingly. "I'm sure."

"Lenny started it," he said pointing at me. My brows furrowed immediately and my jaw dropped.

"Liar!" I said and pushed him. He laughed again and began to walk toward my mother.

"Now both of you go get cleaned up," my mom said with an accusatory finger pointed in my dad's direction. He walked closer and her finger became her palm and she pushed against his chest with a smile peering through her scowl. "Isaac."

"Katerina. I just want a kiss. Just one."

And that's when I turned around to take a shower. I walked past my brother's room, hearing his music quietly playing through his closed door, to my own room to grab some clean clothes. Then I went to the bathroom and took a warm shower, washing all the sticky ice cream out of my hair.

When I had finished, I went to the kitchen once again, seeing my dad freshly showered as well, his wet hair hanging over his eyes. My mother noticed me walking in and pointed behind me.

"Can you go tell Alexander to come here? I need him to get his clothes out of the dryer." I nodded and walked back down the hall to his door and knocked loudly.

"Alex! Mom needs you to get your clothes out of the dryer!" When I got no response, I knocked again. "Alex! Alex?"

Mumbling under my breath, I opened the door and walked inside. There was a bunch of clothes piled behind the door, so I had to kick them out of the way.

I went to lecture him about his messiness, but when I looked up from the ground, I found him lying on his bed, his arm hanging over the edge and his skin pale and an open bottle of pills on the ground and my legs were moving toward his body and I couldn't see and his TV was muffled by my breathing.

Suddenly, a scream broke through my daze and everything was loud and bright again. It was my scream.

"ALEX!"

I was already in front of him, but my knees buckled and I fell to the ground, gripping his arm tight. Tears were rushing down my face and my entire body was shaking.

"Lenny?" My mother's voice came from down the hall, and suddenly it was very close. "Oh, Alexander. Oh no. Oh-"

I turned to see her grabbing her phone, seemingly calling an ambulance, when my dad's blurry frame came into focus.

"Dad..." My nose began to burn and my grip on Alex's hand became stronger before I felt my father's arms wrap around my body, keeping me from completely falling apart. I turned into him and he whispered in my ear, saying that everything was going to be alright.

An hour later, we were all in the hospital waiting room, but I was still in my father's arms. The place I hadn't left in that hour.

I couldn't feel my body, wondering if Alex was going to wake up. If he was going to live.

I wondered what was going to happen after. What was going to change.

Because deep down I could feel it. The universe shifting. My life was on a new path, and there was nothing I could do to change that.

-

If you or someone you love is going through something similar, please report to the police or call an abuse hotline.

United States: National Domestic Abuse Hotline: 1−800−799−7233

Don't let yourself be silenced. Don't let it continue.