The house on Maple Street

8

It smelled.

Like sour milk, the scent burned my nostrils, but my tears were to much in the way for me to really notice. I tried to make out my surroundings but all I could see was darkness. An isolating darkness, making me feel more alone then I already was. I wondered how long she was gonna leave me in here, last time it was it was almost a week. How does someone get from running through the forest feeling more alive than ever, to crying alone in a basement of darkness, feeling more dead than ever.

I decided to search around for a possible light source, I walked just about three steps when a long string hanging from above me fell right into my face. I stumbled backwards in shock only to find it was a light switch. I turned it on and took in my surroundings. The basement was small, an uncomfortable small an almost unbearable small. I felt my heart starting to race and my throat go dry. I was having a panic attack, I sat in a corner next to a stack of books, with my head in between my legs, rocking myself in order to numb the ringing in my head. Memories flashed, running through my mind like lightening.

How could she do this to me, how could someone lock me up in this basement, this house. All these doubts of who I am filled my brain. Suddenly I questioned my whole existence.

Last thing I remember was the smell, the smell of sour milk.

I woke up to the feel of bile running up my throat, I ran and threw up in the corner. My throat burned, all I could think about was food, it felt as if my stomach was slowly eating at itself the acid rotting away at my insides. Just as my body was about to shut down again I heard the screams of Aric, just hearing his voice brought tears to my eyes, I wanted him to hold me and tell me everything's alright, but it would be a lie, as everything wasn't alright. I wondered what mother was doing to him but then again what good would it do, I just kept replaying in my head the words of mother without pain what do we gain.

Hours of painful screams had passed when I heard the front doors slam shut, we were alone, I thought about breaking through the door but my body was to weak to make its way up and further consequences were not something I wanted, Instead I felt peace knowing both Ivy and mother were gone. I'm not sure where they go all I'm sure of is that it must be Sunday, every Sunday at exactly 4:00pm they leave without a word sometimes there not back till early dawn, on these nights I usually stay up with Aric both us playing cards and telling stories through the night as I'm scared of being alone, he tells me it's all for the cause and one day we will understand, easy for him to say he turns eighteen in under three months.

I wondered what it would be like to permanently live this secluded away from the comfort of family, family is all I know all I've ever known. Hopefully when I'm eighteen things change. Mum says in this family turning eighteen changes a child, in which way I'm unsure. But I'm hopeful, hopeful that I may one day be able to explore the unknown of the world, the world which entices and scares at the same time.

thoughts of curly haired boys and turning eighteen filled my mind as I slowly drifted off too numb to notice the blinding pain of hunger burning through my stomach.