Beyond The Hatchets: The Life of Toby Rogers

Chapter 1: My Family

  I was born into a very small family. There was my father, my mother, and my sister. I wish I could tell you that we were a happy family, but I would be lying.

   First, I will talk about my father. There's not much to say besides the fact that he was an abusive alcoholic and I hated his guts. He always laid his hands on my mother, my sister, and I. My father loved his alcohol. You couldn't find a single depressing family photo of him without a bottle in his hand. He was a bigger man, mostly due to the giant beer belly he acquired from all his many years of alcoholism. He was on the taller side of average height and had brown hair, just like me. I don't think I ever heard him call me anything close to my name. I would answer to "asshole" or "little fucker" because that's all he ever called me. Everyday, I would come home from school and he would be arguing with my mother. Sometimes, it got physical, other times, he'd get in his car and leave.

   Enough about him, you'll hear more about him soon enough. Let's move on to my mother, Connie. She's a smaller woman, on the skinnier side and shorter than most people. She has short, blonde hair. Blonde just like Lyra's was. I love my mother. Believe me, I do. She's just always had one problem. She's a coward.  My mother gave my father everything he ever wanted from her. She never had the power to protect herself, or her children. I never see her anymore, but if I ever did, I'd ask her, "Why didn't you do more for us? Why didn't you love us enough to protect us from him?" I ask myself these questions almost everyday of my life and I get no answers.

   Last, I want to talk about my favorite member of our family, the one person that I truly trusted, My sister, Lyra. Lyra was two years older than me but it never bothered me much. I loved having a big sister. She was my only friend. She was taller than me and had long, blonde hair. Lyra always stood in front of me and protected me when I should have been protecting her. We never fought, bickered, or even yelled at each other. We were all each other had. She's the one I miss the most.

   So yeah, this was my family. Before it all went to hell. Before it was torn apart by misfortune. There are many reasons why we aren't a family anymore. To find out, keep up with me. I promise you, nothing about my story is "sunshine and rainbows".