Growing Together

Chapter 14

2 years later

We're walking on some smaller empty streets in Brooklyn, hand in hand, when we hear a girl cry. Not a teenage girl or a woman- it's a little girl's cry. The other voice is more dominant one, belonging to a man, yelling at the girl probably. Me and Jug both freeze, paper bags full of new clothes in our hands, and look at each other.

"Juggie," I whisper in panic and horror, hearing the girl probably getting slapped. I step closer to him immediately, tears swelling in my eyes, and he wraps his left arm around me, holding me close.

"You're alright," he says quietly. "Let's try to find it, okay?"

I nod in horror, blinking really fast as we start rushing through the dark and small empty streets, finally finding the right one soon enough. My body tenses up, puke already in my spine, eyes growing wide as I see the crying girl and a man squatting in front of her, her face bloody. It's not even a preteen. I think she's a year or two younger than our boys.

The man's hand rises again and this time it grabs her shirt, shaking her hardly, making the girl cry again.

"What are you doing!?" Jughead exclaims, both of us hurrying to the two. The little girl rapidly looks at us with wide eyes as the man straightens up with an unsure but angry look on his face.

"What am I doing?" he asks, almost spitting on Jughead.

"Is she your daughter?" I ask in horror, looking at the girl's bleeding swollen cheek that has obviously gotten quite a few slaps and at least one punch.

"Not your business, get out of my fucking way," he says furiously, seeing that somehow both me and Jug are standing in front of the little girl, blocking the middle aged man from her.

"You can't fucking abuse kids! Especially not your own daughter. That's disgusting," I cry.

He snorts, heading to the car next to the sidewalk. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jughead asks him, managing to grab his wrist and bring it behind his back. Before he can do it with the other hand as well though, the guy somehow gets a pocket knife out of his jeans.

"Let me the fuck go!" he screams from the top of his lungs and Jughead rapidly lets go of him, not wanting to die from stabbing. "Keep her," the man spits at the girl and jumps into the car, driving away.

"What the fuck?" Jughead mutters under his breath.

"Stop. Talking. Back. To me." My father screams at me, giving me a punch between every word, my head hitting the wall behind me every time.

"I will," I cry, not saying 'stop' this time.

He pulls away from me, making me fall down next to the wall. When will the boys be back home? I need them. I sob as he kicks me once into the stomach and spits on me before walking away.

A sob takes over my body. Jughead is here for me immediately, but I shake my head at him, squatting down in front of the girl instead. "Hey," I whisper. "Is he your dad?"

She nods her head, looking scared and spiteful and alert of our every little move. "Where's your mom? Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Jughead asks.

She seems a bit more scared of him, but her eyes are not as icy as before when he squats down next to me as well, his hand on my shoulder, seeing how shaken up I am. She keeps quiet though, looking back at the ground, another sob coming.

My hand carefully touches hers and when she doesn't grasp it away, but looks up at me instead, I move a bit closer and hug her. With a few seconds, her head rests itself onto my shoulder, but she doesn't hug me back just yet. When she has calmed down a bit in a few minutes, I pull away, keeping holding her hand. "How old are you?"