Hide and Seek

Chapter 2

"LOUIS!" I knew who it was. Daddy. He hammers his fist against my door like it's that whore he

brings home every odd night.

I get up off the worn-out mattress awarded to me from the attic by myself. In a hungover trance I

approach the door and twist the handle to release the catch. The creaking of the rusted hinges is

like nails on a chalkboard.

"Fuck." I curse under my breath as the wave of nausea passes.

"You gotta go to work so get the Hell up, Louis. You need to take Phoebe to school." Listening to

my father's voice is like sticking my head in a tractor's weasing engine.

"Yeah, I know. Go to work. I'll do it." I tell him.

"Sure?" He ruffles my hair into order and it hurts my scalp. I shrug him off.

"Yeah. Go."

"Alright. Be good."

My dad isn't all that bad, no one's saying he's worthy of the World's Best Daddy mug but he does

what he has to and leaves. We prefer it that way.

I turn back to my bed, wanting to crawl back from whence I hailed and hide under my covers.

Phoebe will be downstairs waiting for me to walk her to school. Instead of a full-scale shower I

change out my current clothing to put on jeans and a T-shirt with a brand I cannot identify in this

haze.

"Hanayen!" I call to the snoozing creature on my bed. "Hanayen, wake up! We have to take

Phoebe to school today."

The St. Bernard lifts his head off my pillow like it's a mission incapable of concluding even by

Tom Cruise. He whines and I open the door again to welcome a wave of air free of the alcohol

and crystal meth stench.

"Let's go." I extend my hand towards the door urging my dog to move.

He rises and jumps off my bed with the tremors of an elephant's footsteps, before he goes

bounding off downstairs ahead of me. Phoebe is swinging her legs back and forth due to the gap

between the ground and her feet.

"Hey." She greets in that chirpy small girl voice that I'd otherwise find cute.

"Shoosh. Don't yell!" I hiss and she puts her finger to her lips.

As my apology I decide to make my baby sister laugh. I swipe her heart-shaped plastic shades

from her head much to her discontent. I cover my eyes with them. They're a flashy pink in the

form of a five-point star that's tinted black with stiff plastic.

"Can you loan me these for the day?" I flash her a smile.

"No! They're mine!" She tries to reach for them, but it's pointless.

"I'll eat your veggies for a month, yeah?"

"Fine." She relents.

"Come on." I tug on her ponytail. "Let's get you to day-care."

"I'm in the second grade, Louis!" She slips her small hand into mine as we step out the door with