Blazing Freedom

This all started with my parents being young and in love. It continued when my mom got pregnant with me at fifteen. Two years later she had my sister, Natalie. Fouir years after that, my father lost his job. He searched everywhere for the next year but couldn't find anyone that would hire him. Dad turned to the drink. He preferred to "wash away his sorrows". Mom eventually found a job as a babysitter at a daycare. Dad took most of the money that mom made and used it to pay for his booze. It was not unfrequent that our house would be without hot water, or we would go without electricity.

That brings us to now. I'm seventeen years old and my sister is fifteen. We've lived in the same little house since I was born. I adore my sister but I absolutely loathe my mother and father. My life has been a living hell and I'm tired of being locked up in my room. I'm tired of the fact that we can't go to school and I'm tired of the fact that we have little to no interaction with the outside world. I'm just tired of living this way. I don't care what it taked but I am going to get Natalie and myself out. My first step will start in the morning.

When morning comes, I watch mom through the kitchen window and see her leave for work. Then I creep into the living room to see if Dad is still passed out on the couch with a half empty beer bottle in hand. After I confirm that Dad is still unconscious, I go back to the room that Natalie and I share and gently shake her awake. "Natalie," I whisper, "Wake up."

Natalie mumbles and rolls over. After a moment her eyes open. "What?" she asks, tiredly.

"I'm going out for a bit so cover for me."

"Lacey? Where are you going? You know Mom said we can't leave the house."

"Natalie," I plead, "I beg of you, cover for me just this one time. You can't tell Mom though." Natalie nods her head in agreement and goes back to sleep.

I creep back to the front of the house and I quickly slip out the door. I make my way to the police station, determned to end this nightmare. ONce I get inside, I latch onto the nearest police officer and tell him all about the abuse that my sister and I go through on a daily basis. The policeman is obviously disbelieving. I try to show im the marks that she's left on me but he just laughs. "How do I know that you and yer sister weren't playin' around? I gots children too. I know y'all guys like to rough house."

"But -----," I began to protest.

"Just 'cause you got mad at yer mom doesn't mean that you can go spouting stories that ain't true. One o' these days somebody'll believe ya and you'll git yer mom in a lot of trouble. Now run on home 'fore I call yer mom." So I left the police station, disappointed.

I head home so that I can brainstorm on a plan B, since plan A wasn't particularly helpful. As I reached the house, I realized that my Mom's car was in the driveway. She isn't supposed to be home. The good news is that her car isn't the only one in the driveway. It means that she has company over. It means that there is a very likely chance that she hasn't noticed I'm missing. I quietly make my way to the back of the house and climb in through the window of my bedroom.

When Natalie sees me, she drops to her knees and starts to cry, "Lacey, I'm so sorry. She came home early. She said that if I didn't tell her where you were then that meant that I didn't love her. But I do love her Lacey. She's my mom and now she's mad at me. And now you're gonna be mad and me and you're gonna get in trouble."

I can understand why Natalie is so upset. Natalie has always strived for our mother's acceptance and her love. Natalie loves our mother dearly and excuses all of the horrible things that she does to us because Natalie believes that Mom does it because of love. So she's upset because Mom is upset with her but she's also upset because she knows what Mom does when she gets angry. And Mom is angry at the both of us.