Trust me

Promise Me

I was 9 years old, sitting at the my dining table, my elbow on the table and my head in my hand, the clock on our old microwave reads that it is 11:37pm, my mother should be home by now.

I sit up, as the door opens, my mother is giggling, uh oh, the man picks he up and slams her into a wall, his lips rough against her's, they come in here and she is sat on the table, 'hello little brat' he says, he's drunk, I know well enough what alcohol smells like, 'get out of here, can't you see I'm busy?' My mother says, 'must be retarded?', they both laugh, he then strikes my cheek with the back of his hand!, I fall out of the chair, they both continue their disgusting abuse against each other, I get up and go out the back door, my nose is bleeding, I run down the street, my nose won't stop bleeding, my cheek stings too, I run into a front yard, I go around to the back, and I climb up the house, it begins raining, I climb all the way up to the third floor, I finally rest on a small terrace, I knock gently a couple times on the window.

The boy sleeping in his single bed, tucked in with love, his name is Max, he's been looking out for me since I was 5 years old, he slowly wakes up, he then sits up, his mother always locks the window, thinks I'm trouble though Max is the one always getting in trouble, he gets out of bed, and opens the window, 'Roxanne?, Why are you bleeding?' 'can I come in?' I ask, he lets me into his room, he closes and locks the window, he grabs a box of tissues from his bedside and tries cleaning up the blood, though most of it, has stained onto my shirt, he invites me into his bed, 'Max?, Are you asleep?' I ask, as he's laying behind me, 'yeah?', 'Promise me, .... That you will always be There for me?', 'I promise', I snuggle, his arm moves around me, I'm so lucky to have him here for me, we each go to sleep.

In the morning, his father comes up to his room, he opens Max's door and sees the bin next to his bedside full of bloody tissues, and me, my shirt stained, he breaths out, he comes over, and shakes me a little, 'better get out of here' he says 'but, dad-' Max says 'we are not her parents, and I thought I told her to keep the window shut?' his father says, I leave and I walk back, he lives about half a hour away, my mother got a apartment, child protection services helped with it, mum just had to pay $200 a month, and my school lets me have sandwiches, and the diner lets me have food if I wash up some dishes, they aren't allowed to employ me, cause I'm 9, though they will let me have a paying job there, when I am 14, the chef there sometimes lets me help him cook, I get home the dining table is broken, I go upstairs, I throw out my shirt, and have a shower, get dressed, then I grab my school bag, school is a 40-45 minute walk away, I can't catch the bus, or I'd get bullied, cause Max is driven to school, I don't own a bike, if I did my mother would have sold it, I don't get Easter chocolate, Christmas or birthday presents, not even Halloween candy, my life is the worst, and I hate it, I literally envy every child in this school, cause they have a family, I can't go into the orphanage, or I'd never see Max again, and I have friends, sure they are all adults, and work at the diner, but I can't leave them, even if it was for a better, happier family.

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Roxanne's life is pretty sad, sorry to have such a sad beginning, hopefully it'll get better.