With Reckless Abandon

Chapter 2 - Everyday

Skylar

September 31th, 2008
        "Vincent Charles Greenwood! Get your ass down here!"
        My brother slowly put down his book, stony faced. His deep indigo eyes glinted with worry. After a second, he sighed, snapping his chemistry textbook shut.
        I watched him, slowly setting down my pencil on the paper. I wasn't happy with the story anyways. It wasn't even that entertaining, I just had nothing else to do.
        "What'd you do this time?" I asked shakily. He shrugged, giving a forced smile.
        "Probably forgot to put something away. I'll go see what she wants." He stood to his full height of an all too impressive, 5'7, and left his room.
        We often opted to hang out in his room since it, along with mine, was the cleanest room in the house. It also led out to our small balcony. Though it was old and kind of falling apart, like most of the balconies on this row of townhouses, since we didn't have A.C, it was nice to open it on hot days.
        I continued to write, my boredom starting to clearly seep into the plot. Again though, I had nothing else to do.
        CRASH!
        I dropped my pencil, looking towards the door, startled.
        "YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!!" My mother screeched. I heard a loud thump, which I assumed was my brother falling down, and gritted my teeth.
        "Vince?" I asked, concern leaking into my voice. He didn't answer. I slammed my hands on the table and pushed my tiny body up.
        9 years old, a whopping 50 inches, and around 50 pounds too. What was I expecting to do? I wouldn't be able to fight back.
        But you can still heal him, I told myself.
        I crept down the stairs, careful not to step on any bottles or anything else that may be littering the floors.
        "You listen to me, brat." My mom spat. I rounded the corner, to see her gripping him by the hair, him on his knees trying to release the pressure from her pulling on his wispy blonde hair.
        He locked eyes with me, and shook his head, using his eyes  to signal me to get out of sight.   
        Luckily, mom was probably too drunk to see that.
        I stepped behind the wall, at the perfect angle to see the situation still.
        "You are a lucky ass kid." She said through gritted teeth. "I give you food, and shelter," Barely. This woman literally starves us. "And now I find out you're stealing from me!" She yelled. He winced as she yanked on his hair again. She gritted her teeth.
        "You have nothing to say?!" She roared. 
        "Sorry! I'm sorry!" He said in a panicked voice. I felt my heart throb.
        "Tch. Sure kid." She threw him down, walking towards the front door, right next to the staircase.
        Crap.
        I quickly stepped back, shutting myself into the closet behind me.
        "I'm going to the store! If I find another speck of food, your ungrateful ass is out on the streets!" No response. I nervously picked at my nails.
        "Speak when spoken too!" She yelled.
        "Yes, mom." He muttered.
        "Hmph." The door slammed.
        I slowly creeped out from behind the door.
        "Vince?" I asked. My brother turned to face me, a bruise already forming on the tan skin around his jaw. Yet he still smiled. "What did you do?" I asked, knowing full well it was probably something small and insignificant.
        "Well," He started, propping himself up against the wall. "When we made our sandwiches earlier, I must've left a small amount of peanut butter on the counter."
        I felt my heart drop.
        "That's not fair! She hasn't given us food all week!"
        "She forgets, Sky." He said sadly. "In her mind, we can't afford anything more than 3 meals, but she can't remember that she hasn't fed us. It's not her fault." He brushed his hair back into place. I felt my face heat up.
        "Maybe she should stop drinking then!" I snapped. Vince looked down, his expression grim. I felt a pang of guilt.
        I sighed, sitting next to him. "Sorry."
        "Not your fault. To your credit, you weren't old enough to remember her sober." He mumbled, resting his head against the wall.
        Right. Vince was a whole 6 years older than me, so when mom started drinking, he was 7, and I was 1.
        "Ah shit." Vince breathed, staring at his phone. "What's wrong?" I asked, peeking over his shoulder.
        "Hahh..." He laughed lightly, setting his head in his hand. "Eric heard that. I knew it was loud, but goddamn. Now I have to figure out how to explain that." I sighed.
        Eric was our next door neighbor, and had been since we were little. He was Vince's age and in his class, so they were good friends. Eric also had two brothers though. One was younger, close to my age, yet still a grade above me. He was one of my closest friends, Joey. The other brother was Bryan, and he was two years older than Eric, so 17 currently.
        Vince typed in some lie to shake off the suspicion, then groaned.
        "He asked if we wanted to come over."
        "Can we? I'd rather not be here when she comes back." I asked quietly.
        Vince nodded, but mumbled, "Well I need to come up with some excuse for this bruise on my chin." I felt myself perk up, quickly tucking my short hair behind my ear.
        "I can heal it!" I offered. "I've been practicing really hard, I think I can heal bruises now too!" I said excitedly.
        Vince chuckled. "Why not? Go ahead."
        I quickly sat in front of him, holding my hands over his chin. I closed my eyes in a quiet concentration, focusing on healing that one bruise. After a second, I heard his breath catch, and opened my eyes.
        "Did I do it?" I asked, pulling away my hands. He pressed his own to his face, looking mildly impressed.
        "Y-yeah. You're getting good." He praised with a smile. I felt my cheeks flush with pride.
        "Come on! Lets go!" I said, pulling him up. He lightly laughed as I dragged him towards the door.