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Dark is Here Lee I woke up in the middle of the night and the room was icy cold. I twisted on the couch and glanced over to where the heater was supposed to be. It was still there but it wasn't glowing it's usual orange glow anymore. I got up and went across the cold tile floor to check it. When I turned the nob nothing happend. I hoped that the plug had just come out of the outlet in the wall. But like usual, that was too much to hope for. The cord had been cut. "Robert..." I muttered through clenched teeth. I went back over to the couch and shook the sleeping bag on the floor in front of it. It was emty. "Sophia?" I go. I can't find her anywhere in the room. I call out for her again but I don't hear anything. I went into the kitchen next door and I spot her sitting at the table in the dark shaking. I went over to her and shook her little arms. "Sophi what happen-" "I'm c-cold." She whispered. I went back into the Livingroom and grabbed my blanket off the counch, then I went and wrapped it around Sophia. I can tell she had been sitting there for a while because her skin was cold. I leaned against the wall and rubbed my arms to try and warm myself up. "He came." She said after she warmed up a little. "I told him to stop but he kicked me." "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked her. "I didn't want to wake you up." She whispered. "You worked so hard today, and it took you so long to fall asleep, and I didn't want to-" "Shhh." I went. I hate it when she trys to pay me back for looking out for her. "Are you warm enough?" I asked. "What about you?" She went. See?There she goes again, always worrying about me when she should be worrying about herself. "Stop worrying about me." I said. I went over to the stove and opened the oven. To warm the room as fast as I could, I turned the heat up as high as it would go. Then I pulled Sophia's chair up close to the oven and pulled up my own chair to sit next to her. The heat felt so good coming from the oven. We just sat for a while and warmed up. "Are you ok?" I asked. "Where'd he kick you?" Sophia pointed to her purple swollen cheek. "It doesn't hurt much." She said. "My head aches though..." "Is it the noise again?" I asked. Sophia clenched her head and nodded slowly. I don't know what this is or when it started, but Sophia hears noises. Mostly when she stressed or depressed. She tells me that it sounds like static. You know, white noise, like a blank t.v. station. She says it gives her bad headaches. I have headaches sometimes too, only I don't hear any noise. It's silent for me. I reached out and rubbed her cheek. It should be ok in a day or two but we can't keep going through this. I can't let them keep hurting her. I lowered my tone and looked at Sophia. "Let's run." I said. "What?" She went. "We can't." I shake my head. "We can." I said. "We'll get caught." She said. "We won't get caught." I go. She gets quiet for a minuet, then she gasped."But what about my medicine?" "I can get you a lot more." I say. Then she goes quiet again as she sticks her arms out towards the oven. "Where are we going?" Sophia asked. "I was thinking Fort Valley." "You mean Georgia?" She asks and I nod."That's pretty far..." " I know." I said, then I looked at her. "You trust me?" She nodded. "Yes." She said. "I trust you." Now everything's cool. As long as she trusts me I know I can get us away from our mean old man. Sophia squinted sudddenly and rubbed her temple. "What's wrong?" I asked her. Sophia turned and looked at me again. "Nothing. My head was ringing again." She said. "So big bro, when are we leaving?" ************************ Aiza I want to punch myself right under the eye for falling alseep. The TV was still on and the clock above it said 2:34am. That means the movie went off like two hours ago. My heart started to race when I realized both my Mom and Dad had already gone to bed. Nick was asleep and snoring next to me. My parents had covered both of us with a blanket on their way out cause they didn't want to wake us up. I could feel Nick's hand on my bare thigh. I knew I should have changed out of the mini skirt. This is the exact situation I DIDN'T want to end up in. I sat up and straitened myself on the sofa. Nick was snoring. I slowly pushed his and off of me and stood up. Luckily, he was still snoring. I turned and headed for the bathroom. I felt a distant noise in my head. When I got in the bathroom and closed the door, I realized it was the same noise that gives me headaches. It's not that bad now, but later it's going to be a while lot worse. "At least you're still pretty." I muttered to myself as I looked at the mirror. Then I go, "Oh shit..." I forgot my English paper is due tommorrow. I goota go put somthing together but first, I gotta do somthing about my headache. I pulled the mirror back and scanned the medicine cabinet. It's notorious for never having what I need but I can always find everything else. It held up it's reputation because the closest thing I can find to asperin is a bottle of vitemin tablets. Great. I closed the cabinet and decided to get some water from the kitchen. When I opened the door I almost screamed because Nick was standing right there in the dark. My mouth was hanging wide open as he tryed to burn me with his stare. He starts toward me and I take a step backwards. "Wait," I go. "Stay back, I'm your sister!" Then his face changes completely. "And I love you too but can you come out of there so I can handle my business?" He said. "Move out of the way so I can take a leak." I cautiously move on past him and went into my room. I feel a little embarrased because he acts like he doesn't know what's going on. I give my door the momentum to close itsself, but I don't look to see if it closes all the way because I'm too busy looking for my bookbag because this paper I'm supposed be writing is huge. My whole room is out of order and on top of that, I'm still wearing my school clothes. I sat on the edge of my bed and the sound of the toilet flushing makes me go still. I wait to see if Nick will go past my room and back out into the living room. I just sat there and stared at the door. Maybe he'd just go back to the living room. "Aiza?" Nick's voice called from the other side of the door. First he peeked in, then he just decides to invite himself in. "What?" I asked, pissed that he didn't even wait for my permission to come in. "I could've been changing you know!" I said. "What are you still doing up?" He asked. "I'm doing homework." I go. "It's a big project due tomorrow." "You gonna make it?" He asked. "I don't know." I go. "My head hurts." "Oh, Mom told me you get migraines sometimes." He said. "Hold on a sec." Then he leaves and I relax alittle bit. My mouth tastes dry, and I know my headache is turning into a migraine. I really hope that unless he's bringing back a fat asprin, that he doesn't come back. Too good to be true. A few moments later he comes back with a glass of water and hands it to me. I took it greatfully and downed it in no time. It helps just a little bit. Nick thinks that by doing this he's earned the right to lay on my bed. He streched and wallowed on it behind me and even had the nerve to prop himself up on one of my good pillows. I stay cautious but he seems ok, so I let myself relax alittle. "Get off." I tell him. "What's the paper on?" He asked, completly ignoring my order. "It's on why people do what they know is wrong." I go. "Like you know you haven't taken a shower all day and you're laying on my bed like it's yours!" He laughs in this deep tone and it gives me goose bumps. "How long it's gotta be?" He asked. "Ten pages." I go. My head ach stops thumping, and starts slaming. I sat still with my back turned toward Nick. I was trying to meditate it away, but it felt like it was getting worse. "Nick." I said. "Could you go get me another glass of water?" "Why? Is it getting worse?" He asked. "Please just get me some water Nick!" I went desperatly. He gets off the bed and leaves the room. While he's gone I just sit and stare off into space. I know I should be puting on my night clothes before he gets back but I'm numbed by the painful noise in my head. A few minuets later I'm looking around the room and I think I'm starting to get dizzy because things are looking alittle shaky. Where the heck is Nick with that water. He's been gone way too long. My mouth is geting dry again. Finally, Nick comes back with a cup of water after what felt like forever. He handed it to me and I drank it slowly this time but it didn't help. Everything starts to look like it's moving. And even the water is starting to taste funny. "What's the paper on again?" Nick asked. "...Uh, it's on..." I press my palm agaist my pulsing temple. "Why we don't do wrong.. I mean uh, what we know is wrong." "Well how long did you say it was supposed to be again?" Shoot I can't remember, my head is killing me. "Twelve? Or was it eight?" My voice was getting raspy. "I thought you said it was two." Nick went. "And didn't you say it was due next week?" Why is he asking all these stupid questions? My head is aching so bad. I can't think. "When is it due?" He asked again. "I don't know!" I go. Before I would naturally notice, Nick comes an sits right next to me. I didn't do or say anything. I just stared down at the floor as my migraine got steadily worse. And as it that wasn't bad enough, all of a sudden this huge sense of drowsiness comes over me. I tried to fight it but it isn't working. Something is seriously wrongwith me. I can't think straight. "What ever happened to that girl you used to hang out with?" Nick ased. His voice was starting to sound funny. "Jayneice, wasn't that her name?" I lifted my hands and stared at them in disbelief as they looked like they were changing shape right in front of me. The whole world around me feels like it's melting and condensing. I can barely keep my senses. I looked at the cup that Nick had given me. I had already drank the water, but at the bottom of the cup was what looked like a little piece of a mostly disolved blue pill. "What was the name of that project again?" My mouth hung open as I stared at Nick in disbelief. I let go the cup and it seemed to fall in slow motion. Everything feels like it's moving so slow. All of a sudden, Nick is right next to me. So close I can smell his breath. The noise in my head grew louder as he put his hand on my bare thigh. "Do you remember?" He went as he rubbed my thighs. I want to push his hands away, but I can't move. It's not fear, I'm just too weak to move. My head has gone numb with noise, along with the rest of my body. "Stop! Stop Nick! Mom! Dad!" But my voice is so small now. I can barley whisper. "I swear I'll tell!" I warned. "Y-you'll go to jail!" "Shut up. You remember what happened last time you tried that right?" Nick said. Nick slid his hands way up in between my thighs. "Nick stop!" I cried. "I swear I'll tell! I swear!" "Shh... You know you like it." He pushed his hand in between my thighs. I can’t stop him, I realize too late that I'm paralyzed from the drugs he put in my water. I can't move at all. I can barely see anything anymore. My vision is fading. I can't even hear because the noise has gotten so loud I'm deaf with it. My own brother...God...I'll never be rid of the shame. ************************ Jayneice I waited outside the house for a while. I could hear a lot of yelling from inside. It sounded like somebody was fighting in there. Now I know why Natasha didn’t want us to come to her house while her parents were home. As soon as she opened the door, which was like five minuets ago, she looked so shocked to see me she couldn't say anything. Then I heard somebody scream at her from the back of the house Natasha rushed back inside the house without saying anything. I stood and stared down at the ground. Then I heard the door slam and Natasha walked right past me. I caught up to her and walked behind her alittle. I don't think she wanted me to see her face. "I told you not to come here." She went. She didn't even look back at me. "I'm sorry," I said. "I was worried about you." "Worried about me?" She went. "Or worried about what Aiza would think if she knew about this?" "Aiza was worried about you too." I tried. "Yeah right," She said. Her voice was starting to break. She's probably about to cry. "She's always talking about being happy and she's always acting jittery about everybody just forgetting their problems and all that hippy shit! I saw how she was treating Lee in class last week! And we always went along with her and tried to live up to her stupid expectations, and all that jive about the three of us going to college and junk! I know she don't care about nobody but herself, and you ain't no different!" She still hadn't so much as looked at me. "Tasha," I went. "You know that ain't true. We do care about you, you know we do!" "Whatever," She said. "How bout you and Aiza just stay the fuck away from me!" When she said that I stepped right in font of her and blocked her path. "Natasha I'm your sister!" I said. "You should have told me about this!" "You ain't my fucking sister!" She shouted. "You and Aiza started that shit back in the third grade Leave and neither one of you ever asked me once how I felt about it!" "But Na-" She cut me off. "You didn't and you know it!" "But I thought-" "You thought alright but you never knew because you never asked!" She's really upset. I guess I don't really pay much attention to her now that I thought about it. And neither did Aiza. We didn't pay attention because we were too bussy competing with each other and trying to impress everyone else. "All this time you've been hurting like this and we never questioned your excesses for having the bruises... What kind of sisters are we?" "We?" Natasha laughed suddenly. That laugh scared the sweat out of me. "We? What we? It was just Aiza and Jayneice, Aiza and Jayneice, I was just in your shadow!" "We-" "There ain't no we!" Natasha shouted. "WE ain't sisters, WE aint friends, We ain't shit!" “Come on Natasha. Don’t say that.” I plead. “It’s hard for me too.” Natasha pauses then turns around. Then suddenly she punches me from out of nowhere. I stumble back and fall on the ground. I’m frozen sitting on the ground with my hand on my cheek. I’m stunned. That blow hurt, but slowly my pain is being replaced with anger. Natasha glares down at me with hatred in her face. “Why’d you hit me!” I shout. “Why!” “You deserve it!” She shouts back at me. My lungs feel hot. The vessel in the back of my head starts to pump. My heart starts to thump. I’m angry. I jump to my feet and ball my hands into fists. “Go ahead!” Natasha shouts. “I dare you to swing.” I’m so angry. Natasha drops her bag and spreads her arms wide, welcoming a fight. I clench my teeth and raise my fist. Natasha looks at me dead in my eyes. And then, I just, can’t swing. I’m supposed to hit her in the face? I can’t hit her. Not Natasha, who’s been my shy and friendly sister for more than ten years. How can I raise my fist at her? My fists turn back into my hands and drop to my sides. I can’t hit my sister. “You think you’re too good, huh!” Natasha shouts. “Natasha…” I try. She shoves me so hard, most of my wind leaves me as I stumble back into a fence. Natasha comes after me and punches me in the side of my face. It stings. I make a fist and raise it to defend myself, but I hesitate to throw it. Natasha pauses. I…I can’t hit her back. “Why do you act like that?” Natasha shouts. “You know you want to hit me! Go ahead!” I put my arms up but she swings a hook around them and hits me in the jaw anyway. “Natasha stop!” I shout. Natasha is angrier now. She charges me and pins me up against the fence in a chokehold. I make another fist and I have time the throw it. I raise it, but still I can’t hit her. Natasha sees me drop my fist and it makes her even angrier. She lets go and punches me in the face again, then stabs me in the stomach with her fist. I drop to the ground with no air. “Ahh! N-Natasha…” I gasp. THUMP! She kicks me in the shoulder hard. Tears break their way down my burning face. “You have everything!” She shouts. “Look at you! You’re not lonely! Your mom don’t hit you!” “…It’s not like that...” I gasp in pain. “…I’m not perfect!” I reach back and grab onto the fence to try and stand up. I’m halfway up when Natasha punches me again in the side of my face and my whole head turns. I wince and clench my teeth trying not to cry out in pain. I pull myself up and Natasha poises to hit me again. This time I’ll brace myself. I turn my head to the side that hurts the least and squeeze my eyes shut. I hold on tight to the fence and wait for her to hit me again, but she doesn’t. I peek open one eye. Now Natasha is crying. I relax myself alittle and lean against the fence. Natasha is squatting down with her face in her hands. “Nata- ahh…” My jaw hurts. I squint and rub it with my hand. “Why can’t I be like you!” She crys with her head down. “Don’t say that…” I say with tears running my face. My face is burning with pain. “…Why can’t I look like you.” She cries. “No! No Natasha!” I cry. “You don’t need to be me like me. You don’t want to be me.” Natasha stands up with her face wet with tears. If she’s going to hit me again, I’m completely at her mercy leaning against this fence. Natasha’s eyes are puffy and her face is swollen. And now I notice the bruise on her arm. “What’s so wrong with you!” She shouts. “What’s so wrong your life? You got parents that beat you up? Huh?” Natasha stumbles toward me with anger and tears in her eyes. She takes in a breath and draws back her fist. I turn my head and squint my eyes. “Umph!” The blow to my cheek shakes my body. I let my pain out in a sigh. Then she lets hers out in sobs. Natasha swings again and hits me but it doesn’t hurt as much because she’s started to break down. She cries and trys to pound on me with her fists out of pure emotion like a little child. I don’t know what to do so I reach out and grab hold of her in a tight hug tight. She just cries and keeps trying to hit me over and over again. I hug her tighter, lower my chin onto the top of her head and absorb the impact of her emotions. Soon, she stops trying to hit me, and she just cries. Eventually she hugs me back. For a few moments at least, we’re still sisters. ********************** Jeremiah Damn, and I thought I had it rough. That tall girl came into class looking like like she had hit rock bottom. Usually She looks like she's always happy and joking around with her two friends. What were their names? I don't know why I can't think of their names right now since those three girls are really popular. The tallest one sits next to me in this class. "Hey Jayneice. You ok?" I ask. I don't think I've said more than like two words to Jayneice all semester. Jayneice looks at me and I don't think she's going to answer me but I guess she thinks to herself like Aww what the fuck, I guess I could at least acknowlege this nobody. "Who me?" She gives a slight nod and goes real quiet "I'm Fine." The way she just said that makes me think she wanted someone she didn't like to hear her. I don't know who that could possibly be. I've never seen or even heard of anyone ever having a problem with Jayneice, or her two friends for that matter. People called them the three sisters. There were only two of them today, Jayneice and the one that plays all the sports. Her name is Natasha I think. She's a nice girl, and pretty too. She dresses just a little more differently than her two friends do. She does wear flashy clothes and heels like her friends do but I can tell it's not her real style. She likes to wear basket ball shorts and t-shirts. She's really good at a lot of sports. She's an athlete and it's obvious when you look at her. That's why she catches me off guard all the time when I hear her talk. She's so damn timid. Today neither of them look like their happy. They even look like their mad at each other. Maybe they got into it with each other. "Class quiet down now I'm trying to take role." Ms.Ross talked like she was twenty years older than she looked. Ya know, like she's twenty going on forty. It was an older woman's voice but it suited her. "Crystal Remar "Gabriel Pinkney?" She called. "Here." "Berra Phillson?" "Here." I still don't understand why Ms.Ross takes roll from Z to A. I don't think I was here on the day when she explained it. Oh-well. I don't care anyways. As long as she holds up the end of the deal and gives me perfect attendance. "Natasha Jones?" Everyone turned around expecting Natasha to raise her hand like always. But today she gave a quiet "Here". "Jayeice Johnson." I feel a tap on my shoulder. Jack Vasquez sits behind me. When I turned around he was pointing at Jayneice while smiling a wolf's smile. "She fine." He said. "Fool I know that!" I went back. This was just his fiftyth time telling me that. Now this ain't right, Jayneice didn't say "here" like always, today she had her head down on the desk and her hand raise slightly. All the usual suck-ups try to console them, and some of them mean it, but most of them just want to be nosey so they can gossip next period. "Brodric Martin?" "Here." By Termaine Jenkins |
Entry # | 1 | Lee | 1.08k |