Blow Me Away

“Come here you little freak” one of the bullies sneered at the little girl. She was only 10 and they were 14. It wasn’t a fair fight. There was 3 boys against 1 little frightened girl. No one was there to help her. She moved away from the boys and one of them came closer. She whimpered as he snatched her backpack. He yanked it off her arm, causing her arm to snap forward. She cried out in pain and the boys just laughed. The tallest of the boys grabbed the backpack of the little one and began to look through it. He took out her writing book and tore it to pieces. She began to cry. She had been writing poetry for her brother. She wanted to make him see that it was wonderful. She wasn’t very good at it. She was only little but her brother was 14 and he didn’t like it. He hated any thing remotely girly. The little girl was pushed to the ground and her elbows and knees were grazed. They began to bleed. The boys kicked her while she was down. She covered her face and cried. There was a loud voice and the bullies looked up. It was her big brother. He walked forward, looking very tough. The bullies looked at each other, frightened, before running away. The big brother looked at his sister on the floor, bleeding, and knelt down. Her cradled her crying figure in his arms and said, “It’ll be okay Nattie.”
Her figure shuddered as she stopped crying. She looked up and wiped her tears. She smiled at her brother, “Thank you Pete”
He smiled and helped her up. He let her jump onto his back as he carried her home.

“Natalia please come here” she heard her mother call. She scrambled off her bed and ran don the stairs into the kitchen. She smiled politely, “Yes mother”
Her mother looked up and smiled at her daughter, “Pete said those boys came back for you again”
Natalia hung her head and mumbled, “Yes mom. They did”
Her mother walked over to Natalia and hugged her, pulling her up to her. Natalia buried her face in her mother’s shoulder and said, “They ripped my book”
“Your poetry book?” her mother inquired. The little girl nodded and her mother sighed, “It’s okay. We’ll get you a new one”
Natalia nodded and her mother out her down, “Thank you mommy”
Her mother smiled with kind eyes, “You’re very welcome Nat”
Natalia ran upstairs and burst into her brother’s room, “Pete, mom said I’m getting a new poetry book”
Her brother looked up from his homework and groaned, “I hate poetry Nat”
She looked at the floor and let a single tear run down her face. Pete jumped up, feeling bad for making his sister cry, and hugged her, “I’m sorry Nattie”
She smiled, “It’s okay Peter”
He laughed, “Wanna go get some ice cream?”
She nodded enthusiastically, “Yes please”
He smiled and they walked downstairs. Pete told him mom that he was taking his sister for ice cream and she hesitated for a moment.
“Please mommy?” Natalia pleaded and her mother gave in. She looked sternly at Peter, “Take care of your sister”
He nodded and they ran out of the door and down the street to the ice cream shop.
“What do you want Nattie?” He asked. She looked through the glass and said, “That one”
He nodded, “Two chocolate ice creams please”
The ice cream man nodded and gave them their ice cream. Peter paid for them and the sat down.
“Petey, I’m sorry for wanting you to read my poetry. I just wanted you to like me” his little sister mumbled. He chuckled, “Nattie you shouldn’t say that. Of course I like you. You’re my sister”
She looked up and her eyes twinkled, “Really? I love you Peter”
He smiled but didn’t say anything. They finished their ice creams and walked home. By that time, their father was home. Pete looked in the driveway and shuddered. They quietly walked inside and Pete ran to his bedroom. Natalia heard her father in the living room and went to say hello. Pete never really liked his father and Nat knew why. His father hits Peter when he was mad. But he never hit Natalia. Sometimes Natalia wished that he would hit her instead of Pete. She loved Pete and it hurt her to see him in pain. She had nightmares about it sometimes. She would whimper and scream in her dreams. She ran to her father and jumped in his lap. He smiled down at her and said, “Hello Nat, how are you?”
“Good daddy. How are you?”
“I’m great. Have you written more poetry?” he asked, still smiling. She shook her head, “No daddy. The boys took it and ripped it up”
“Oh Nat. You need to do something about that” he sighed. Nat nodded, “I know daddy. But Pete helped me. He scared them off”
“Peter. That little no good” her father growled.. Nat got off her father and said, “I better go to bed. Goodnight dad.”
“Night Nat” he said, calming down enough to speak to his daughter. Nat ran upstairs and into her bedroom. Pete heard the bang of her door from his bedroom, which was down the hall. He was hiding in his bed, hoping his father wouldn’t come for him.

Over the years things got slightly better. Pete and Nat had grown apart, unfortunately and their father stopped abusing his son. But Nat had gotten worse. She was now 21 and had just been arrested for selling and using large amounts of heroine. This was her 3rd arrest. The last two were for drug use and grand theft auto. She had stolen one of her old teachers car and drove it into a pole. Her parents were sick of her behavior. They though she needed some discipline but they couldn’t do it any more. She was too old. They thought over it for months and months until they came up with the perfect solution to get her away from her friends. They were the ones influencing her. When they proposed it to her, she didn’t like it one bit. She yelled at them and stormed out. She didn’t come home for a week. When she did come home, she was calm, but still didn’t wanna go. Her parents pleaded with her. She refused to go. So they packed her bags and demanded that she was going. She screamed and threw things. Proclaiming she was too old for their demands and discipline but they didn’t fold. They kept their ground until their daughter grew tired of fighting and finally gave in. A few days later they was a knock at the door. Natalia’s parents were out so she had to get of her bed and walk downstairs. In which case, Nat though sucked. She threw open the door and their stood her brother. She glared at him and he walked in. she went into the living room and sat down, “I don’t wanna go”
“Why? It’ll be fun,” her brother had said. She shrugged, “I’m having fun here”
“I meant safe fun,” he corrected himself. She didn’t want to go with him and his stupid friends. Traveling all over the country in a stupid bus.
“I’m not going” she fought against her brother.
“Natalia Rayne Wentz. You are going with me and that’s final” he glared at his younger sister. She huffed and crossed her arms. She knew she was defeated and she would have to go but she still hated the idea of it. If you asked her if she wanted to tour with her brother when she was 10 then she would have jumped at the idea. But now she hated him for leaving her. She had no one to trust when Pete left and went on tour. He hadn’t been home in ages. He’s now got his own house and hardly ever comes to see her. She sighed and said, “Fine, I’ll go. But don’t expect me to like it”
He grinned, “Not a chance”