You've Got the Love, I Need to See Me Through

“Be good kids!” Dad yelled, as he drove away, leaving us standing on our front porch in the cold air. He’d dropped us off an hour late, but I hoped Steve wouldn’t care about that. We weren’t his kids, anyways. Gabe went first, pushing the door quietly. We dropped our bags in the hall way and Alex took my hand, scared. He looked at me, his blonde hi-lighted hair covering his big green eyes. We went in to the dining room and mum was sat at the table, her hands cupped around a blue mug, watching us as we sat down.

“Is he home?” Gabe asked, clearing the silence.

“Yes I am, thank you Gabriel” Steve laughed, coming in to the room. He looked at us, disgusted.

“Hey Steve, Sorry we’re late home from Dad’s” Gabe said, moving his chair by my side. Steve just stood and stared, as if we were some kind of zoo, some kind of freak show, even. He took his brown mug off the side, taking a long sip of his hot coffee.

“Why were you late?” He spat, his voice turning dark. We all looked at each other, wondering what to say. Alex took my hand, hoping to God that Steve wouldn’t lay a finger on me.

“Dad, uhm, he said he wanted to spend some extra time with us” Alex mumbled, playing with a screw on the table.

“Your dads a twat” Steve growled “That’s where you get it from”. Gabe shot from his chair and leapt on Steve, animal like, knocking the mug to the floor, smashing it in to a billon pieces, leaving Steve somewhere nice to land. Gabe was over him, holding Steve’s neck up by his freshly ironed collar.

“You don’t even know him” Gabe muttered to his face, spitting with each and every word. Steve thrusted his waist up, smacking Gabes head in to a cabinet causing him to lose his tight grip on Steve’s collar. Steve shot to his feet, grabbing Gabe by his neck and throwing him against a chair, pissed off to the max by the look on his scrunched up face.

“Everyone, get the fuck out my sight!” He shouted, smacking the table top with his clenched ape fists. We all did as he said; I pulled Gabe up and helped him hobble up the stairs, laying his head with a blanket of kisses as I took him in to my room, tucking him in to my double bed. I ignored the blood he was leaving on my white covers, not caring if they’d stain or not. I just cared if Gabe was going to be okay, and if I was going to be Steve’s punching bag. Gabe looked up at me, his blood covering my clothes as he drifted off to sleep. I smiled at him, rocking him gently, letting him know I was here for him, like he always was for me, I joined him, eager to escape conciseness.

My eyes battered open as I looked around my room, in a dazed panic. Steve was stood at the end of the bed, smiling. His smile was crooked, just like everything else about him. He lifted his finger, beckoning me to go downstairs with him, for a beating. I had two choices right now. Choice one, scream like a little girl who’d just seen her cat get hit by a car and wake Gabe up, he’d protect me until he was knocked unconscious, then Steve’d take me down worse then he planned to now. We’ve been there before, a time or two. Or choice two, I went down and took it. Two. I took a huge breath and lifted Gabe off of me, gently laying his sleeping body on the space next to me, leaving him with a swift kiss of the cheek. We’d been so close; we’d only taken up one side of my king-size double bed. I slid off the bed, slowly and sleepily and followed Steve down the stairs and in to the kitchen, in the darkness. He shut the door and walked over to me, slowly, laying a sweaty palm on my shaking shoulder blade.

“Your brother had a mouth on him tonight” he sighed “It’s sad you were late home, really. I was going to spare you, but not fucking now, you little bitch”. He slid his hand to my arm and squeezed my upper muscle, throwing me against the luckily turned off cooker. I hit it and dropped to the floor, not letting out a noise. That’d just make him angered. He walked over, and stamped on my ankle, glaring at me with his beady eyes. I kept my mouth closed, my lips locked together. He ripped me up by my throat and tossed my body down, bending over me, caveman like.
“You’ll learn this time, I’m sure” He grinned, picking his left fist up and punched my face, once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Five times. Each hit was strangely more painful as the last. Twenty seven times. I lost count after that, plus consciousness.