Dance with Me

The sound of a door shutting followed by giggling caused me to wake-up. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but I couldn’t. I could hear the faint voices of my Aunt and someone else, a guy none the less. I knew that my Aunt was just getting. Did I know where she was coming from no, but I knew that she was just getting in.

I sighed and looked at the clock on my nightstand. The green digits displayed the numbers 3:37 A.M. What the hell could she be doing at three thirty in the morning? Seriously she has to be one of the worst guardians that has ever existed.

I looked over at Dante to see that he was still sleeping in his bed. Half of the covers were hanging off his body and onto the floor. His mouth was open slightly as small snores were heard from him. I sleepily smiled as I stared at him, he was my everything. I loved him like a mother loves a son, rather than a sister loves a brother. Who am I kidding, I practically am his mother. I’ve raised him myself ever since the….accident.

I heard a loud thud followed by more giggling. I saw Dante stir in his sleep but he didn’t wake up. I sighed once again. If she wakes Dante up I will personally do something about it.

I set up in my bed and sleepily rubbed my eyes. I let out a slight yawn before standing up off my bed. I could still hear the sounds of their voices as I stepped into the hallway. I carefully and quietly shut the door behind me, careful not to wake up Dante.

I dragged my feet down the hallway and into the living room. My Aunt was sitting on some guys lap and they were both on the couch. The guy looked like the same guy from earlier but there was something different about him. They both looked drunk and out of it. I knew that even if they were drunk that my Aunt would still be able to function since she drinks a lot when she’s out with guys. My Aunt was smiling and giggling as if she was a teenage girl with her crush. I wanted to gag but I was too tired to put forth any effort.

I cleared my throat causing both of them to look at me. My Aunt stood up off the guys lap and straightened her black mini skirt. I yawned as I watched her try to make herself look presentable She then looked up at me with her hands on her hips.

“What are you doing up?” she questioned.

I blankly stared at her completely unaffected, as if she really cares why I’m awake. The real question she wanted to ask was, why are you out here interrupting me and insert guys name here. I yawned once more as I stared at her. “You woke me up” I replied in an obvious tone.

My Aunt immediately picked up on my tone of voice. She glared at me as she stood there. Her supposed date stood there completely unaffected by what was going on. He was oblivious to everything but the length of my Aunt’s skirt.

“I came out here to tell you guys to keep it down before you wake Dante up” I explained. I turned on my heel and started walking back to my room.

“Excuse me but this is my apartment. You guys are simply staying with me. So if I decide that I want to invite someone over to my place and talk with them then you and Dante can deal with it” she retorted.

I stopped mid-step. I know that she did not just say what I think she just said. I clenched my jaw and slowly turned around to face her. She stood there eying me to see how I was going to react. She was trying to provoke me, and it was working.

I started walking towards her. My temper always got the best of me, no matter what. “Well for this to be your place, you actually have to be here for more than oh I don’t know two hours and another thing” I said as I now stood in front of her.

“No we can’t deal with it. We may be able to deal with you bringing over a different guy every other night. We may be able to deal with you trying to starve us to death. I might be able to deal with having to raise myself and a five year old boy but we will not deal with trying to fuck some guy you just met in the living room while we’re trying to sleep”

My Aunt’s eyes held more hatred than I think they have ever held. Her fist were clenched and she was shaking slightly. I knew that I was pushing her buttons but I didn’t care. She had gone too far this time.

“If you want to do that then you take that shit to the whore house where you should be” I harshly spat.

Once the words left my mouth her hand connected with my cheek. She may have been drunk, but that didn’t affect her abilities. The smack was hard and I was sure that it would leave a mark but I didn’t care. I ignored the stinging in my cheek and continued to glare at her. My chest was now heaving up and down and I knew that I was going to do something that I would regret.

“Don’t ever talk to me like that again” she spat “I took you and your brother in. I’m the adult and you’re the child, you don’t talk to me like that I don’t care how much of an ungrateful bitch you’re you stay in your fucking place”

She shook her head at me and twisted her face with disgust. “You’re just like my sister. A spiteful ungrateful bitch who got more than she deserved”

This caused me to snap. Hearing her talk about my mother like that pissed me off. My mother was dead yet she wanted to talk about her like that and practically spit on her grave. My mother never did any harm to anyone and doesn’t deserve to be talked about like this. My Aunt is the bitch, she’s the ungrateful one. The only reason why she took us in is because we had nowhere else to go and the state made her.

I pushed her causing her to lose balance in her heels and fall onto the ground. I got on top of her and started pounding her face in. The adrenaline was causing me to punch harder and faster. Her nose was now bleeding along with her mouth, but I didn’t stop.

I was revealing all of my stress. Everything that she has ever done to me, I was making her pay for. I was making her pay for talking about my mom, I was making her pay for everything that she had ever done to me. I was making her pay for causing me to practically become a mother at the age of sixteen.

I felt someone’s arms go around my waist, pick me up off my Aunt and toss me across the room. I landed on my ass with a loud thud. I was breathing heavily and the scarf covering my had fallen off. My hair was now all over the place but I ignored it. I was still angry at her and wanted to continue to make her pay.

My Aunt sat up with the help of the guy revealing her badly bruised face. Her nose was bleed along with her mouth. She had various scars and marks beginning to form on her face.

“I want you out of this house!” she screamed. “I want your ungrateful bastard ass out of here now!”

I stood up with my fist clenched tightly. “I don’t want to stay here with a bitch like you anyway! I’m gone” I turned on my heel and started walking towards my room.

I opened my bedroom door still furious. I looked over at Dante’s bed to see him sitting up in his bed. He was holding his bear close to him as he stared at me. His eyes held fear and sadness. He looked as if he was going to cry. I instantly felt bad and regretted everything that happened.

My aunt had just kicked me out the house, me and me alone. Dante would have to stay here. There was no way that he would be able to raise himself and I knew that she wouldn’t. How could I be so stupid and let my temper take over? I had just abandoned Dante. How could I have been so stupid?

I wanted to break down and ask for my Aunt’s forgiveness just so that I could take care of him. But I knew that she wouldn’t let me stay. I was going to have to leave, tonight. I didn’t want him to have to grow up alone. I was the only person that he had left and I had just made a stupid mistake that caused me to leave him.

“Lele w-what’s g-going on?” he hesitantly questioned.

I sniffed and walked over to him. I knew that I was going to cry but I had to be strong for him. I gave him a hug and he immediately hugged me back. I almost broke down then and there. Who knows when the next time I was going to hug him would be.

“I’m just going away for a little while” I whispered as I slowly pulled away.

I could see his eyes beginning to water. A tear slowly slid down his face. “B-but w-why?”

I sniffed once again. I wiped his tear away with me thumb. This was making everything harder than it already was. “I just..need to go”

He hugged me once again. “Take me with you Lele” he begged.

A tear slowly slid down my face as I hugged him once again. I couldn’t take him with me. I didn’t know where I was going, and I couldn’t put him that situation. He needs somewhere to sleep at night. Even if it’s this place, he needs somewhere to sleep.

I slowly pulled away from his grasp. “Sorry, I can’t, but I’ll still try and see you okay”

Dante nodded his head and wiped his eyes. I walked over to my closet. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to take anything with me today, so I only took what I would need right now.

I threw on a pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie. I put on a pair of sneakers that I knew I would be able to walk in, and quickly grabbed my I-pod. I grabbed a hat and put it on my hair that was now in a ponytail. I gave Dante a kiss on the cheek before closing the bedroom door.

“Why the fuck are you still here?” I heard my question. Her voice was extremely nasally because of the tissue that she was holding on her nose.

I smirked knowing that I had had caused her to look that way. My smirk then fell when I remembered that I was leaving.

“I’m leaving” I muttered as I stormed pass her. I made sure to brush her shoulder as I walked past her. I was hoping that she would lose her balance and fall again but her “friend” caught her.

I walked down the steps with my hands inside my pocket. I opened the front door and made everything worse. It was raining outside. It wasn’t drizzling either, it was pouring down. It wasn’t storming but it was raining extremely hard.

I sighed as I stared out at rain. My day just got worst, and it just started a few hours ago. I sighed once more before I pulled my hood onto my head and walked outside. I instantly felt cold when I stepped outside. The wind was blowing and the rain was pounding down on me as I walked.

I kept my gaze on my shoes as I walked. I didn’t know where I was going but I knew that it would be better than staying there.

It was still dark outside since it was early in the morning. A few of the street lights weren’t working causing some areas of the pavement to be darker than others. There were also some that were blinking causing me to become more paranoid than I already was.

I figured that no one was going to bother me. Everyone was mostly in their houses right now, the ones that weren’t were driving in their cars. There were very few people that were on the road anyway.

The rain pounded on me as I walked. My hoodie was beginning to become soaked as well as my jeans. Every step that I took, took me farther away from warmth. The wind blew causing a shiver to run down my spine.

I still had no idea where I was going but I knew that I needed to keep walking. Something told me that the farther I walked the better my chances would be, but I was starting to second guess myself.

I walked for what felt like hours. My jeans were now clinging to my body making me more tired than ever. My hoodie was soaked and weighing me down. I felt heavier with every step that I took. My eyelids were heavy and I wanted to collapse on the ground.

Tears slid down my face mixed with the rain. I couldn’t tell how long I was actually crying because it was raining. I sniffed and continued to drag my feet. My legs were weak and so was I. I felt drained, physically and emotionally.

My stomach started to rumble soon after. I hadn’t eaten anything since lunch yesterday. When I got dinner I didn’t get anything for me thinking that I could survive, and I could but I couldn’t walk on an empty stomach. The empty feeling inside of me made me feel sick. It made me want to throw up. I stopped walking and buried my face into my hands.

I started to sob loudly. This was hopeless, there wasn’t anything for me to do. I officially didn’t have anyone in my life. I was completely alone, alone in the rain. I was tired, hungry and alone. The worst combination ever.

I happened to look up and noticed a light about a block away. I didn’t know where I was so I didn’t know where the light was coming from. I sniffed and decided to walk there. I figured that whoever was there would at least be able to tell me where I was.

I slowly dragged my feet towards the light. The closer I got there the clearer the image became. It was still raining hard but I could see what was there. It looked like a Starbucks. The closer I got the more I saw that it was a Starbucks.

It was open but it looked almost empty. I was somewhat relived to see something other than rain and darkness.

The wind blew causing my teeth to chatter and another shiver to run down my spine. As much as I wanted to quit, I continued to walk towards the Starbucks. I sniffed as more tears fell down my face. I couldn’t control them anymore and it took too much energy to stop them from flowing and I didn’t have any energy left to use.

After what felt like forever I finally reached the door. I opened the door and stepped inside. I was soaking wet and completely heavy. I wanted to lay down on the floor and sleep but I couldn’t.

There was a person standing in front of the register and a person who worked there. The person working register looked up at me and gasped. The person at the register then turned around.

I almost gasped as I found myself staring into a pair of familiar hazel eyes.