Lullaby And Goodnight

I let more tears slip as I scrubbed my skin hard. I felt dirty and violated. The pipe hot water in the shower burned me and the dead skin remover was making me bleed. I pushed my back against the wall and let myself slide down till I was sat, my knees pulled up to my chest. I never thought my dad would do that. I jumped out of the shower and got dressed again quickly when I heard the scream of my little brother.

"GERARD!" He screamed as dad beat him over and over with his belt. He managed to scramble away quickly and I pulled him into my room, locking the door behind me. I let him cry on me. My bare shoulder getting wet again as I didn't have time to put on a shirt.

"Open the fucking door!" I heard my dad scream from the other side. His fists pounding on the dirty wood.

"Mikey, get into my bathroom. Lock the door. Quick!" He did as he was told just as dad managed to tear the door clean off it's hinges. I was sat in a curled position with my arms covering my head for protection.

"Get to school! Now!" He screamed at me. I grabbed my bag from under my bed and scrambled out of the room before I was hit. I was a little too late. He grabbed my collar and pushed me down the stairs. I cried out as each rib hit the hard, wooden stairs. Tears brimmed my eyes as Mikey suffered the same as he bolted from my room with his bag. He didn't fall like I did though. He stumbled a bit but managed to stay on his feet. A 12 year old boy shouldn't have to suffer this. He helped me up and got us both out of the door.

"Come here. Your bleeding." Mikey whispered comfortingly as he pulled a wipe from his bag and gently dabbed at a deep cut beside my eye. I pulled my school shirt from my bag and pulled it on, leaving the top two buttons open, not to look cool, but to let cool air get to a couple of burning cuts on my chest.

"What will you say if people ask what happened?" Mikey asked softly as we started towards the school.

"The truth. I fell down the stairs." I heard him sigh and saw him shake his head from the corner of my eye. I stopped and crouched down on the ground, a splitting pain soared through my side but I ignored it. I had 4 shirts, two pairs of jeans and 5 pairs of socks in my bag, no books. I smiled to myself. "Come on. Were not going to school today. I grabbed Mikey's wrist and pulled him towards the park.

I pulled my school tie from my bag and put it on, but didn't do it up, I just left it open.

"Gerard what are we doing?" I sat on the round-a-bout and emptied my bag completely. I had the clothes listed before, my ipod, my cell phone, a few comic books, a sketch pad and a few pencils with erasers on the end. I grinned and put them back in my bag.

"Were not going home baby bro. Were running away. Say goodbye to all your pain and suffering. Were not going back. "