Through Another's Eyes

It was happening again.
Fourteen-year-old Adrian eyed the locked door before looking back at his younger sister. She was sitting on the bed with a teddy bear clutched in one grubby arm. At ten she was getting too old to be carrying the stuffed animal around and their father reminded her of it almost constantly…when he was sober enough to notice. Adrian didn’t say anything, determined to sound nothing like his father.
Outside the room, his parents were arguing again. His father’s voice had gone from slightly slurred to almost incoherent in the last half an hour. His mother’s 2-pack-a-day voice was only slightly more comprehensible.
They were arguing about the same thing they did every time they got into it: money. Where they going to get money for their next high, their next bottle, their next smoke. Not food or clothes for their children, or to pay rent.
They would probably end up leaving in the middle of the night again to avoid the landlord. This was a relief to Adrian. The lock on the door he shared with his sister was starting to come loose. A few more rages from his father would bring it crashing down.
“Eat Del,” he said gruffly, gesturing at the meager amount of food he’d managed to grab from the kitchen. His voice was just beginning to deepen and he was a good three inches taller than most of his friends. It was no mystery where he got his height and bulk: his father was six five and two hundred and fifty pounds. Adrian was already five eleven.
His sister, however, was the opposite. She was slight like their mother had once been before years of hard drinking had taken its toll on her body. She used to go on and on about what a great athlete she had been. But of course she was never as good as her sister, she’d recounted bitterly. The aunt neither Adrian nor Delany had ever met. Adrian was sure this mystery aunt never existed because his mother only talked about her when she was wasted.
Just then Adrian heard his father yell, “Where the hell is my goddamned cheese?”
Adrian looked back to Delany and the cheese sandwiches he had made them. He would had loved to toast them and make them grilled cheeses but their mother had pawned the toaster a month ago and he hadn’t wanted to stay in the kitchen within ten feet of his father any longer than he had to.
“Eat Del,” he hissed. But his sister just stared at him, her wide brown eyes filled with fear. He heard his father’s footsteps coming closer and tried to convince her. “Eat it just to get rid of it! If he comes in here and sees it we’re both screwed.”
Still Delany didn’t move. Adrian was starting to worry about her. Over the past few months she’d grown quieter and quieter; now it was rare if she said anything at all.
Adrian was pulled away from his thought as the door knob rattled. “A-drain! Open this damned door!”
Adrian swallowed and stashed the sandwiches under the rickety end table. The door rattled and shook as his father started pushing on the door.
“Let me in!” his father yelled drunkenly. Even though he was too drunk to have much coordination, his bulk gave him the advantage. Adrian heard the harsh sound of wood splintering as the door parted with the frame. The door swung back and hit the wall like the report of a rifle.
Delany screamed.