I'll Be Your Riot Girl, If You'll Be My Romeo
Abandoned in the Beginning
July 31, 1998
It was strange to wake up to the smell of breakfast cooking. Confused I tiredly staggered to the kitchen to find my mother standing at the stove; the table already set with eggs, bacon and pancakes in the middle. My two younger sisters Cassie and Megan were already sitting at the table, their mouths watering.
“Good morning Juliet” Mom half turned and greeted me with a smile. I noticed her eyes were slightly red and puffy... most likely from crying all night, nothing was new with that.
I pulled a chair out from the table and sat down, it felt foreign. My sisters appeared unfazed by any of this. Like this was a normal occurrence at our house.
“I called your brothers,” Mom turned off the stove. “I thought we could spend the day together.” She now walked over to the table and I could see the fresh bruise next to her eye. I wanted to say something to her, but my older brothers Devan and Riley sauntered into the kitchen.
“Looks good ma.” Devan sat down at the head of the table. Riley took the spot next to me, a smile on his face. I couldn’t understand why my siblings weren’t the lest bit suspicious, nor why I had a sinking feeling in my gut.
A smile crossed my lips only once. When I thought about how nice it felt to have a family breakfast… but then realization hit me, my family never had a meal together. The sinking feeling began growing in my gut, because of that I hardly ate anything.
“The boys and I will clean up. You three girls go get ready… I’ve got a big day planned!” My mother said excitedly.
We spent the entire morning at the zoo; then she took us to a late lunch where our father joined us. My father was a hot headed wife beater, but at lunch he acted like an adoring husband and loving father. My sinking feeling was increasing as every second ticked by. I began growing angry at my siblings, who were enjoying themselves. At the end of lunch my father announced that the perfect ending to the day would be to catch a movie at the theater… of course everyone was in agreement. My mother got tickets for her, Megan and Cassie to see Dr. Doolittle and my father got tickets for him, Devan, Riley and me to see Lethal Weapon 4. They sent us ahead to the movie while they got in line for treats. That was the last time we ever saw them. We had to take taxi’s back home only to find a ransacked house. Our parents bedroom empty except for their stripped bed.
Even though he was only 19, Devan felt it was his duty to take us in. It was a big change for 8 year old Cassie, but she adjusted fast. Poor Megan, at only 6 she took the abandonment the hardest, when school started again on Monday she refused to go. Afraid that we would abandon her while she was away. Riley who was 18 sacrificed his independence to help take care of us. We spent a few months living in a cramped apartment until the boys saved up enough money to move us into a town house with four bedrooms. We were thankful to have more room to move around. Cassie and Megan didn’t complain about having to share a room although we knew they didn’t really want to.
Thanks mom and dad, for completely abandoning us.