Her Fight

Chapter Six

   Jim had let another friend of his move into one of the spare rooms since the Harry situation. The new guy was ok but you could tell there was something off about him too. He was missing most of his teeth and he was absolutely wild. By that I mean he would tell us these off the wall stories like he's missing his teeth because he got into a fight with a bear. As a kid I ate that story up and went with it. He would also move a million miles an hour around the house.

   I'm not sure exactly how long he was living with us but I know it wasn't long. At one point all of us kids came to mine and Bennys house to watch some videos that we had on VHS. They were mostly Barney videos that we loved to sing and dance along to.

   When we turned on the tv and pressed play we all gasped at what started to play. It was an adult video with a man and woman completely nude doing things we had never seen before. We were young. I was the oldest and I was about seven, so that tells you how innocent our minds were to those things.

   I feel like we were all in shock at the moment but Eli, oddly the youngest of the group, pressed stop on the VHS and switched off the tv. He held his hand up to his mouth and we all just looked around at each other. Without words we turned off the television and walked off to play outside. I believe Eli and Ethan told their parents about what had happened because I remember their mom being livid about the situation. Jan was also pretty upset so I believe she told my dad that his little friend had to go. He was the only other person that would have left that nasty tape in there. So he left not long after that.

   Eventually Jim let another pair of his friends move in with us, a husband and wife who also had a little girl. I got so close with them that I still call them aunty and uncle to this day. Their daughter didn't live with us because the wife's mother had custody of her but she still visited a lot. I assume it was because of their substance abuse problems but I can't be sure. I actually use to go with them to either AA or NA meetings and then they started to go to church which they loved to take me to. They eventually moved out and absolutely turned their lives around. Maybe it was getting away from Jim and that crowd that they needed. The husband did pass recently and I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. It was devastating. My heart sank to the floor. I really felt like he was one happy piece in my heart that was set in place with me as a child. Him and his wife were and always will be a safe space for me. His wife is still thriving but misses him with each day that passes. She'll always be aunty T to me. And he'll always be uncle S.

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   Then it finally happened. Jan had enough.. Jim had pushed her to her breaking point. The accusations of cheating and his drug usage picking back up was her final straw. Everyone that wanted a straight edge life was leaving because of my dad. He ran everybody away.

   I didn't know it at the time but she left him because of these reasons. He would tell me it was because she didn't love us anymore. That she wanted to be with Benny's dad which was FAR from the truth. He said she took everything from us and we'd never be happy again. All I could think of was my first thought when I met her 'what if I get to love them and they leave me?'

   I was crushed. My bonus mom and brother were gone. It felt like it was in the blink of an eye. My room I shared with my brother was half empty. No sign of him was left. As much as me and him fought like brothers and sisters do, I wished he was back or that Jan could have taken me with her.

   After they left, a woman and her teen girl came to live with us. We called the girl Tiny. I miss her. She was always so nice and comforting. Her mom on the other hand was horrible. She acted innocent and sweet but she was a user and an abusive person especially to her daughters. I once watched her smash her daughters head into the wall. Her daughter was in high school. I believe a freshman. So she was young. It was sad and scary to see at such a young age.

The younger daughter lived with us for a while then the older one came along later. They were both nice girls. The older of the daughters, Jade use to babysit me and take me to places like sleepy hallow (a place with rides and a petting zoo), the park and even her college when she was signing up for classes.

Jade had found a boyfriend and they use to take me places together or I would ride the bus with them towards his house. We would get off downtown and have dinner or lunch depending on the time of day then he would go his way and us girls would go ours.

One night we had stayed out until it was dark but we still had a long bus ride home. Jade was spending some time with her boyfriend and I didn't mind being out of the house for a while.

After sharing fries, burgers and sodas, Jades boyfriend jumped on his bus and we made our way to ours. We were sitting for maybe ten minutes when we could hear a truck roaring up to the bus stop. I knew it was my dad. His brown hunk of junk truck wasn't hard to miss. He got out and started screaming at Jade for having me out after dark. He yelled at me to get my "ass" in the truck. I quickly did as I was told.

I remember Jade pleading with my dad to calm down and telling him it wasn't my fault and to not yell at me. His go to was always "don't tell me what do with my daughter".

When he sped off from the bus stop I could tell Jade was upset. Possibly even a bit scared for me. We both knew he'd yell at me and somehow make it my fault. Which he did. I also felt bad he left her there instead of offering her a ride home since we were going to the same place..

"Who the fuck do you think you are young lady?!" He spat at me.
"I–I'm sor.." I couldn't finish
"Don't you EVER do anything like this again or you'll find out REAL fast!"

I nodded my head in agreement.

It didn't take Jade long to hightail it out of the house. Jim was unbearable. Yelling and screaming all of the time. I didn't blame her for leaving. I had wished I could too.