Living With Seven Brothers

Chapter 1: The Day Everything Changed.

"Kat!" I heard Jason yell as I turned to see him and his twin sister Jasmine running toward me. He made it to me first and wrapped his arms around me picking me off the floor and squeezing me tight. "We are here now Kitty Kat, Momma and Pa said you're going to come home with us."

    It had been one hell of a day and I was ready to be somewhere I felt safe. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity I relaxed as I let Jason squeeze. His ax cologne filled my nostrils making me take a deep breath in. Before I knew it I was crying in his arms as he ran his fingers through my hair and whispered how I was safe now and it was going to be okay.

    "Oh my GOD Kat thank heaven your okay! We were so worried! Jason! Let go of her! It's my turn to hug her!" I heard his sister Jasmine say as I felt Jason shake his head but let me go. I turned around to be just scooped into a hug with her. "Let's get you home." She finally said after a minute of squeezing the life out of me. They both walked me over to the front desk of the police station where their parents were signing papers. They had my Mother sign a paper when I was younger saying that they had medical say over me because I was always with them. Plus when I was younger they became foster parents because my mother almost got me taken away.

    I sighed in relief as I saw them. "Momma, Pa?" I all but whispered causing them to turn around.

    "Oh, baby! Come here!" The twins' Mom was tall and elegant the typical southern Momma that you see in the movies. She had perfect strawberry blonde hair just like Jason and Jasmine. She was tall for a woman towering over me looking down with her deep blue ocean eyes. She might have not been my Mom but she was mine by heart. I run the rest of the way to her letting her wrap her warm arms around me as the smile of lavender surrounded me. It wasn't long before I felt her husband's arms wrap around both of us. He was taller than her and muscular whereas she was thin and curvy. He had your typical farmer's tan and jet-black hair to top it off. His hazel eyes were the same as the twins. At first glance he could intimidate anyone however he was the biggest teddy bear I knew. Don't get me wrong the twins and I had gotten ourselves in plenty of trouble over the years and when he was mad he was very scary. However, I had meet monsters and he wasn't one of them. Everything he did was always done with love. If it wasn't for the fact that I meet the twins in our kindergarten class I wouldn't be the same person I was today. Their parents were my shelter from the monsters and more often than not you could find me at my best friend's house. Their parents finished signing the papers and we were in the truck in no time. It was like everything from today had come crashing down and as I sat in the middle of the twins finally feeling safe I started to sob. Jason leaned over pulling me into his arms and Jasmine rubbed my back as my world got cloudy and all I could do was sob.

Earlier that day.....

    I had just gotten home from school when I noticed that no one was home. Thank God, I was so not in the mood to face my mother and her boyfriend. Last night I had made him a little too angry and the bruises on my body were proof of that. I quickly stripped out of my clothes and hopped in the shower. As the hot water cascaded down my back I groaned as my muscles relax. I quickly washed not wanting to still be in there when the came home and got out. As I got dressed I heard the door slam downstairs, great their home, and someone is pissed. It wasn't long before I heard screaming and what sounded like fighting. This wasn't new they always got physical with each other. What was new was the scream from my mother that was followed by the "Please stop your going to kill me." plea. I froze scared to walk out of my room. I was brought back to earth when she started to scream for help. "Someone please help me." Was all she screamed at an ear-piercing sound. I reached for my phone feeling as though my heart was about to bust out of my chest. In all of my twelve years of being alive, I have heard fight after fight but I had never heard my Mom scream like that. My hands were shaking as I dialed 9-1-1. The twins' parents had bought me a phone for my tenth birthday so I could call them if I ever needed to. I used to use the house phone but Mom stopped paying the bill when I was nine.

    "9-1-1 what's your emergency?" A male voice came over the phone.

    "I think my mom's boyfriend is hurting her." I choked out feeling like there was a lump in my throat as the screaming downstairs was still going on.

    "Okay, how old are you sweetie? What's your name?"

    "Twelve and Kat. I am scared to go see what's going on."

    "It's okay Kat I have police on their way. I want you to stay where you are. Where in the house are you and where are they?"

    "I am in my room and they are downstairs."

    "Okay Kat go lock your door for me."

    "Okay." I stood up not realizing how shaky my legs were and walked to my door locking it when my stomach did flips as downstairs got quiet.

    "Kat honey you still with me? The police are almost there." The male voice from the phone pulled me away from the growing silence in the house.

    "Yeah, they stopped fighting." I then heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. "Someone coming upstairs," I whispered into the phone slowly backing up from the door as my body shook in fear. I had this unsettling feeling in my stomach. My door knob jiggled and I froze. I felt like I was about to throw up as my stomach churned.

    "Let me in you little bitch." My mom's boyfriend spat. He didn't wait long as he kicked in the door and I dropped my phone to the ground looking him up and down. He had a knife in his hand that was covered in blood along with his clothes and hands. My eyes grew wide as he started to step toward me. I screamed at the top of my lungs and run over to my bed as he followed me. I quickly jumped on top of it and off heading towards the door. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could and through the living room. I froze in place when I saw my mother laying on the ground in a pool of blood not moving.

    "Come back here Katherine." His voice came from the stairs pulling me out of my short daze. My eyes shot from him to the front door and I booked it swinging the door open and running outside. Once I made it to the road police cars came speeding up screeching to a halt. The offices jumped out grabbing me as my eyes darted towards the house where my mother's boyfriend stood at the door with the knife in his hand.

    "Put the knife down and your hands in the air!" Both cops pulled up their guns as the one I was by pushed me behind him. My mother's boyfriend dropped the knife and then put his hands in the air as they both slowly walked up to him guns still pointed at him. I watched as they handcuffed him and other police plus an ambulance showed up.

    "Hi, there my name is Oliver what's yours?" One of the cops kneeled down in front of me.

    "Kat," I whispered this felt unreal this couldn't be real. Was it real? The image of my Mom laying on the ground in a pool of blood filled my head. Her eyes looked lifeless, her screams started to ring in my ears and I couldn't focus on what the cop was saying. "I should have helped her. I should have gone down there and helped. She's dead now isn't she?" It's true she wasn't my favorite person. She was high on drugs all of my life and would beat me plus let him beat me. But I would have never wished death upon her. She was my Mom she was the only actual family I had. She never talked about my Father and I never meet him so I just assume he was worse than this.

    "Oh honey no. You did the right thing in calling us, if you would have gone down there you wouldn't have been able to call us. You could have gotten hurt too and then the bad man would have gotten away." He pointed to his car and nodded "I am going to take you to the station and we will get you someplace safe is there anyone we can call? Any family?"

    "I don't have any family. However, I have friends whose parents are foster parents and have medical rights to me, can you call them?"

    "I sure can, let's go and we will get you to a better place." I followed him to his car and we left. I looked out the back window toward the home I had always lived in. I always thought of it as a nightmare however now it truly was.

    At the station, I gave them Jason and Jasmine's parents' names and talked to Oliver as he took my statement of what happened tonight. I stayed strong through the entire thing holding the tears back. I needed to be strong I had always been strong and that didn't need to change now. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity they told me that I was going to leave and I felt so relieved. Oliver was nice and all but I wanted to be around people who made me feel safe. I wanted to be with the Smith family. The family that had taken me in all those years ago. I wanted to go to my safe home. My true home.