Perhaps One Day

fatal dumdassery

~ Giada Adjuk ~
📍Narsaq, Greenland
July 17, 2012
11:00 a.m.

"GIADA, GET DOWN HERE." my 'father' yelled from downstairs. I just call him Pavel, since that is his name. I ran down the stairs into the living room and was immediately overwhelmed with the scent of alcohol. Pavel and Anya, his wife, were both standing next to the door as I walked over to them with my head down.

"Have the house spotless by the time we get back, understood." I nodded by head, keeping it down. That's what works around them: keeping my head down, and not doing anything to aggravate them further. They walked out the door, slamming it on their way out.

I made my way back up the stairs to check on Rora, just to make sure that she was still asleep. When saw that she was the same as how I left her, I walked back down the stairs ignoring the limp that I seemed to have almost constantly. Aside from the fresh bruises along my thighs, wrists, shoulders and torso, my split lip, and the open wound on my thigh, I wasn't in that bad of shape compared to previous incidents.

—————

Almost 3 hours later, and I was finally done cleaning the entire house. I was walking towards the front door with two trash bags full of beer bottles, when there was a knocking on the door. Putting the bags down next to me, I opened the door, to be greeted with two male police officers.

The officer on the right whose name-pin read 'Hans' was taller, broader than his partner. His eyes appeared dark, possibly due to the dimly lit exterior of the house. His hair was clean, buzzed. Same with his goatee.

His partner was shorted than him in stature but was clearly buff enough to take down the average person. His hair was fuller than Hans', but he had it buzzed at the sides. Eyes blue. Name-pin read 'Augo'.

I was currently wearing sweatpants and a black tank top, which clearly wasn't the best idea seeing as their eyes were immediately drawn to the bruises on my shoulders and arms. But to be fair, I wasn't expecting our guests to be police. Their jaws were clenched and eyes slightly wide; anger and surprise flashing across their faces briefly.

"What can I do for you officers?" I asked, their eyes immediately shooting back up to my face; scanning it, seeing the split lip and fading bruise along my cheekbone.

Fumbling a little, the goatee-owning officer spoke first, "Sorry, ma'am... are you Giada Adjuk? Anya and Pavel Adjuk's daughter?"

"I'm their adopted daughter yes... why do you ask?" I shifted on my feet, letting some weight off of my thigh.

"I'm sorry but they were both found dead in a drunk driving accident," the shorter of the two said. "It appears they were coming home from the bar, drunk and ran a red light. They died on impact. We're sorry for your loss." Their facial expressions were sympathetic, but they didn't do a very good job at hiding the resentment present in their eyes.

Don't be, I wanted to say, but that would probably just make thing worse. I kept my face blank, my voice impassive.

"Alright. I'm sixteen so what's going to happen to me?" They looked slightly shocked at my response. No tears, no shock, no nothing coming from a 16 year old girl who's spent nearly 14 years of her life with these people. I could see how that might be an odd reaction.

"If you could come with us back to the station, we have a social worker on their way."

Not seeing a way out of this, I nodded, then added, "Can I get my things first?"

"Of course."

I nodded again, and opened the door wider, gesturing for them to come in while I made my way upstairs.