The Boy Who Rarely Smiled

Chapter Eight

Today was so not my day.

I planned to go home early in the morning, sneak in my room, fix my stuff, munch on a toast of bread and leave peacefully. But no, he just had to be drunk as hell.

When we arrived to mom's house, Mom, Hazel and Matt started hugging me and bawling their eyes out. Mom kept saying sorry while Hazel and Matt just hugged me silently. I didn't cry though, I was used it. I had to be with him for my family. They had to be safe.

Andrew Peters was my mom's ex husband. After my dad died, my mom became depressed until Andrew waltzed in her life, charming the crap out of her. He was charming, kind and loving at first and after one year of being together, he finally proposed. Of course, my mom said yes and they were happily married. My mom just wanted to be happy.

He was sweet in the first month, buying us gifts, giving my mom sweet kisses, helping me with my assignments, stuff like that.

But after the first month, he changed. He didn't go to his work anymore; he ordered us around and yelled all the time. My mom told him to leave, that they were getting a divorce, but that only made him angrier.

He started hurting my mom. I would wake up in the middle of the night hearing things a fourteen year old girl shouldn't hear. Matt was just three years old while Hazel was twelve.

When I got fed up of him hurting my fragile mother, I stood up to him which only made things worse. He was about to throw his empty beer bottle at my mom, but I stepped in front of my mom, telling him to stop. He only grinned maniacally at me and threw the bottle at me.

The bottle went straight to my chest before shattering on the floor, bits and pieces of glass going to my legs. I cried as my mom screamed, ushering me inside my room. She cleansed my wounds and put me to sleep, crying apologies over and over again.

The next day, mom told us to pack our things so we did. We sneakily went out of the house when Andrew was asleep. We went to mom's old apartment from when she was in college and stayed there.

We were fine for the first three days until Andrew found us and forced us all to come back. Of course, mom refused, but he threatened to hurt baby Matt, so she gave in and all of us went back to the devil.

The abusing started once again. He only hurt my mom and me, so it was okay. He still yelled at Matt and Hazel though and it was hurting them.

Mom filed a divorce and told the police about him. Andrew must've known because when the police arrived, he was gone. We thought we were finally free but no, he came back after a week and tormented us all.

Once, he was finally arrested but he managed to escape. He always escaped and managed to torment us all over again.

Finally, I got fed up of him hurting my family so I made an agreement.

The agreement was my family can leave, he won't ever bother them again, but I had to stay with him. I had to work for the both of us and deal with his anger issues just to keep my family safe.

Mom was reluctant to let me go, but I guess she was tired of everything. She agreed and left me there.

Sometimes, I felt mad. Why was I the one to sacrifice for my family? I wasn't the one who made the wrong decisions, why was I the one to be hurt? Then I would feel bad for being so selfish, so I reminded myself everyday why I even agreed to this.

It was also a repayment to my family. I was the reason Andrew came to our lives since I was the reason why dad died. Why Hazel and Matt didn't have a father and why mom lost the love of her life. I couldn't hold all the guilt, so I just decided to sacrifice myself for them.