treat you better ☔︎ s.m

Chapter Five

Treat You Better
Chapter Five
❖

"What time will he be here?" Mia looks at the time on her phone before returning her gaze to me.

"Five minutes and he will be here," she tells me.

"Are you ready to tell him?" She nods her head with a smile.

"I just want to be happy again, and when I'm with him I'm not. I don't know why it's taken me so long to realize this."

Five minutes went down to four, then three, two and then finally she was standing at the door and slipping her shoes on. "Well," she says with a sigh. "Here it goes."

I watch through the side window as she gets into his car and he drives away from the neighborhood. I turn around, not wanting to stay in this spot forever, and move my feet to the kitchen. My mom hands me a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs. I sit down at the table and pick up the piece of bacon on the plate. Before I can eat it, Aaliyah comes by and steals it from my hand.

"Thanks, big bro." I shake my head at her before eating my eggs.

☒

A knock on the front door is heard from the kitchen while we are having dinner, so I go and answer it. When I open the door, standing with her back to me is Mia. When she turns around she's crying, but the only thing that catches my attention is the bruise on her eye.

"What... what the hell happened to your eye, Mia?" She instantly starts to cry even more. "He did this, didn't he?"

She nods her head and somehow gets out, "He didn't like what I had to say."

"He isn't going to like what I have to say," I reply as I go to grab my shoes, but she pushes them away from my reach.

"Please, don't do it. It'll make things worse." I nod my head and wrap my arms around her. I bring her inside and walk her to the kitchen.

Instantly my mom stands up from the chair and rushes over to Mia and I before taking her into her own arms. She tells my dad to make some hot chocolate and sits Mia down at the table.

"What happened Mia?"

"I told Ben I didn't think we should be together anymore, and he said that I'm only saying that because I'm hanging out with Shawn and he got mad when I stood up for Shawn and he ... he hit me."

"That son of a bit-"

"Manuel!" My mom shouts before my dad can get the rest of the word out.

"What? Mia is apart of this family as the other two are! He should not get away with hitting her!"

"I agree, but calling him names isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Mia," my dad says and she looks at him with tears. "You need to tell your parents and the authorities. This isn't something that should happen again."

"Can you come with me?" She looks at the three of us. "I won't be able to get it it if I don't."

"Of course, honey," my mom says as she stands up.

☕︎

I rub Mia's back as she sleeps. Her breaths, even, as I admire her features. A girl so beautiful is going through something so terrible, and it makes me angry. No one should go through what Mia is and it makes me even angrier knowing that she's going through this and the things that have happened in just a day.

Although her parents were pissed, they were more worried about their daughter than anything.

Ben shouldn't get away with doing what he did, and he probably knows it, too. I just wish this wouldn't have happened the way it did.

[Made June 28, 2016]