Escape

Singing Helps Some

I wake up to the sound of my father getting home and my mother yelling at him, asking where he had been. My little sister, Isabella, comes into my room crying.

"Everything will be okay," I say trying to soothe her, "just like it always is." I hug her to my chest and start to hum while covering her other ear with my hand to block it out. As I am humming, I hear from somewhere near the kitchen something break. I hear screaming from my mother. I hug my sister tighter and start to sing.

Normally, when my father comes home, he brings us presents and gives my mother flowers, but this time, like all nights we don't see him till late at night, he only brought sorrow, and hurt to our family.

My mother had left the house early this morning. Isabella and I think it might have been because the vase that dad had brought home a week ago was in the trash outside, and had not occupied the bare spot on the stove it once had.

Like normal on a Saturday, dad was gone, and so was Mom. I had to get up early and make breakfast for Isabella and I. When Isabella finally got up, I had the chores done, and breakfast made. She helped set the table as we sang Mary Had A Little Lamb, and I Would Walk 500 Miles. We never sing sad songs, for she will sit down and cry, remembering that mother was never around, along with Father.

Isabella can count to 20, and sing the ABC's. She can write her's, and my name too, but she always writes Tular, instead of Taylor. When breakfast is over, we get dressed and head to the store. I am 16, so I can drive. I have my own car that I bought with birthday money from my aunt Janice. I always want to run away with Isabella, and one day, I will.

As Isabella and I ride in the car to the park, she points out a bird.

She exclaims "Look, Tay, it's a swan!!!"

I turn to her. I say "Honey, that's not a swan silly girl, remember, it's a seagull."

"Oh," she was sad, and I reminded her that because we live next to a gorgeous sea, the birds and animals that live here are from the sea, and go to the sea.

"Oh!!!! Like a seahorse!" She was excited again.

"Yes, Izzy, like a seahorse." I was surprised she was talking. Usually, she was drawing with her little notebook, and fluffy-topped pencil I got her for her 4th birthday. She is a really talented little girl. She drew me a horse, and it looked like an alive horse. It had perfect dimension, depth, perception, and vanishing point. In the background, it had a river and some clouds with a village behind it.

"Do you think momma would like it if I drew her a seahorse?" she asked happily. She knows I won't lie to her, so I replied honestly.

"No, I don't think she would care Izzy. I'm sorry mom is the way she is, but I don't think she will be around for her birthday." I say this because she won't be. She will be out with her friends, and Izzy and I will be on our way to New York, by ourselves, alone in the world.

"Alright thanks, Tay." I won't tell her about us driving to New York because she would ask mother when we would go, but I could trust her, even for a 4-year-old, with anything. She is the smartest little girl in the whole world.

I look over from the driver's seat to the passenger seat. She is drawing again.

"What you drawing Izzy?" She looks up at me and smiles. She turns the picture to me. It doesn't have much on it, but I could tell it was me and her, and two more people.

"Who is it?" I ask in questioning thought.

"It's us with our new parents, as a happy family." She smiled, and for a second, I saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. All is quiet in the car until we pull up to the park.

"I'll beat you to the swings!" She exclaimed, and slammed the door and bolted for the swing set. I grab the keys to the car and shut the car door running after her. I smile and think to myself that if I didn't have her, I would not have been able to live. It is nice to have a singing buddy because sometimes, singing helps.