Bittersweet

Past

~Everyone has a past.~

*Trigger Warning~Chapter contains a scene of abuse.*

As the two little kids got into the old Benz, they wondered about where the old man was taking them.

Shortly, they arrived at an old-looking house but it had managed to withstand many seasons and times. He brought them into the house. Inside, it looked like an antique museum.
It was really beautiful.

"Make yourselves comfortable while I go prepare your baths."

"My grandchildren visit me every year, they forgot their clothes here last Christmas."

"They're about your age, you remind me of them." He smiled at them both.

He went into the kitchen and brought out two steaming cups of chocolate. He placed it in front of them.

"My grandchildren love chocolate, I hope you like it too." He went upstairs to get their bathes ready.

The two exchanged excited looks. They picked a cup of chocolate each and did justice to it.
"Julie, we didn't say 'thank you' to the elderly man. That's not how mom taught us." She took a sip out of her hot chocolate.

"Living on the streets can do that to a person."
She shrugged and took another sip out of her chocolate.

"Julie!" Was her brother's rebuff.

"Okay, okay, sheesh." He rolled his eyes at her. She was such a delinquent.

He stared down at the hot chocolate in his hands, lost in thought.

It was like a play button had been pressed in his head and memories he had long suppressed came rushing out.

"Which one of you ate the chicken I kept in the refrigerator?" Julie and Ronnie both exchanged frightened looks. Their mother took a huge gulp out of the bottle of vodka she was holding.

"Answer me!" She yelled at them and they both cowered back in fear.

"You're not ready to confess now, are you? Wait for me there, don't you move." She ran upstairs and came back with a thick black belt, no doubt out of the one's their father had forgotten to take when he left them."

"I'll beat both of y'all if none of you has the decency to speak the truth." She moved towards them both, staggering with the belt in one hand and the bottle of vodka in the other hand.

"I taught you better than that." Her red swollen bloodshot eyes trained on his.

"Aaron, was it you?" He gulped, he knew the fear was evident in his eyes. He wasn't the one who ate the chicken, it was Julie but he couldn't let his mom beat his little sister.

"Y-yes, mom." Julie's frightened eyes widened and looked at her brother.

His mom squinted her eyes to see if he was really telling the truth.

"You're not lying to me now, are you? You know I hate lies."

"I don't want you becoming a lying pig like your father. A lying, cheating bastard!" She swung the belt in fury. The first hit landed square on his left shoulder.