14 Men and a Little Princess

Chapter 3

Andrew Point of View:

I closed the door to Sang's room. I think I'll try Cole's room first see what he is up to. I love my little sister. She brings so much joy to our lives. Bad thing is she never realizes it and always puts herself down. This family has had so many good and bad memories. Our life in Illinois was always going up and down. It mostly consist of protecting Sang and my brothers from our mother. She has always hated Sang for as long as I can remember. We never could figure out why. My younger brothers always tried to shield Sang when ever I wasn't there to step in between them. We never leave her alone without one of us close by. I know she worries bout us and pushes herself to hard to take care of us. We do everything we can to protect her. The worse thing is her nightmares. One thing we couldn't ever keep her from her own mind when she relives her punishments over and over again. Each of us has woken up to her screaming in the night. We rush to her and wake her before our mother finds out. One punishment that haunts my dreams still to this day was when Sang was 8 and she had to stay home from school because she caught a cold. We left her in bed sleeping with water and some crackers. We had to go to school. Mother was asleep at the time and didn't tell her. Sang woke up around lunch time hungry. She already ate the crackers I laid out for her. She traveled downstairs to the kitchen to look for food. Sang had to grab a stool to climb up to grab some fruit snacks in the pantry. She knew she couldn't let mother see her or she would be in trouble. It was to late mother was in her bedroom watching her shows when she heard the chair scrap the floor. Mother snuck behind Sang and slung her off the stool into the cabinets under the sink. Mother questioned her why she was here and not at school. Sang explained she was sick with a cold. Mother wouldn't have it. She called Sang a liar and grabbed her arm and drug her across the floor. Mother opened the door to the basement and drugged Sang down the steps. Sang tried to stand but mother was going to fast. Mother dropped her on the floor and started searching the basement for something. Mother moved an old chest towards Sang and told her to get in. Sang tried to convince mother to let her go and she would be quiet. She hit Sang so hard her lip bled. Sang just held her face and cried. Mother grabbed her arm and threw her in the chest. Mother left and came back with rope. She tied Sang's feet and hands. " This is what happens when you lie to me," mother said. Sang was to afraid to say anything again after being hit once. Mother preceded to close the lid to the chest and walked back up the stairs. We got off the bus that afternoon and I went up stairs to check on Sang while my brothers and Marie grabbed snacks in the kitchen. I walked into her room and found the empty glass and napkin for the crackers I left. Sang wasn't in her bed. I thought she may have been just in the bathroom. I knocked on the bathroom door "Sang are you in there." I got nothing but silence. I opened the door and it was empty. I made my way downstairs to ask the only person thats been here all day. I was afraid what the answer would be. Mother was in the kitchen listening to all my siblings talk bout their day at school. "Mom, where's Sang." She glanced up from listening to Marie talking bout her day. " Andrew don't interrupt your sister". I looked down at Marie and back to mother. Marie said, "thats okay mama I'm done now." Mother caress her cheek and said, "are you sure baby your brother knows better to interrupt people. You can finish telling me bout your day if you want." " No, I'm okay mama I promise I'm done can I go play now" "Sure baby, don't forget your homework." Mother reaches down and kisses Marie's forehead. Marie runs out the door and up the stairs to her room. Mother looks back at me and says " What was your question since you were rudely interrupting Marie?" I tried to keep my frustration out of my voice before I began to ask again. " Where's Sang mom? She isn't in her her room." "Sang is in the middle of a punishment for lying to me about why she wasn't at school today. I won't have any child of mine lying to me and skipping school. She claims that she had a cold and stayed home. I know she was lying to me just to skip school." I got so upset and told mom, " She was sick mom. I checked her fever today and it was 100.6 and I told her to stay and sleep. You was still asleep and I didn't want to wake you. She wasn't lying to you I promise mama." Mother just smiled and said " Oops, well I forgive you then for not telling me." She then just left and went to her bedroom to watch her shows again. I begin to panic wondering where Sang could be. My brothers gathered around me and we began a plan. Cole went outside to the shed to look. Liam and Jeramie went to the bedrooms upstairs and dad's office. Scotty and I went to the living room and everywhere downstairs. we looked everywhere in the living room and the bathrooms. The only place we didn't look was the basement. Scotty ran to the kitchen to get flash lights for us both. I opened the door to the basement waiting for Scotty. We turned on our flash lights and walked down the steps. It's really dark and spooky down here. I see spiders crawling in their webs around the walls and boxes. The air feels cold and humid from the pipes and weather from outside since we are in the middle of November. "Sang are you in here. " At first I didn't hear anything. We began looking around the boxes. Scotty called out again, " Monkey are you in here make a noise for us." We began to hear scratching on the opposite side of the room. We made are way over there. In the corner we found old chest with books sitting on top of the lid. Scotty and I lifted the books and placed them on the floor. I opened the lid and what we saw before us still haunts my dreams I began to cry. Sang was tied up with her finger nails bleeding from her scratching for hours. Her lips were blue and she was shivering from the cold. Scotty and I began to untie her while tears pored from her eyes. "Scotty run and get a blanket and we will wrap her before we move her." I began to lift her out of the chest and just held her. I tried to warm her up with my body heat until Scotty came back. I rocked her back and forth whispering I'm so sorry. Sang placed her hand on my cheek, "It's not your fault Bubba. I shouldn't have gone to the kitchen, but I was so hungry." Sang began to tell me what all happened when she woke up. I cried while holding her. Scotty came running down the stairs. Scotty told me, " The others are getting her room ready and making some hot cocoa." We began wrapping her up and we both carefully cared her up stairs. We got to to the top of the stairs and Jeramie opened the door for us. We laid her onto her bed and I climbed in one side and Liam the other. Cole ran and got more blankets for her and Jeramie went to get the thermometer. Scotty prepared Sangs cocoa with a straw for her to drink with. We all gathered on the bed to help warm her while we waited for the thermometer to go off. We heard the clear beep going. We was afraid to check to see what it was. Sang did it for us and we all gathered around it was 103.6. We know mother wouldn't take her to the hospital since she was the one that placed Sang in the basement. I remembered we had some children's Tylenol in the cupboards in the downstairs bathroom. I sent Cole to grab the medicine and Scotty to make some chicken noodle soup in the microwave. Jeramie looked for some warmer pj's and socks. he found her frozen thermal pj's dad found her for her birthday last year. Since she never grows she still can wear them. We began to separate into our different tasks to get our baby sister warmer. When she was redressed we three snuggled our sister to help give her as much body heat as possible. Cole ran in with a medicine cup since its liquid form and he read the directions for us. I pored her the right amount and handed the bottle back. Cole placed it on her nightstand. I think its grape flavored. We had it here when Scotty got sick a few months back. "Okay baby girl you need to open your mouth for me okay." Liam helped her to sit up and Sang leaned onto him for support. She drank the whole thing and we helped her back down. I passed the cup back to Cole and he went to wash the cup out. Scotty came up with a bowl of soup a few minutes later. Liam and I helped her to sit up while Jeramie sat behind her to help support her. Scotty began to feed her soup while Cole and I went to gather our bedding to sleep in Sang's room tonight. We got back and Jeramie and Liam just began laying her down again. They climbed back under the blankets to warm Sang up more while we worked on our bedding. We alternated between each other who stayed with her in the bed and who worked on homework first. Through out the night we checked her temperature and kept her warm. She slept through out the night. We are so glad it was Saturday the next day that way we could focus on Sang and what she needed. She broke her fever the next day, but it was one of the scariest things ever to  almost loosing your little sister and nobody to help but your brothers. We became closer after that day.