I Promise

Behind Closed Doors

~Ivy~

Its been a good while since I last spoke to Gabriel after we had our little fall out at Julio's back in October. I missed him. However, I was not about to kiss his ass for him to talk to me again. I wasn't having it.

In the past few weeks, I have been working hard to better myself physically and mentally. With all the free time I have since my mom is never home I have started eating better and exercising when I can. Trying to do what those twitter pages call, "Self-Care."

I walked to my science class and sat at the lab table Gabriel and I shared and he was nowhere to be found. Not my problem. I refuse to worry about someone who won't open up. Whatever he is going through can't be that serious. It's just high school.

He walked in with sweatpants and a hoodie on. He kept his head hung low and his hood on. What is up with him. He put his stuff down next to me and began taking out his notebooks when I saw that he had sunglasses on and a swollen lip. What the hell happened to him.

~Gabriel about 9 hours before~

I just got home from school. I didn't have a shift at Julio's today since I'm not allowed to work any extra hours because I'm 17. I placed my shoes at the door and walked into the living room where I saw Angelo watching Tv. 

"Ángel, tienes tarea hoy?" I asked him (Angel do you have homework today?"

He sat still and continued to face the Tv silently. I was getting annoyed.

"Mano, I asked you a question," I said walking in front of him to get his attention. What I saw made my blood boil and I saw red and nothing else. He had bruises on his face and arms and a black eye and a bleeding lip. 

"Who did this to you, Angel?" I said having a good idea of who did.

"Dad." He said contently. 

"Where is Analisa?"

"Upstairs." I ran upstairs to her room and opened the door. She looked up.

"Gabie, you're home." She said weakly.

"Did he touch you?" I asked.

"No I tried to get him off of Angel but he just kept hurting him." She said tearing up.

"Where is he?"

"In the basement." I got up to go and a small hand pulled me back followed by a loud sob from Ana.

"Please Gabriel, don't go I don't want him to hurt you too!" She screamed as tears flowed down her face endlessly.

"Go downstairs and stay with Angelo," I said walking out of her room ignoring her pleads to stop me from going. I walked to the basement and closed the door behind me.

"Oh, you're home, how was school." How could he be saying this shit as if he didn't hit his own kids?

"Fine. What did you do today?" 

"Played around with the kids."

"Played? What kind of game did you play."

"Twister." He smiled. He fucking smiled. I slammed him against the wall. 

"Twister? Is that your best excuse for why your six-year-old son has bruises and cuts all over his god damn face?" I wanted to kill him. I really did.

"When did you grow up Gabriel."

"When you never showed up to be there for mom and the rest of us, probably out sleeping with a bunch of whores and drinking too much." I looked at him. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my back and realized I was on the floor and he was on top of me.

"Since you wanna be a man we can fight like me." He said punching me in the face with no remorse.

It hurts.

I started to shield my face from him but he was too strong. I shifted my weight and got on top and started punching him back. I heard the basement door open and I looked up to see Analisa holding Angelo in her arms the best she could.

"He's not responding!" she cried out. The amount of rage and pain a felt in my heart and on my body was unbearable. My family. 

I got off of him to go and take care of Angelo but he dragged me back by my leg and hit me with a bottle. 

Analisa.

That was the only thought that kept me from passing out.

"Analisa, go!" I said as I took the many punches he gave me. Cutting my skin and hurting my eye. I heard the basement door shut. 

After 15 minutes of abuse, I heard Sirens outside and smiled before I passed out.

~Gabriel present day~

Everything hurts. I'm sitting in science class and everything hurts. I have a concussion and all I can focus on is how I'm gonna be visiting two people in the hospital this afternoon. The only good thing is that my dad is in jail. He wasn't around for that long anyway.

After school, I grab my things and head to Chick-Fil-A before stopping at the hospital.

Angelo loves Chick-Fil-A.

I walked to the front desk of the hospital, feeling a large headache coming on because of how bright the lights were.

"Hi, I am here to visit Angelo Hernandez," I said to the receptionist, looking down because I didn't want her to see my beat up face.

"What is your relation to Angelo?" 

"He's my little brother," I said as I take out my insurance card and drivers license.

She takes a good look at everything. "Okay room 345."

"Thank you."

I walk into Angelo's room. He's awake.

"Hey bro, I brought your favorite," I said hoping it would make him smile.

It didn't.

I sat next to his hospital bed and looked at him. I felt responsible for his pain. He's only six. He looked back at me and grabbed a fry and smiled. 

"You wanna share, Gabe?" He said. I looked up at him feeling the emotions and concussion get the best of me and started crying. Crying out of pain and suffering. I don't know what I'm gonna do next. Someone, please help me.