twenty twenty

chapter one ~ war ready

     The battle of Gettysburg included approximately 50,000 deaths, lasting 3 days making it the bloodiest battle of the Civil War- I type onto my keyboard.

     We've been stuck inside our houses since the last day of spring break, unpermitted to attend school or non essential jobs because of this sudden pandemic. The government has had us in quarantine for 25 days and 16 hours. It's been driving me mad to be honest, being home for this amount of time has only made it worse. Shaking my head, I close my laptop and lay down onto my hardened bed.

     It's weird to think that someday this will be history. Us. I wonder if future generations will be reading textbooks solely about this year. The pandemic of 2020...

     Voices erupt nearby and I sit up, leaving my thoughts of the future to be.

     Yelling is coming from my living room, from the tone of my step father's voice I can tell he's drunk once again. I grit my teeth and place my laptop to the side of my mattress. This has been going on for months, recently it's been getting worse. This time it seems directed towards my mother. She doesn't deserve his shit, she shouldn't have to deal with someone like that.

     I slip on some shoes and head out into the dimmed hallway-"Why was the rent late this month? Why didn't you pay it on time you bitch?" He yells into her face as she attempts to ignore him by putting up the dishes. "I told you, I'm not even supposed to be working with the government on our asses-" I look over to my right and see my little brother, Ivan, crying on the couch, his head in his hands. "-you're lucky I got it paid-"

     I look back over to my 'parents'. I watch as Jared finishes his beer bottle and cracks it off one of the kitchen counters, then points it towards my mother, "Well that's not good enough, you cunt." She tries to shove him away, but then he grips her shoulders and whispers something into her ear that I am not able to make out.

     "Back the hell away from her!" I yell approaching him. Our kitchen's small so there's little space between us three.

     "What do you fucking know, huh? You don't pay the rent. You're a little bitch just like your mom."

     He places the Corona bottle on the stove and looks me dead in the eyes. I stare back with hatred. I never understood where Jared's anger came from, but over the years I've grown used to it. "Just try not to piss him off", my mother began telling me at a young age. I used to follow that too, but this past year he's grown aggressive and I'm not going to put up with his shit any longer. 

      "Well you don't either, all you do is sit on your ass all day when you could be out looking for a damn job!"

     I dodge to the side as an object flies past my head, the glass barely skimming my right cheek bone. I look back at the now shattered TV screen-he threw the damn bottle at me!

     "Jared that's enough!" My mother cuts in front of him. "Move out my way." He pushes her to the side, but she gets in front of him again. I look at her in disbelief; she never takes my side over his.

     All those times he had kicked me out, with or without her knowing. Not even when he threatened me...

     He pulls his arm back and slaps my mother across her face, bringing me back to the present.

     My mother lifts her head back up and speaks in a strained voice,"If you ever hurt her-" Jared slaps her again. He then takes hold of her hair and raises his other hand.

     Advancing, he's just over a foot taller than me and probably over 200 pounds. All I can do is thrust my hands against his chest to get him off of her. He stumbles back a couple feet. It isn't much, but at least now I stand between him and my mom.