I Believe

The Unfortunate Enzo

I had never once kissed someone like this before. Her lips were soft against mine, and I didn't want it to stop.

But, it did.

She pushed me away hard. "I am not just going to be a rebound for you, Enzo! If you really liked me that much, you would have told me before kissing me out of nowhere! Go away already!"

"I do like you that much, Evie!" I said truthfully. After I had met her, she pulled me into her 'spell of love', or whatever else you might have called it. 

I know it seemed really bad to like her already, especially when I had just broken up with Annie.

But, I had probably already ruined what could have been a good relationship between me and her.

"I said go away. Please." Evie turned away from me sharply, sending a wave of sadness through me. Did she know how much I wanted this? No, she didn't, but it seemed like she didn't care much in the first place.

I stomped away like a mad child, heading to my house. I was still seventeen, which meant I was still not able to move out yet.

My mom laid flat across the couch as I walked in. She was smoking a cigarette, and had a bottle of beer in her other hand. 

"Hey, you. Where've you been at?" She asked coldly, pointing a shaking finger at me.

"I was at the beach. I told you where I was going to be, you just didn't listen." I snapped back.

She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "I see we've got a talker. Berny!"

Wait. Berny?

"Who's Berny?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Oh, you'll see." She chuckled mischievously. I didn't like the way she laughed, now. She was a completely different person, and I hated it.

Soon enough, a tall, plump man wearing a dirty, dark blue v-neck and only brown shorts walked into the living room area.

We lived in a trailer at Danny's Trailer Park downtown. This trailer was definitely not going to be big enough to hold him for long.

I felt like a child thinking that, but I couldn't help it.

"Follow me, kid. We have some business to go over." He a long, thick stick from the back corner of the living room, and beckoned me to the bathroom.

The stick he had been holding was the stick that I used to try to karate chop as a kid, thinking I would be so cool if I had accomplished so. I was confused as to what he wanted me to do with it.

As soon as I had followed him into the tiny bathroom, he quickly locked the door, and raised the stick.

He began whooping me harder than mom ever had, and it hurt like hell. I didn't honestly know what to do, but I wasn't really thinking about anything but what to say.

I gripped the bar that the towels hung on to hold myself, and he ignored it. He just continued to beat me. I screamed and cried in pain, but mom never came in to tell Berny that he had beat me enough, and that he could go, now. She was probably still laid across the couch in the living room, finishing off her beer. 

She was probably drunk enough to where she would come and join Berny in his fun.

Eventually, I pushed myself up with all the strength that I had, and kicked Berny in the shin.

He yelped in anger, and tried to hit me again. I moved as fast as I could to the toilet, and pulled the heavy top off.

Before he could reach me to hit me again, I smashed the toilet top on his head, and he fell to the ground unconscious.

I ran out of the bathroom, past mom, and out of the trailer. I didn't really know where I was going, but I knew I had to get away. I had never witnessed something so bad in that trailer before. Mom was intense when she was drunk, but I had never thought that she would let her own son get beaten until he couldn't breathe.

I finally got to the town park, and sat in a ball under the big oak tree. No kid had ever come near the tree, because one of the station officers at the park had told everyone that the tree was off limits for searching.

A sneaky kid named Caleb always came by this tree to take drugs, and he was eventually caught. But, the officers wanted to take a look over the tree to see if Caleb had left any drugs there for kids to get into. They didn't find anything, but the good parents of kids wouldn't let them go anywhere near the tree, afraid that the officers had missed something.

That's why this was my favorite tree. Because I could be alone, without anybody coming over to ask me if I was okay. I was never usually okay when I came to that tree, because when I wanted to be alone, something was clearly wrong.

Another reason that I loved the tree so much: Annie. 

Annie never left me alone unless she was angry with me. Now that we had broken up, I felt free again. But I never stopped visiting the tree. It was my place to go when I needed to breathe, or let anger or cries out.

"Enzo?" A voice called, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I looked up to see Evie.

As I looked into her eyes, I saw concern. I hated concern. 

Didn't she hate me, too?

"Are you alright?" She asked after I didn't answer her.

I hated that question. The main purpose of going to this tree was to not get asked that.

I shook my head, trying to hold back tears.

But, after she pulled me in for a hug, I had to let something out. So I did.

And she stayed.