Why All The Choices That I Make Leave Me With Scars?

Remember I Had To Choose "Lord, Help Me," 'Cause I Couldn't Say Nothin

"Shut up woman!" Lloyd didn't know what he did, but from the sound of a woman's cry and someone falling to the floor, it took no detective to figure out Garmadon had struck her. He walked out of the room and looked at Lloyd, then walked off and started Grumbling. Lloyd ran into the room and found his mother on the floor, crying.

He didn't know what to say, so he said what he thought could protect her.

"Mom, don't cry... we Garmadons don't cry... it's going to be okay." He hugged her as he helped her stand up. She hugged him back and sighed. Lloyd noticed she had a bruise under her eye, and he could feel anger rising up in him toward his father.

His father said he need to stop being childish a lot, did that mean he wasn't a child at all? He went to the store and learned finances and how to pay bills, but wasn't he still a child? Every kid must know how to do these things, he reasoned. It was productive, and it honestly made sense.

At the age of thirteen he hardly slept, being woken up at five a.m. nearly every morning just to do the chores, which normally consisted of cleaning up after his father. Bottles laid around the counter, a stain in the carpet or on the couch needed to be scrubbed, et cetera; he'd take money from the change jar just to go to the corner store and buy little things like wipes or paper plates if they were out.

Garmadon went out a lot, and when he was asked where he was going, you were lucky if he just glared at you and slammed the door. He made it no secret he was cheating, as he would bring home random women and kick Misako out of the room, and Lloyd would let her sleep in his while he slept on the floor. Lloyd didn't mind what was happening to him, but he couldn't stand to see what it was doing to his mother. She was always tired, sad, and hurt. Garmadon abused her almost daily, even just to get his anger out like she was a punching bag.

They lived off little food since Garmadon kept the food for himself, and Lloyd had to rack up spare change to get food for him and his mom, he still loved his father though, because Garmadon was being generous by letting them live there still, and letting them keep a bed.

The hitting and scars became a little more frequent as time went on, and only a couple of months later, Lloyd was littered with cuts and blemishes on his skin. His eyes had heavy bags underneath them constantly, and sometimes he felt so weak that he could barely stand after simply tripping. Glass bottles truly were his father's favorite weapon to wield, and at times Lloyd tried to defend himself merely by shielding his face with his hands. It usually worked but at the price of damaging his fingers and palms, especially his right hand, which he used the most.

It made him stronger and more resistant though, which he was thankful for, despite how shitty he felt or how Garmadon treated his mother. "Of course Lloyd, everything I do is for you."

Then he got into his first big argument at the age of 14. They were going to lose the house and Garmadon wasn't doing anything. He wasn't even talking to Wu, who could have helped them. "Dad, you're not doing shit besides beating up Mom and me!" He covered his mouth as soon as it came out. He was punched right in the arm, as Garmadon was aiming for his face, but missed due to how drunk he was. Lloyd was slammed into the counter, feeling a very bad pain as he was grabbed by his collar.

"Don't tell me what to do! Have you any respect? When you pay the bills with your own house, you can decide, you're lucky you still have a home right now," He yelled in Lloyd's face and then dropped him to the ground.

Lloyd scrambled to catch his breath as he crawled to his room and into his mother's arms. He didn't cry though, just laid there. "I'm too weak."

"You're not weak honey, you're the strongest person I've ever seen."