Hiding My Heart

Chapter 25

"Why did he leave a box?" I ask Brayden quietly as we sat at the table looking at the box in front of us.  

I came down this morning for breakfast only to find a mysterious box on the table. Marked Private in Joey's hand writing, he left it. Does that me that he's coming back to get it? I hope not, I hope he's gone for good. 

"I don't know, but I hope he doesn't come back for it." Brayden says as Natalie puts a bowl of cereal in front of me. 

"Don't worry about it, I'll go wake up mom and she will deal with it." Natalie says. 

"I wouldn't if I were you." I say taking a bite out of the cereal. "I heard her last night, she was drinking and angry."  

She sighs and smooth's my hair down, like mom used to do to me. "Then I'll wait to see what she does with it." She promises. 

"What's in it?" I ask between slurps. 

She shrugs eating her own cereal. "I don't know, but I don't really care." She says making Brayden nod. 

"We should just burn it; it most likely on has alcohol in it." Brayden agrees. 

"But what if he comes back for it and sees that it's gone?" I ask drinking the milk. "Then we will all be in trouble and he will hit us."  

"Shh, don't talk like that." Natalie says to me making me hunch my shoulders. 

"Just leave it alone Dee, it's just a stupid box." Brayden agrees. 

I know that it's the end of discussion. I know when my siblings are done talking about something and I also know how mad they get if I continue to ask questions. So I let it drop and just eat my cereal and talk to them lightly. 

I wait until they finish their cereal and leave the kitchen before I stand on my chair and bring the box closer to me. It was pretty heavy to scoot it, but I was determined to see what was in the box. To see what secrets he had left. 

Peeking both ways and making sure to be quiet I gently put my hand on the flap of the box about to lift it up when a voice behind me makes me drop my hand and yelp. Turning in a panic I see my mom stand there, her hair a wild mess, her eyes red from drinking and crying, her clothes wrinkled and if you breathed in you can smell the slight stench she has. 

"What do you think you are doing?" She hisses at me stomping over to where I stand with the box. 

"I- I'm sorry, I just saw it here and wanted to know what was in it. I didn't mean to make you mad." I say getting down from the chair and backing up from her. 

She glares down at me, her hand swiping the box from the table, stumbling slightly at the weight. 

"This box isn't allowed to be opened, ever. Leave it alone, I don't want to see you poking around. It's not safe." She says her voice a little softer this time.  

"But-" I begin but she shakes her head. 

"I said no." She says before rushing up stairs where the attic was .I hear her roam around, moving things and I know I can't go up there. Not only because I'm scared of the attic but because that is the no go area Joey and my mom set up, if we so much as make a move to go up there we will get hit by him and a small scolding from our mom. 

I'm still standing there when she comes back down. "I'm sorry." I say when she sees me. 

"Don't be sorry, just don't go snooping around." She says coldly making me shudder.