Ally

C1: A Place in this World.

Josh

My brother's face was swollen again. His nose looked to be arranged asymmetrically on his face, closer to being directly underneath his right eye than in the middle of both. Fucking Denise. Denise was the woman who had birthed us and that was all she was. 

She knew exactly where to hit as to avoid both fatality and a 999 call from me. Every time she hit the kids, I told them I'd ring the police; every time they'd responded with 'No.'. They knew how these things went by now, the numerous times I'd been arrested when Denise had redirected the blame towards me, and the kids were too terrified to correct her. But since I turned 18 not two months ago, I'd officially had enough. 

Every spare minute I attained was spent with my siblings; out of the hellhole we were forced to call home. Jacob was the cheery one of the three of us. No matter how much pain he was in, every time either me or Lily would walk into a room, his smile would brighten and his dimples grew. He was only twelve years old and unfortunately was the most susceptible to the blows from Denise. 

Fortunately, right now, Denise had drugged herself to unconsciousness last night and would not be awake until at least lunch time, which gave us three hours for Lily to wake up and for us to escape for the day. 

Lily was fourteen. Just like any hormonal teenager, she wouldn't wake until one of us warned her to, and when she did, she spent at least an hour dressing herself and putting whatever gunk on her face made her feel better about herself. 

Before I woke Lily up, I promised myself I'd have a serious talk with Jake about what he thinks about a flat I have lined up for the three of us. Denise was unaware I'd had a job for the past year and a half and I intended to keep it that way. I feared if she knew, she'd take every penny of my wages and leave nothing for me and the kids to escape with. 

I found a flat not far from the kids' school, relatively cheap if I kept the job, I'd been working so hard at. My job as a surgeon's assistant was incredible, and exactly what I needed. It was well-paid, I learnt a lot, and I could go in whenever I wanted some space as the Accident and Emergency it was located at was open twenty-four hours. Somehow, I had managed to keep my college attendance at 90%, my grades up and Denise oblivious. 

Still, my life was draining me, and I was constantly exhausted from numerous night shifts a week. Fucking sleep, man.

I sauntered down the stairs refusing to look my brother in the eye, because if I did, I'd lose my shit with the unconscious woman upstairs. "Hey, kid." I said, opening the fridge door observing for something to make my siblings for breakfast.
"Hi, Josh-y." He responded, giggling to himself at the nickname I had abhorred since infancy.
"You eaten?"
"I made some cereal, yeah." Dick couldn't even make me any.
"You want a bacon sandwich?" I asked, smirking when his eyes lit up. The kid could eat for England and often did after huge blows with Denise. When he nodded, I grabbed the bacon out of the fridge and poured some oil in a frying pan placing it on the bottom left hob. 

One of the first things my father taught me was there's always a correct hob to place the pan on; it was always the bottom left. I placed the bacon in the pan and got to work buttering some bread, unconsciously eyeing up the very obviously broken nose on my brother's face. I could take him into work and Dr Stevens would take care of it, but we'd get to that. "I want to run something by you, Jakey." I said, still buttering the bread, refusing to make eye contact with my youngest sibling.
"Okayy... why do you sound weird?" If the kid got out of here, he'd make a mean psychologist. He could read me like a book. I've never been sure if that was because I was his big brother, or if he was a real genius.
"I don't know, kid." I chuckled softly. "I think I found a flat for me, you and your sister. I want to know what you think about moving out."