Yelling and screaming emerged from the other side of my door. My brother and my stepdad were exchanging words again. Mother stepping in every so often to break surface tension but not enough to protect her children. Finding myself next to the door listening, I opened it and walked out far enough into the hallway to just barely see. Not being able to see anything I would have to take a few steps forward, my eight-year-old self, leaving my cell to dare see what was happening. Once I could see it was as if everything stood still but only for a split second. I hid behind the gun case, which edged by the corner looking straight into the living room, to shield my mother from seeing me.
My mother standing in the kitchen looking out into the dining room, two sides of an argument were brewing very quickly. Scott, my stepdad, standing broad-shouldered towards my brother. Being my brother, he returned the gesture and puffed his chest to seem as though he wasn't half the size of Scott. Again, everything stood still allowing me to see every detail, to see my mother standing still frozen to say anything for the fear we all shared because of this man. The only one with enough courage to say anything was my brother and maybe I was a little glad. My mother would hopefully see who he really was. If that were true seeing my brother stand up for everyone would give me what I need to challenge him, so we both could save our mom. As this proud moment came time had stopped again and for a singular moment I was seeing my brother as a protector.
Scott became furious and pushed him up against the wall, my mother said nothing. She was so frozen with fear moving just wasn't an option anymore, her whole body was stiff. He tried using his control over the family to discourage my brother but that didn't work. Seeing this Scott swung trying to hit him but missed. Scott always thought he was better than everyone but instead, he was the worst version of himself. Rage still grew and tension rose in the house until Scott snapped and couldn't hold back his anger any longer.
He shoved my brother up against the wall still trying to discourage him and still that didn't work. Scott then lifted my brother up by the throat while pushing my brother further up the wall. My mother so frozen with fear didn't move until she heard something behind her. When she looked behind her I was stepping on a plastic bag. The awakening from the sound shook her out of her comatose state and sent her screaming into the dining room. My brother fell to the ground and stomped back to his room in which I followed him. Time froze, it felt as if it had for the rest of the night with all the crying and not a single person got sleep except for my baby sister who was only a few months old.
The next morning a small bruise had manifested around my brother's neck but at school, he told everyone that he won even though it was a tie. According to him, the bruise was from falling on a stack of books when he got up because he wasn't wearing his much-needed glasses. It was one lie I let my brother get away with so that he felt as if he had protected me from such a monster, and he did that time. But now my brother not only protected me from the monster but also kept him from my younger sister. For the time after that, I knew someone was there to protect me from the monsters that hadn't lived underneath my bed but the ones that lived at home.
