the hanging tree - billie eilish

abusive |44|

alexis's POV

"ALEXIS VIVIAN ARMSTRONG GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW" i hear my mom scream through the house, waking me up instantly. "here we fucking go" i mumble to myself and get out of bed, knowing that if i were to stay in bed she'd be even more pissed. 

i trudge down the stairs and hear my mom yelling. "she needs to learn that she can't do this!" she yells. "she's just a kid. she's upset and in love. grounding her isn't going to do anything." dad sighs. "she's upset?! she's upset?! i'm fucking upset! there's cum in my car!" mom shouts. "there's no way of knowing it's c-" layla starts but mom cuts her off. "oh yeah because she drinks pineapple juice in my car all the fucking time!" she yells sarcastically. "ALEXIS GET IN HERE!" she screams once again. 

i finally decide to walk in, holding my head up high to show her i'm not afraid of her even though i'm terrified. "what's going on?" i ask, tilting my head a little and furrowing my eyebrows. "you know what the fuck is going on." mom scolds me. "you're cleaning my car, you're cleaning your father's car, layla's car and when you're done you're going to clean the entire house!" she orders. "mom, the entire house is already spotless." i remind her. "your OCD ass will find something that is wrong with this house just like you do every other tiny thing! it's exhausting hearing you bitch about every little thing!" she groans, emphasizing the word bitch. "that's not my fault! it's my brain mom! that's how it works! you know i wish i could get rid of it but i can't!" i shout back. "why don't we all just calm down" dad suggests, trying to move my mom away from me as layla pulls me back. "LET GO OF ME!" i scream and squirm out of her grip, lunging to my mom and throwing a punch. everything goes black right when i swing.

next thing i know i'm blinking my eyes open in an ambulance. of fucking course. "she's waking up" one of the paramedics tells the driver. i look around and see that none of my family members are in the truck. it's just me alone. "what happened?" i ask groggily. "don't worry about that right now alexis. just try to breathe." he orders. "o-okay." i agree. 

we get to the hospital and i'm put into a bed and rolled from room to room. "we're gonna put you under okay. just count down from one hundred." the nurse tells me. "100, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91, 90" i count until my eyelids get heavy and i finally fall asleep.