My New Stepbrother

18

He made me feel not so alone, and made me feel like someone else actually cared about me. And for that I was so grateful. I never really dealt with my dad dying, and then with my mother dying so shortly after him—I just felt broken. But Blake came along and seemed to put me back together again, and I was so grateful for him.

Grateful that he could make me feel something again. For the longest time I felt like I wasn't living, I was just existing, but he reminded me that I had a heart pumping inside of my chest, giving me life. He reminded me that there was a reason to feel and to live and to care.

It felt good caring again.

Because of that gratefulness, I just assumed I was in love; but maybe it wasn't love. Maybe this whole time it's just been gratefulness mixed with...fear. Initially, I didn't even want to be with Blake sexually. I didn't know a thing about romance, or anything of that nature and he just came, then ripped my innocence from me. Since that happened, I went into survival mode doing what I could to protect myself. A part of me figured, the less angry I made him, the more I could survive.

But that wasn't love.

That was fear, and control—and it was wrong! I realized now, how bad our relationship actually was, and I felt tears coming from my swollen eyes. They burned the cuts that were against my face, and burned my lips as they touched them before they reached my chin and dropped from my face.

Right when I started crying, someone else entered the room. I heard footsteps, but my eyes hurt too much to open them and see who was inside of the room now. Not to mention, I couldn't move my body at all.

"The doctors have her on some heavy sedatives so she'll feel kind of numb to the pain. I paid Daniel, so he won't be doing a police report."

"I still can't believe that my Blake would do something like that..."

Who was that? It was a woman's voice, that much I could tell...but who?

My Blake?

Was this woman...Blake's mother? It would make sense. Who else would be here with Peter? Plus, who else would ever say that about Blake?

"You should've seen it. It was mortifying. I found her trying to stay conscious...in a pool of blood, it looked and smelled like vomit....It was disgusting and—vicious. I found a kitchen knife on the floor...and then I saw what he did to her face."

"Oh God..." The woman, who I assumed was Blake's mother was softly crying now. "He used to be such a good boy. I don't know what happened to him. I love him, and don't want anything bad to happen to him....but should we let this go unchecked? I mean, should we forget the bribe and just tell the doctors the truth?"

"If we do that, his future will be ruined. There will be no chances of him going to college, or ever having a normal life. He'll be in and out of mental facilities, and once he turns eighteen he'll be in and out of prison. I can't afford to let that happen to him."

"So what do we do?" The woman asked.

"We do the same thing with her that we did with you. Remove her from the equation and give him some serious therapy sessions. I'm thinking he needs some every single day after school. I mean I love our son too, but he has some serious issues. Sometimes, I feel nervous sleeping under the same roof as him, and I don't want that. I want him to work out whatever problems he has, and I want him to go back to normal."

"But she's only sixteen Peter. We can't just...give her a house and make her live on her own. She needs someone to care for her."

I was listening intently. I wanted to speak up, and say I'd be fine staying as long as Blake left but I couldn't speak still. I was trying my hardest to open my eyes and put a face to the woman whom I'd heard so much about, but they were still swollen shut and were starting to hurt a bit more.