This is, a happy house
We're happy here
—The Weeknd
𝓘𝓼𝓪𝓫𝓮𝓵
As I ᴡᴀs sɪʟᴇɴᴛʟʏ sɪᴛᴛɪɴɢ ᴏɴ ᴍʏ ʙᴇᴅ, ʙᴏᴏᴋ ɪɴ ʜᴀɴᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɪᴍᴀɢᴇ ᴏғ Eᴛʜᴀɴ ᴄᴏᴍɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ Starbucks with him and his friends probably me make the drinks one by one, the door to my room opened. For once, a smiley Maria entered and closed the door behind her, slowly walking towards me with her hands behind her back.
Before she started talking, I already knew what she wanted. It was obvious already.
"Yes Maria, you can take my laptop." I said for her, resting my head against the wall, closing my book but maintaining one hand between the pages so I wouldn't lose the page I was on.
"Sweet!" She said, approaching my desk in a few steps and pulling the charger from the device, bending down to take the base of the charger off of the outlet. But as she bent down, I saw something on her inner thighs.
Fuck no.
"Maria, what do you have on your thighs?" She froze. Not a single noise coming from her mouth as she straightened herself and didn't even come here.
I put my book down and got up from the bed, walking over to her and standing behind her. Hoping it was not what I was thinking.
"Maria. Show me your thigh." I demanded, my voice getting softer but she understood what I wanted. But she still didn't show me anything.
"There is nothing to see." She answered, looking down at her hands.
Feeling the rage boiling up and down my spine, I grabbed her by the arms and turned her around, making her face me either she wanted it or not.
"Don't fucking hide whatever you have on your thighs from me." I said, getting in her face, being two fingers away from just sitting her on my bed and make her show me whatever she had on her thighs. I just hoped it was not what I thought or I was gonna go crazy.
Tears flooded her eyes, dripping down her face.
"I told you. There is nothing to see." She repeated, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
Ok, that's it.
I grabbed her by the hand and led her to my bed, picking her up and sitting her down on top of the soft mattress, grabbing her knees and opening her legs, horror crawling up my back and widening my eyes, my jaw dropping as my hand went to my mouth.
Deep cuts. Recently had been bleeding. On both inner thighs. So that's why she had her scissor on her bedside table.
Fuck it, I'm not leaving this shit like this.
I straightened myself, but kept looking at the cuts, gliding a gentle finger over them.
"I'm so sorry, Isa. I don't know why I—" She started, sobs leaving left and right from her mouth. But I stopped her.
"It's not your fault, Maria." I said, turning towards the door and storming out of the room, running downstairs where I found mom and dad sitting on the couch, not fighting for once but still not talking.
Rage, anger and hatred filled every missing space between us, an urge to burn everything down to the ground being strong, even though I couldn't. Because I could get arrested for murder, even though I was up for risking everything just for my sister.
"You two assholes. Because of your fucking fights your daughter is cutting herself." I snapped, gritting my teeth as both of them got up from the couch and got closer to me.
"Watch your tone, niña. We are not your friends." Mom snapped back, getting angry herself.
She was right, they were not my friends. They never have been. They never will be.
"Fuck you. I just told you your daughter is cutting herself and all you have to say to me is that you both are not my friends. Guess what? I already fucking knew that." I hissed, my voice getting louder as the anger built up.
Footsteps approached from up the stairs. Maria was watching.
"What are we supposed to do, huh? You tell us since you know so much more parenting more than us." Dad said, the audacity of his words making me chuckle from all the hatred I was feeling at the moment.
I've hated my parents since a long time ago, but not as much as I do now.
"Oh, you think you know anything about parenting, yeah? How much do you know? Because yelling at a three year old telling her she was fucked up, telling her how much you two should have used a condom to prevent from having her, shaking her and almost spitting on her face to get her to cry," I started, walking closer to him,"You call, neglecting your two children and treating them like shit, parenting? That's what it is? Newsflash, it is not. So get your fucking act toget—" I started, but a strong push from the hands of my father made me fall to the floor on my side.
Not even having time to react, I hit my head on the floor and my fists hit on it, too. My face hurt, and every little sound around me slowed down. I felt small hands on me, shaking me up, but my vision was blurry and I strangely couldn't figure out who was holding me in their arms.
There were three people around me.
Suddenly, I didn't remember who pushed me. Or why I was pushed in the first place.
Everything went black. My eyes closed, I gasped for air and those were the last moments.
I ᴡᴏᴋᴇ ᴜᴘ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏsᴘɪᴛᴀʟ, ᴏᴜᴛsɪᴅᴇ ᴏғ ᴍʏ ʀᴏᴏᴍ Dᴇᴠɪ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɢɪʀʟs ᴀɴᴅ Mᴀʀɪᴀ ᴡᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ
to a doctor. Maria was awfully stressed, her whole body shaking while Aneesa held her in her arms, rubbing her back as they kept talking to the doctor.
I remembered it all now. I was arguing with my parents, my dad pushed me to the ground and I hit my head. After that, I don't have details.
A tall brunette came inside, closing the door behind her and letting out a sigh, looking back at me. She was a nurse, if we try to take it by her clothes.
She walked up to me and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at me with a soft smile drawn on her lips.
"Hi, Isabel. I'm Caroline. The nurse that took you in. I just have a few things to discuss then I'll let you rest." She explained.
"Of course. What do you want to talk about?" If she was being friendly, what was there other than to do than also be friendly with her? Basic rules of life.
"First, you probably don't remember but you hit your head really bad," She started, nodding to where the intense pain of my head was,"But you got a nasty cut and bled a lot. So if you can't answer much of these questions then it'll be just fine."
"I'm pretty sure I can answer any of them. It was just a nasty cut." I said in return.
"Right. What I want to know, is how you got it."
Oh, my child neglecting dad pushed me on the floor and I hit my head really bad.
"I fell down the stairs." Finding an excuse to protect those bastards is easy, by now.
"Isabel, falling down the stairs is not as bad as that. Your head could have split your head in half, and you have bruises on both shoulders."
"I was the damage of the fall. Nothing else happened."
"Then why is your little sister so shaken up? She's crying her heart out and she can't even speak. Your parents acted completely normal when the ambulance came to get you."
"What's your point?" I asked, letting out a nervous chuckle.
"If there is anything going on at home, Isabel, this is your chance to say it. We have the cops right there and the only thing you have to do is say something. Your friends are worried, my colleagues are saying the same thing about your case. Your sister is shaking and crying, that is not the reaction of someone seeing their own sister falling down the stairs." She resumed.
I could tell the cops, right now and I know that. But I can't get my sister to be in foster care. I don't want her to go through that. She's already been through much and I know that I should say something, but I can't.
"There is nothing going on at home. I promise. My sister is just hypersensitive." I decided to go with the safe option instead.
Caroline sighed in a defeat and got up from the bed, straightening her clothes.
"I'm going to let your friends and your sister come in, if you don't have anything to say. Take some rest." The nurse sighed, walking over to the door and opening it wide so the girls could all come in, Maria still in Aneesa's arms. She didn't even move.
Caroline left, and a concerned Devi hopped onto the bed, sitting right next to me.
"Girl, you bled a lot. Thought we were going to see you in a coma." She said, letting out a sad chuckle.
"Thank you for coming. Seriously, it means a lot." I smiled, extending my hand out to her. She took it in hers and held it.
"Why aren't your parents here?" She asked. I looked at Maria then back at her.
Devi was a good secret keeper, so I was going to tell her. It isn't going to hurt.
"I only want to tell you." I muttered, the other girls leaving the room, taking Maria with her. I trust Devi, and I've known her for over a month and almost three weeks now. She was like a second sister for me, and she deserved to know. The rest of the group would know eventually. For now, I was going to tell Devi.
"My parents are child neglectors, they never treated either me or my sister as their daughters. I raised myself and my sister..." I started explaining everything.
One by one, no tears leaving my eyes. Devi did let some tears fall from her eyes. I mean, if I was her I think I would be crying too. But I just can't show any emotion towards this and I never will. I can't let what happens between four walls to affect my whole life, even though I just found out that my sister was cutting her thighs because of the stupid fights our parents had. I needed to make her stop, and now that I was working at Starbucks, I could get a therapist for her and she wouldn't have to hide anything. If she could ever talk, because I get that this is difficult to talk about. I just made the girl who laughs all the time cry just because of what I told her.
"Oh my God, Isabel. Why didn't you say it earlier? I could have asked my mom if you could stay over for some time or until you graduated!" She sobbed, wiping the snot off of her nose with the back of her hand.
"No Devi, it's fine. I'm working at the Sherman Oaks Coffee Shop, my sister locks herself in her room whenever I'm not home, and I'm going to take her to a therapist." I reassured her, letting out a chuckle as I aw how bad she was trying to find something to help me out.
"Okay, Isabel, but what about you? You went through so much more than your sister when you were a kid and you're not getting a therapist for yourself?" Devi asked, tears still falling down her face. I sat up straighter and faced her better.
"I swear, it'll be alright. I just need my sister to not be sad all the time. She might not have been through the same shit as me, but she's sad all the time!"
Devi didn't even answer, she just nodded and let my hand go.
"Get some rest, I don't want you in school for a week."
I was about to answer her, but she left before I could even reply.
So all I could do was close my eyes and get some rest.
That's what I did. My body felt numb, and I needed to close my eyes to recover a bit from the damage.