Chapter Text
There was the sound of breaking glass, and then a thud. I tumbled backwards onto the kitchen tile, landing on my elbows. Quickly, I scrambled up to my feet, but before I could upright myself completely, a large hand shoved me back to the ground. My stepdad was drunk again, and when that happened, he took it out on me. But that was okay, as long as he didn’t hurt my little sister, Claire. Claire meant the world to me, and was too young to worry about any of this.
My dad took another swig of alcohol out of the dark bottle, and wiped a hand across his mouth.
“You're worthless! You can’t do anything useful!”
His words were slurred and pretty incoherent. I wasn't surprised. He was getting drunk more and more these days, for some reason. I suspected it had something to do with my mom. She’d run away after Claire was born, so far under the pull of alcohol that she didn’t even care about her kids anymore. She’d left Claire and I with the horrible monster she was dating. He was just as bad as she was, if not worse.
He’d been having more terrifying fits of rage lately. Throwing things and screaming and then leaving the house, returning only in the wee hours of morning.
So, I wasn’t even surprised when he threw the empty bottle at my head, the shattered glass raining down on my head and shoulders. He hollered a bit more, then pulled on his boots and stomped out the front door, into the dark.
I hurried to go check on Claire, who was probably hiding in our shared room, clutching her stuffed tiger, whom she’d named Stripes. I slowly pushed the door open, peering around the dark.
Within seconds, I spotted my sister's silhouette against the side of the bed, and the tiger in her arms. I crouched down next to Claire, reaching a hand out. “Claire? Are you okay?”
Claire peeked her eyes out, which were noticeably wet, and looked up at me. She nodded slowly.
“Where is he?”
I threw my arm out to balance myself, as I’d nearly toppled over. I tucked a piece of Claire’s blonde hair behind her ear and smiled softly.
“Don’t worry. He went to take a walk, so it’s just us.”
Suddenly, Claire’s green eyes widened enormously. “Y/n, your head! There’s a boo-boo!”
I reached up to feel my forehead, and my fingers came away red and sticky. As my vision blurred and everything began to go black, I remembered the glass bottle. I must’ve been hit, and not even realized.....Before I lost consciousness, my last thought was of Claire.
What was going to happen to my little sister?