When It All Comes Crashing Down

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Shelly’s POV

And I was right. The night did end horribly. Once I got to the master bedroom, I put my bags down and hopped in the shower. When I got out I put on some night clothes and laid down. As soon as I shut my eyes, the light switch flipped on. What the hell? I thought to myself, all of a sudden I heard yelling and screaming. “Get up you lazy h*e! Clean this mess up! This isn’t the dag on shelter. Get this stuff together and clean it up.”

 It was Marcus, I already knew it. I didn’t even look up from where I was staring. As soon as I opened my eyes I stared at the ceiling. When he was finished, I dragged myself out of the bed and put away all of my new clothes in the closet. When I laid back down, it was like the restaurant all over again. Marcus tried to console me by saying, “I’m sorry baby! I just had a rough day at work. I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.” I wasn’t buying it. This man is bipolar! He has some serious issues.

“Where do you work anyway? You’ve never told me!” I said. I really wanted to know. But he just dodged my question, “Don’t worry about all of that! Just know that I will be able to take care of you for forever!” He smiled at me. I took a huge gulp. I knew I was never getting out of this house alive. There was no possible way.

Two Months Later

Alicia starts school today, and I’m glad for it. Because now she won’t have to see him hitting on me and cursing me out. I’m only staying because I want my daughter to be able to get a good education and not have to worry about money. That’s how much I love my child. Getting beaten everyday has become a routine. But like I said before, I do it for my child.

Alicia’s POV

So, today I start school. And I’m really glad because now I can get out of the house more. I’m tired of my mother being beaten. I would do something if I could but what’s a scrawny little girl like me going to do? There was something good that happened this summer though. I turned sixteen. Marcus threw me a party with a couple of friends that I made over the summer. He also got me a car. A nice car!

At the party, he seemed to be the sweet and caring man that my mother described to me the first day she met him. But after dark, he’s a monster. “Alicia, you’d better get headed off to school!” Sam said as he knocked on my door. “Okay, thanks Sam!” I replied.

I finished brushing my hair into a ponytail and adjusted my clothes. I grabbed my purse, backpack, and keys and headed out the door. “Bye mama!” I kissed her cheek. “Bye Mr. Mark!” I side hugged him but he pulled me into a bear hug and held me there for a while. I pried myself away from his tight grip around my waist. “Okay, I have to get to school now! Bye Sam!” I waved to him as I walked out of the house.

I’m really terrified because ever since I got here, Marcus has been giving me these weird looks. But lately, they’ve been more and more lustful. I’m afraid that he’s going to come and do something to me. But I can’t worry about that right now, I need to focus on school.

As I pulled up to my school, I saw a bunch of kids, all from different races. I thought that the student body population would be mostly white because of the neighborhood, but I was proved wrong. I pulled into a parking space, parked, grabbed my stuff, and got out of my car.

“Hey, Alicia!” My friend Natalie Gomez (who was Hispanic), cheered. I had met her, Chad Green (mixed with black and white), Brian O’Conner (white), Destiny Green (twin sister to Chad), and Daniel Brown (black) at the mall. Natalie and Chad were together and Destiny and Brian were together. So that left me and Daniel. I did find myself developing a crush on him over the summer but I tried to hide it as best I could. He came over to my house a couple of time by himself so maybe he has a thing for me. But it could be nothing, maybe I’m hallucinating.