I was a Mistake

Waiting

A week later.

I had missed a week of school. I had been forced to stay home for seven days at the mercy of my family. I hadn't seen the Winters in an entire week.

The day after being beaten for my brother's bruised nose,  Momma called Mrs. Winters and my school and said I was terribly sick. She told them I'd be back after I felt better. Of course, if Momma was being honest, she really would have said I couldn't walk because my family beat me and she didn't want people to see how bruised I was.

Maybe I could have been back to school in a couple days had I been left alone. But because I was at home and seemed to be in everybody's way, even in my basement bedroom-a place that on most days nobody ever went-my bruises were refreshed nightly. It was as if each time they saw Gabriel's bruised face, they were reminded that I existed and needed to be sorry for it.

My chores had been tripled as if Momma found anything that could be cleaned and wrote it on my chore chart.

Because the places that I usually got food had been taken away from me, I had to do all of my chores before I could get anything to eat. As such, I only had one small meal a day and was very hungry and extremely weak, making my chores difficult to complete.

Momma kept telling me I would not be going back to school or the Winters' house until I learned my lesson. "We'll continue to beat you and you'll never go back if you can't learn." I wished to tell her truancy was a thing and before long, she'd have to go to court because of my absences. Momma had become very ugly in my opinion. I wished she'd give me to the Winters because I didn't want to love her anymore. I hated that I hadn't had a good memory with her in years.

I'd imagine if I was to be taken away from her, the only thing I'd see when I thought of her was the scrunched up, angry face and her crazy blonde hair. I had given up wishing she would love me and hold me. I, instead, wished the Winters were my home.

I missed Noah and the other Winters immensely. At some point, when the days seem to bleed together, the doorbell rang and Carl opened it to what sounded like Mr. and Mrs. Winters. The sound of their voices made me ache for their attention, for them to know I was hurting and needed their help.

I could only see Carl standing at the door from where I stood. I had been told to go to my room, but I listened from the top of the basement stairs. Mrs. Winters voice was beautiful to hear, laced with kindness and worry. I yearned to see her and wrap my arms around her waist. "We came to check on Eden. She's been sick for a while and we thought we'd bring her some schoolwork and her favorite soup."

Momma had approached and stood beside Carl. Her eyes were bloodshot and her tank top had a large unidentifiable stain on it. She crossed her arms over her chest and sneered. "Eden has pneumonia and is still very sick. We're taking good care of her and already have soup and I don't think she has a need for schoolwork." I felt my stomach growl at the thought of Mrs. Winters' soup. I thought of speaking up and saying I hadn't eaten anything but half of the sandwich Gabriella didn't finish the night before.

Mr. Winters spoke, his thunderous voice filling the room. "Well if I know Eden, I know she'd love to have her school work if only to catch up on the days she's missed. Can we see her?"

"No!" Carl exclaimed, almost panicky.

Momma butted in, trying to keep her wits. "She's terribly contagious and we'd hate for you to have to get sick with all your boys at home. And she's my daughter, I can take care of her and I don't think she'd want to have work to do while she's sick."

For a few moments, I didn't hear anything from the parents I wished to have and the ones I was stuck with. From the silence, I heard a small sigh, "Well, because we got them for her, please give these to Eden just in case. I hope she feels better soon. We miss her." Mrs. Winters voice steadily got louder as she spoke until she almost shouted as if trying to make sure I heard, "We are always at the house if she needs anything."