"I'll see you tomorrow, Alex" Harper smiled and closed her locker,
I smiled back, and pulled my bag over my shoulder, "Okay, Harper. Call me"
We said our goodbyes and went different ways, I started to the upper grade level lockers in search of Justin.
"Hey, there you are" Justin's calming voice called to me from his locker,
I made my way through the crowd to him, "Hey"
He said his goodbyes to his friends, and turned his attention back to me. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah" I nodded my head and smiled. One step at a time, just smile and stay silent. You'll manage eventually.
We walked slowly, and silently up the road. Exchanging a few comments about homework, and the latest drama. Till we got to the driveway of a place we knew much too well, a place we were supposed to call home. We never got used to the constant screaming and yelling, we always knew it was there to "welcome" us home.
Justin stopped a few feet from the door, "We'll just go to our room until it's time to pick Max up, Okay?" his eyes turned into a darker shade of brown, and sadness crept through them.
I nodded, and smothered the urge to sob. "Okay" I managed to get out, trying to fight off my breakdown
"You little bitch! How many times have I told you?" Jacob's voice echoed through the empty halls of broken glass, stinging my ears.
I shot a sharp look at Justin, he looked down, and signaled me to remain quiet as can be.
Just ignore the cries, the sobs, and the screams. They don't exist, nothing in this house is real.
I silently dragged myself up the stairs, avoiding to look into Mom's room, ignoring the cries of help. Maybe we could go to Grandpa's this weekend, he could train us some more. I wish Dad could still train us, I miss him. I can't believe he's gone, why did he have to get on that plane? It doesn't make sense. Mom wouldn't have been dating, and Jacob wouldn't be here. Grandpa and Grandma had no clue that Jacob did this to our family, big sweatshirts, skinny jeans, hid all the marks. Why get them involved? Mom said she loves Jacob, he hurts us when he gets mad, like it's okay. It's okay that he does what he does to me when he's drunk, he'll stop eventually.
"Alex, let's go get Max and go to Grandpa's" Justin mumbled, standing up from the bed.
I only nodded and stood up, nothing in this house is real.
"Where do you think you're going you whore?" Jacob's son, Drake called from the living room.
I froze in my tracks, why did he have to be home? He should be with his friends getting high.
Justin glared at Drake, "To pick Max up"
Like it was Drake's business, clearly he was here to piss Justin off, and fuck with me.
Drake was two years older than me, an 11th grade druggie. He dragged me along with his friends on Friday nights, if I didn't go Jacob would beat me or do alot worse. It's not like there could be worse than what Drake and his buddies did to me, even though I highly doubted Jacob could do worse, I didn't want to take the chance. Mom was oblivious to this constant abuse, in her eyes Jacob only hit me if I raised my voice at him. In her eyes, all of this was okay.
Drake looked me up and down, "You're staying here"
Justin looked at me, his eyes feared everything that was about to happen. "No, she's not"
"Justin, just go. We don't have to start anything. I'll be fine, just go pick Max up" I said quietly, looking at Drake.
"Alex he's-" Justin started
"Go" I raised my voice a little, fighting all my tears back. Trying to sound brave and strong never worked when I was alone with Jacob and Drake.
He stood up and grabbed my upper arm, "Yeah, I'll take good care of her Russo. Don't worry" He flashed Justin an evil smirk before dragging me up the stairs.
I knew better than to struggle, kick, hit, or punch back. I would only be punished more later, and it wasn't worth it. Drake threw me into his room and locked the door behind him. I fell against the wall and ignored the sudden pain rushing through my head, and every part of my body. This always happens, I'm used to it. Drake does whatever he wants to me, while Mom is downstairs cooking dinner, we come back down, Mom doesn't expect a thing, after dinner Drake tells his father all about the great time he had with me. Then late at night Jacob comes into my room, drags me to the basement, and hurts me again. It was a daily routine in this family.
"Get up" he shouts, stinging my ears, and making my body feel extremely cold, making me shake violently.
This time, I was to weak to even move, I couldn't, I just hugged my knees and sobbed. How much more of this was I supposed to take?
He grabbed my upper arms and threw me back on the ground, I cried this time. I screamed and kicked, and kept trying to push him off of me. Jacob taught him well, it wasn't hard to get me in a position so I can't move. All it took was handcuffs and tape. After that I'd just be stuck there all night, and be punished more, I tried to stay quiet, but sometimes I just couldn't.
"You little fucking slut! Haven't you learned anything by now?" He picked me up, and threw me on the bed. I backed myself up against the wall and kept hugging my knees, sobbing, shaking, grabbed the two sets of handcuffs, and a gag. He threw the gag in my mouth and cuffed my wrists to the bed poles, now I was vulnerable. He could do whatever he wanted for however long he wanted.
I closed my eyes as he jumped on top of me and bit my neck harshly, as he ripped my top and bra off. I was sex slave and I hated it. Just stay strong for Mom, Alex.
I don't even remember the whole scene, I just remember waking up undressed, my clothing ripped, and being attached to the bed. Of course, when Drake's friends came over an hour later, they took the cuffs off and threw me around, hurting me some more, I guess the worst part was that all of these guys had girlfriends, and here they were getting to do whatever they wanted to me. Their girlfriends were so clueless. My boyfriend was clueless, so was everybody around me.
Drake threw me an over sized shirt and threw me into Justin's, Max's, and mines room. Mom knocked on the door,
"Hey honey" she smiled and placed a plate of food on my nightstand.
I put my best act on, and smiled. "Hi, Mom"
