Aunt Mimi, Alicia, and my mom were sitting at a corner of the yard whispering. I tried to make out what they were saying but all I heard was mom angrily say "Blue Moon." I glanced at my dad who was sitting in a lawn chair in between his grill. It made sense.
He was sitting with a beer in his hand, typical. I shook my head and leaned back in my chair.
"You okay?" I jumped as I felt a soft hand on my shoulder. I heard Tristy's bell-like laugh and smiled. "Sorry to scare you. Are you okay?" She said sitting down on the red wood bench across from me.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" I shifted my glance away from her piercing brown eyes to Ashley and Dave who were throwing beanbags around with their youngest son Alejandro.
"Your dad is drinking and Christine is pissed." She responded leaning forward. I looked back at her.
"So it's a normal day." I sat mirroring her position.
"You wanna talk?" She asked. Tristy was Ashley's daughter and my best friend. We were born two weeks and four days apart so our parent's decided to work through their first-child strife together. Her mom went on to have the twins, Chloe and Cali, and then Alejandro where my mom has tried but never succeeded in having another child. She always wanted a boy and had no problem making that known to me after her recent miscarriage.
"Nope." I said shaking my head. "There's nothing to say."
She went to say something but bit her lip. She got up, kissed my head and walked away.
I slid deep into my chair and looked up at the sky. The rest of the day was a distant memory.
People came, people left.
I can honestly say there was no reason for me to not remember anything but my mind was just in a million other places.
Normally, mom and dad start fighting between 8 and 9. Tonight they started at 6:30 when the last guest left. Starting to fight at 8 to 9 gave dad the time to get nice and drunk. He was defiantly a violent drunk. I have bruises all over my stomach to prove it.
"I'm the man of this house, i make the money, I make the rules. I said no Christine!" I heard my mom slam the dishes into the sink.
"Well, I said yes!" She yelled back at him. I heard the sound of a smack and someone go flying into a wall. I heard my mom's heels click through the house and the front door open and then slam shut.
Our house is very temperamental. If you slammed a door, yelled, or even touched a wall too hard things all over the house shook. Of course, I picked tonight to leave my glass perfume bottle on the edge of my dresser. With the slam of the door it promptly fell to the ground and shattered.
I got up to lock my door but ended up slipping on the glass pile and falling. I screamed as the glass pierced my arm. That was a bad idea. I thought as I heard my dad trip noisily up the stairs.
I cried silently as I tried to get up but ended up falling and lodging more glass in my arm. My door flew open and Couldn't help but wish I was dead.
"What the hell happened?" My dad asked stumbling into my room.
"I tripped and fell." I stuttered while pulling glass out of my arm slowly and carefully.
"You're such a klutz!" He yelled. "Get up!" My head pounded and the sight of blood started to make me nauseous. He took a step closer to me and I braced myself. "Get up!" He said as I felt his foot collide with my ribs. I heard a crack and I what felt like fire ripped through my chest. "Useless..." He muttered as he walked out of my room and stamped clumsily down the stairs.
I cried in pain as I tried to move to get to my feet. I stood up slowly and walked to my bed to get my phone. I slowly laid in my bed and picked up my phone. I cried in pain as the fire ricocheted through my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to think of someone to call to take me to the E.R.. I dialed Aunt Alicia as the pain got worse.
"Hi. You've reached my voice mail. Sorry I..." I hit end and sighed.