Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
"An eighty nine!? Are you really so much of an idiot that you couldn't make the extra point?!" My father yelled. He raised a pot from the sink, covered in last night's poorly prepared macaroni and cheese, which he then pulled it backward with all his might, like a baseball player gearing up for the winning home run in The World Series. After minutes of silent tension I spoke, distracting the rabid baseball player from making contact with the ball, or in this case my face.
"I'm sorry. Are you hungry?" He regained his composure and hit my jaw, without a practice swing, connecting on the first time, and in his book giving him at least three bases. In his mind his team had won the Series and he was a martyr for doing so.
"Don't say a word!" He dropped the pan as a stinging sensation jolted through my body. I spat out a cracked tooth onto our linoleum floor, smattering the pale yellow diamond pattern with a thick red blood. I dropped to my knees, making a clinking sound as my shoes left the ground and then replanted themselves.
"How dare you embarrass our family?! Why are your shoes on in the house?! Answer me!" He pulled me to his eye level by roughly yanking a wad of my hair. A steely look fell upon his unshaven face. His beard and hair was looking greyer than normal, it must be all the stress I put on him.
I refused to speak, no need to fuel the fire, and he dropped me onto the floor, in such a way that my face could see the peeling paint of the ceiling. I heard a crack from lower leg as I make contact with the floor. What would I tell the doctor this time? I fell down the stairs because I tripped on my father's umbrella. No, normally my father doesn't normally leave his things on the apartment stairs but it rained so he was letting it dry out. They would believe that.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
"It's just a fracture, we just need to put a cast on it." So I was immobile for next, how long, forever? Not that I mind a few safe days in the hospital, maybe I'll watch a movie on the cable they have. That would be nice.
"You're father is here to see you." The nurse was so chipper, she had no idea the hell that I was about to face. She ushered him in as she left the room.
"Good afternoon Rei. Is your leg feeling alright?" He sat down on my leg, putting majority of his weight on the fracture. I squeaked out in pain but he stayed steadfast. He lifted his feet off the ground putting all of his weight on my leg. I cried in pain for a nurse, but he grabbed my face and shut my mouth. He ran the back of his hand across my cheeks quickly, causing me to start crying.
Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
"What is going on!" The nurse burst in to my father's hands on my face and his weight on my broken leg. My face was covered in tears as the nurse pried him off of me."Can I get some backup?" She shouted into the hallway leaving me alone with him for a few moments. He wrung his hands around my neck, attempting to choke me. The air slowly left my body and I was unable to get the nurse's attention.
I gasped and tears streamed down my face, never would I have dreamed that I was going to die in a hospital by my father's nurse ran back towards me and smacked my father in his forehead with my IV stand. He fell unconscious onto the ground, clutching my neck still, bringing me down with him. His grip had loosened a tad, letting me at least get shallow breaths. My leg had gotten twisted around during the fray and stung like hell. I tried to calm down my tears, but instead I sent myself into a hyperventilating frenzy followed by shallow a team of security guards pulled my father off of the floor, while the nice nurse who called for the team in the first place handed me a small white pill. She nursed some water into my mouth and took the pill out of my hand. She worked it into my mouth, shut my jaw, and titled my head backward. I felt it slide slowly down my throat, and I watched the guards pull my father out of the room, as I fell into an uneasy sleep.
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
"Who do you want to stay with?" The social worker asked nicely. Her brown suede jacket hit at her hips and the shade matched her pointed shoes. Those shoes looked so painful, like they were trying to turn her big toe into a mutant with a knife point, so she could have feet weapons. She tapped her red polished nails on her beige pants Her brown hair swayed as she nodded at me, trying to get an answer to her question. Who did I have to stay with?
"My father." She tapped her foot and closed her blue eyes, letting out a sigh.
"He is incarcerated for beating you. I can't send you back with him, ever." I looked at my leg, which was currently in a bulky off-white cast that cut off right below the hip, I wouldn't call it being beaten. I'd say I was being taught a lesson.
"Who else will take me?" She opened a binder and flipped through a few of the pages.
"What about you're mom's father?" I've never even met him, Mother ran away with Father when she found out she was pregnant. My grandfather doesn't even know I exist.
"I have another choice?"
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Starting at a new school always sucks, with your leg broken it's a double suck, when you have to explain to the class that you had to move in with your estranged grandfather because your father almost killed you; worst day of your life. They didn't care that I was having to adapt for the next three months to life in a wheelchair, or that I had changed schools, all the girls were upset that the new transfer student wasn't a cute boy. Instead they got the gift of a doughty female with a summons to testify in court.
I ate lunch by myself, which I made myself, and washed my own clothes, which I bought myself. If I was just two years older they would have let me go out into the world, too bad in reality age isn't "nothing but a number," age really does matter.
Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
"I'm home sir." I announced myself softly, making my way to the room he gave me. He peaked his head out from around the corner, his tired eyes smiling.
"Call me Grandpa! I'm your Grandpa not some stranger." In reality he was a stranger. We didn't know each other, he hadn't even thought to look for his daughter until this incident. How do you explain to a stranger that his daughter is dead? I didn't know how to comfort him while he cried for his darling Risa; I barely even knew her, but he held me as I cried for my father.
He claims to love me, something my father never did. With a little love, anything is bearable.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your lifeYou were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.