Daddy please stop, Please, I begged. He brought his fist back down and hit me right in the left eye. "You stupid child!" You should have never been born, he screamed. He raised his fists again only to be interrupted by a slam of the front door. My mom walked through the door looking more depressed than ever.
"Brian stop, you've hit the girls enough today."
My dad put his fists down and turned away from me. "You can't tell me what to do you cow!" He sprinted over to her, grabbed her throat and pushed her down to the rough carpet.
"Don't touch her like that!" I screamed and ran towards my mom on the floor. Before I could get to her I felt a cold hand go across my face.
"Your mother's fine idiot, now go to your room so I don't have to see your face anymore."
I slowly got up off of my knees, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes, and I ran to me and Maggie's room. Maggie was sitting on her bed when I walked in. She stood up and spoke.
"Selina, what's wrong, why are you crying?"
I immediately wiped my eyes, nothing's wrong Maggie i'm fine, i'm always fine. "Did he hit you again?" "Yeah, but it wasn't as hard as last time, I promise." Maggie replied by slowly shaking her head, she didn't believe me. "Hey Maggie it's late you should go to bed, we have school tomorrow." Ok, she replied as she crawled into her bed and under the sheets.
"Goodnight Maggie, love you."
"Love you too Selina"
I walked over to my bed and fell on top of it. If Maggie weren't here i would have let myself cry but I had to stay strong for her. At 7 years old I've been through enough stress to kill a 30 year old man. Shy can't lift just be fair, I whispered to myself.
I was almost asleep when I felt four soft paws jump onto my stomach. Looking up I saw two bright yellow eyes staring back into mine. Hello Miss Kitty, I whispered, can't sleep either? She replied with a soft meow and curled into a ball onto my stomach. I brought my hands up to her head and stroked the spots between her ears. I was awoken by a sudden bright light shining in my room. I slowly opened my tired eyes to see my mom standing in the doorway. She looked more worn out than yesterday due to the fresh black eye and a few other bruises along her arm.
"Selina, Maggie, wake the hell up, you have to walk to school cause i'm not driving you to school today, i'm just gonna stay here and take a nap on the couch."
When she walked away I slowly got out of bed, noticing Maggie wasn't up yet I walked over and shook her gently. "Come on Mags, we have to go." She slowly sat up and yawned, I don't wanna go, she whined. I know me either, I replied, but we have to, now come on. Maggie looked over at my bed noticing the absence of the cat.
"Did Miss Kitty run away again?"
"She didn't run away Maggie, she just left for a little while, cats like to be alone and independent, but she'll come back."
After I was done talking to her we got ready and walked to the living room past my mom who was already asleep on the couch. Wheres daddy, Maggie asked. I opened the door and we both walked out into the cold Gotham air. How am I supposed to know, he's probably passed out in a bar somewhere, I answered.
Maggie looked up at me, again? Yeah probably, I replied. We walked silently for a while until the silence was broken by the sound of Maggie's stomach growling.
"Hey Maggie you wanna stop sat a store real quick to get some food, we didn't have anything to eat yesterday."
But we don't have any money to buy anything though , Maggie said sadly. I smiled, come on Maggie, you don't need money to get food. We ran into a small grocery store and hurried over to the fruit section. I grabbed two apples and quickly snuck the two red fruits into the pockets on the inside of my jacket. Maggie grabbed my arms, Selina what are you doing? You can't steal the apples!
"Maggie shhh, don't say that so loudly."
Grabbing Maggie's hand I hurried out of the store. "But Selina you have to put the apples back!"
"Maggie listen to me in a city like this stealing is the only way to get around."
"Have you stole before?"
"Of course I have Maggie, lots of times, not like I have much of a choice, our parents don't care enough to support us so you just have to learn how to support yourself and only yourself."
We arrived at school a few minutes late, not that I care that we were late but if Maggie would have stopped her whining then we might have got here earlier. I loved Mags , she was the only family I had but i'd be lying if I said she never got on my nerves. That girl needs to learn that in this city, the way our lives are, the only way to survive is to do things that aren't always legal.
School seemed to last forever but eventually we got let out. Me and Maggie walked home in silence, the only sounds were the distant police sirens. When we got to our house things felt oddly different. Mom we're home! I shouted. Mom! Maybe she's taking a nap upstairs instead of the couch this time, Maggie said. Yeah maybe, I'll go check in her room, I said as I walked off.
Walking towards her bedroom I noticed the bathroom door was slightly opened. I walked over and softly knocked on on it. "Mom are you in there?" No response. I pushed it and the door creaked and whined as it opened. When it opened it revealed my mom laying in the bathtub, one arm leaning over the edge of the clawfoot tub, red blood dripping into a puddle on the dirty white tiles
"MOMMY!"
I ran over to her body, MOMMY! Her hair was blocking her face and I pushed it back revealing her dark, cloudy, lifeless eyes.
"MOMMY!"
The tears were hot as they ran down my face. Her skin was freezing and the skin on her wrists were dripping blood into the cold water. "No, please mommy, no, don't be gone, don't be gone!" "Selina, what happend?"
"Maggie don't come in here!" As I said those words I could hear my father's footsteps coming towards the door. What the hell is going on here, he yelled as he walked in. He looked directly where I was kneeling, Jesus, he said under his breath.
The tears wouldn't stop coming, I couldn't breath, and my hands were covered with my own mothers blood. My dad came over and grabbed my hand hard, dragging me out of the bathroom. Maggie was standing in the hallway. Daddy whats going on, she asked with that worried look on her face again.
"Nothing you need to know about you little brat."
He grabbed her hand too and dragged us both out into the living room.
"Selina!" Maggie was starting to cry now. "Why is there blood on your hands Selilna?"
"Can someone please tell me whats going on!" Damn it! Both of you shut the hell up, my dad yelled. He grabbed maggie by her hair and threw me and her down to the floor
Stop. Crying. Now. My dad said as he walked away, picked up the phone, and dialed 911. Selina please tell me what's going on! Maggie was screaming through her tears now.
"Please tell me!"
I could barely get a word out, my throat burned from crying. How was I supposed to tell her that I just saw our mom dead in the bathroom because she slit her wrists, Maggie is only five, she would barely understand. Maggie, I said trying my best to stop crying, mom is… mom is gone.
"What? She's gone, like dead gone? No she can't be dead please Selina tell me she's not dead-" Maggie was interrupted by the deafening, blaring sounds of the police sirens.
A few minutes after arriving, they had cleaned up the bathroom and I watched two men carry my mom out of the house on a gurney type thing, covered with a white sheet. I was still sitting on the floor with my arms wrapped around my knees and no more tears left in my body. Maggie was still crying though, her face was extremely red and puffy.
A cop came and knelt down next to me, his breath smelled like my dad's, stale booze and strong whiskey. "Look sweetheart", the cop said, "I don't really care but for the sake of keeping my job I gotta ask you a few questions ok?" I didn't respond. "Look kid, I was gonna ask your daddy but he seems to have left, do you know where he went?" I still didn't respond.
"Huh ok then, did your mom ever have problems dealing with depression or any other mental illnesses?"
Once again I didn't answer his questions.
"Hey little girl you have to answer my questions."
"Well if you don't even care then why should I care about answering your damn questions!" I got up and walked out the front door. I was done with all of this. This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening. I was whispering to myself like some lunatic. She's gone, she's really gone and she left us with that man we call a father. The sad truth was it was up to me to take care of Maggie, not that I didn't already take care of her but at least when mom still here with us she tried sometimes. But my dad wouldn't take care of us to save his damn life so I have no choice now.
3 months later
"Ow!" Maggie winced as I put a cold washcloth over the growing bruise on her forehead. Sorry mag I said putting the cold cloth on the edge of the sink. "I have to touch it a few more times so it will numb it ok?" Maggie shook her head and I finished dabbing her head.
"Tomorrow before we go to school i'll put some makeup on your face to hide it."
"Why do we even have to hide it shouldn't people see it so they can help us
"Please Maggie, no one cares enough to help us, plus if dad ever figured out that we told someone he'd bead us even more." "Now we need to go bed it's late."
We both climbed in our beds and we said goodnight to each other. I quickly fell asleep but I woke up at about 3am, with my throat extremely dry. I went downstairs to get a glass of water. When I walked into the living room my dad was sitting in his chair and a broken whiskey bottle on the ground next to the chair. "Daddy?" I asked, walking closer to him. Getting closer I realized that his chest wasn't moving. "Daddy?" I asked again noticing the lack of movement in his chest. I touched his neck to check for a pulse and when I did his skin felt like ice.
"Oh no, no, no, this can't be happening, not again." He was dead just like mom, and now it was only me and Mags here alone. I ran over to the phone and quickly dialed 911.
"911 what's your emergency?"
"Hello 911 my dad…well my daddy's gone and now i'm all alone"
I put the phone back down, wasn't much left to say anyways. I ran to my room and grabbed a bag out from under my bed. I immediately started putting shirts and pants along with some socks, I really didn't have much stuff to put in there. Looking over to the other bed I saw Maggie. She was sleeping soundly and she looked so peaceful.
They're gonna take us to an orphanage and more than likely separate us, I've seen what they do with kids they put in there and there's no way in hell i'm going to one of those places. I have to leave, make a life for myself out in the streets but I couldn't take Maggie with me, she couldn't make it out there. Plus I would have a liability with me and I just can't have that. She go to an orphanage, hopefully they'll put her in one in Metropolis, they're a lot nice over there. Maggie was cute and sweet so there's no doubt that she would get adopted quickly.
This wasn't an easy decision at all but I had to do what was best for her. Planting a soft kiss on her forehead I whispered in her ear, "I'm so sorry Mags but it has to be this way, goodbye I love you." Wiping a tear away from my face, I grabbed my backpack and hurried out the front door, almost tripping over Miss Kitty.
"Go Miss Kitty, you're free now, you don't have to come back here anymore." "You're alone just like I am but that's ok right?"
I walked off into the city in a hurry, watching the dark black cat run off. I wanted to get out of there before the police got there and i'm sure they were close. I sprinted off into the darkness leaving Maggie and my past behind me.