"You little shit!"

I wiped the stray spit off my face but refused to respond to my father. This whole thing could've been avoided if he wasn't such an asshole.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" I stared straight ahead. He didn't appreciate that as he grabbed my shirt collar and shook me. "What did I just say?"

"Hey!" Marcus pulled him off of me, pushing him back a couple of steps. "Hey, cool it Heath. Back off now!" My father... Heath glared at Marcus but backed off. A smart decision. Marcus was quite an intimidating guy. He was tall and very well built muscles underneath his milk chocolate colored skin. If a big muscular guy telling you to get back wasn't scary enough, his gun, nightstick and taser definitely scared the crap out of people. Tonight, Heath was one of those people. It must be good to be a cop.

"Alright, Christian," Marcus said turning to me. "You do still have some explaining to do here. What the hell were you thinking?"

"That I was hungry," I muttered.

"What was that?" Marcus asked sternly.

"I was thinking that I was hungry," I said louder.

"Just cause you're hungry doesn't mean you get to steal food from a convenient store."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to if he fed me!" I yelled as I pointed at Heath. Marcus' face turned from mad to confused as his gaze shifted to a now shocked, yet guilty looking Heath. It was true. I'm not the best student and because of that, Heath had decided not to feed me until I finished work that I didn't understand. Why didn't I just ask for help you may ask? Last time I did that I was called, and I quote, "a fucking idiot who's never going to amount to anything if you can't do a goddamn word problem!" When I ask a second time, just like tonight, I end up not getting fed. Welcome to my glorious life.

"Um, I think what he means is if I fed him food that he liked," Heath said after a brief pause. He was covering his tracks. I knew that when it was his word against mine, legally he would probably be taken more seriously seeing that he was an adult. Obviously he knew that too. The look he gave me said that he knew he would get away with it and that my near future was looking... well no point in skimping over details. It was looking painful. I broke out in a cold sweat knowing that as son as Marcus left, another bruise expertly placed in an area where nobody could see it would make it's way onto my skin. In fact Heath's belt hand looked as though it had a mind of it's own and was holding back from beating me right then and there.

Marcus looked back and forth between me and Heath. He knew something wasn't right but he had no evidence of it. I knew he would try to protect me but right now, there wasn't much of anything he could do. Heath spoke up again, tired of him being in our living room.

"Well Marcus, I'll deal with this stealing business so if there's anything else you need?" Marcus looked at me with an apologetic face before turning to Heath.

"If I hear anything else from either of your kids about neglect or abuse, I swear to God Heath, I'm gonna nail your ass to the wall for it." They stood staring at each other, almost as if they were mentally daring each other to blink.

"I wouldn't worry about that Marcus. I'll be sure they know that lying is a very bad thing to do to a police officer." With that Heath went to the door and opened it. "Goodbye Marcus."