Ch 3
The day was so breath taking (in more than one way…) I almost forgot what waited for me when I got home… Almost...
I got on the bus, looking at the crowed of people pushing and shoving each other into windows and throwing papers everywhere, so I decided to sit in the front to avoid people who don't give two shits about me or anyone for that matter. My little brother, Alphonse, sitting in the back and messing around with his other sixth grade friends along with the seventh and eighth graders the same.
Alphonse is a cool guy compared to me. He gets along with everyone from the jocks to the nerds, he has a bunch of friends, has had more girlfriends then I will in my life, and a full set of limbs... And I envy him for that…
The bus started to move and as did my thoughts of today's, interesting, events… Then I realized, I'm going home… Where Dad is… and my excitement died down till I was just plain afraid… Alphonse normally didn't stay home long. He went over to a friends house on my command. You see, Al can be kind of stubborn and my dad isn't the nicest of all people when mom is gone at work.
We have a set of chores we have to do. Our house is kind of big so it takes a long time to do the simplest of things. Vacuuming or sweeping takes about three hours in total, clean the bathrooms?; We have six of them, cut fire wood? Do you know how many trees are in the forest where we live?
Al sometimes can have an attitude about doing chores and Dad doesn't like that very much. One time Dad pulled Al's ear down the stairs because he was playing the Xbox when he was supposed to be doing the dishes. By the time he got downstairs, his ear was bleeding and was torn badly. Another time when he wouldn't clean out the fridge, Dad slapped him across the face and kicked him down to the ground.
The worst part is, we never really went to our friends houses because we were always moving. Now we have a permanent, large, expensive, house in the middle of the woods with a beach about an eighth of a mile from our backyard where we found all sorts of new animals and shells. We never really met anyone else parents before so we thought this is how every family was like till about a year ago. We thought all kids needed to be punished for throwing a white sock in with the dark's or leaving a juice box on the counter. When we started to have real friends and visit them, we noticed how nice their parents were to them and how kind they were to us.
The bus stopped for us to get off. I stood up and went towards the house and Al went the other way to where he hid his bike and bid me farewell before riding to his friend Russell and Fletcher's house as usual. I walked the half-mile long gravel path we own, leading to our house and unlocked the door. I was greeted with the sound of the history channel booming throughout the house and Dad sitting on the couch sipping at a beer. "Evening Edward. Alphonse out again?" Dad questioned, still looking at the TV. "Hey Dad. And yeah, he's out." I said, placing my bag by the door in its claimed destination. "'Hey' is for horses Edward, it's not a proper greeting. Now, lets retry that." He paused the TV and looked at me "Go on… I'm waiting…"
"Good evening father. Alphonse is out with one of his friends again. He won't be back till later. I'll go and get to my chores now." I said dryly and wanted to laugh after I said it for some reason.
"That's my boy." He said and turned back around to watch the history channel. "Don't forget to wash my car."
"But its like below freezing!" I argued.
"Its not 'like' it is, now I don't care if its raining cats and dogs out there, my car is filthy and I want it clean." He said in defense. "You don't want me to get angry. " he didn't say anything after that, just looked at the TV and pretended like I wasn't there.
Bastard
At least he's not pissed off like he normally is when I come home from school. I ran to do the dishes and vacuum the stairs. I saw little bits of snow falling from the sky and felt like not even going outside at all.
"Edward" I heard my dad say. "Quit standing there looking out the window and actually do something for once in your life."
"Sorry dad..." I mumbled and walked towards the the door to wash his car.
"Sorry's not going to cut it young man" he stated "Give me your hand"
I stopped and turned around, reaching my flesh hand out to him. He grabbed it and bit my hand as hard as he could. "Ow! Dad that hurts!" He continued to bite me and I could feel my skin start to tear. When I started to bleed, he finally let me go.
I grabbed my hand and held it close to me. "Now go clean your hand off and go clean my car." He spat and went back to the couch to watch some TV.
I ran to he nearest bathroom and washed off my hand. Covered in saliva and blood now slowly dripping off my hand. 'Not as bad as last time' I thought and held it under the sink then wrapped it in toilet paper.
I went outside to wash the car and Dad wasn't lying, it is filthy. So I turned on the hose, soon to find out the water was freezing and the small flakes of snow didn't help either. Since I didn't feel like giving it a actual wash, I decided I should just spray it down with water till the dirt dripped off...
When I was halfway done 'cleaning' the car, I was soaked and tired with a headache. I saw my mom pull in and was instantly happy. Dad never was mean when she was around. He acted like a whole different person. Sometimes. When she pulled up she drove into her little parking spot she made for herself and walked up to me. "Ed what are you doing out here, and playing with water too? You're going to catch a cold!"
I smiled and looked up at her "well I just felt like washing Dad's car off, it was really dirty" and topped it off with a giggle at the end. She smiled and ruffled my hair. "Well go dry off and change, I don't think your father would want you getting sick trying to do something nice for him." She lead me into the house and to no ones surprise, dad wasn't in the living room anymore, but he was sleeping in his bed. He never was really good at staying awake when there was nothing on TV...
"Hey ed, why don't you call Al and ask when hes coming home after your dressed. Tell him were having stew." Mom quickly instructed me to do. And unlike my dad's instructions, I was happy to oblige.
"Wow mom your stew is the best!" I said, practically inhaling my food.
"Really, I think it tastes just like milk and vegetables mixed" Alphonse said
"Don't you dare bring that up In this household ever again" I stated with a giggle coming from the two.
Dad stayed in bed while the three of us ate in peace. Was eating with my left hand so mom and Al wouldn't see the makeshift bandage I made for myself out of toilet paper and smiled warmly with my family.
I love moments like these. Although somewhere, I felt sad that Dad couldn't join us... or that hes just too lazy to... but I'm stupid. What do I know. At least life is improving little by little...
(A/N) yeah... I can't end a chapter correctly even if I wanted to... -Gives you a cookie- Here, you deserve it...
