BrOkEn: Chapter 3

Sometimes I remember days when Mother actually loved me.

I can still smell that pine tree in our living room the week before Christmas. I even remember being on Dad's shoulders, putting the star on top after we finished decorating the tree with lights and trinkets. Those were the Christmases I really miss. Now for Christmas, I don't get toys, I get bruises and harsh words. Christmas is just a cruel reminder of what I used to have, of what used to be….

broken...

"Good morning, Vaughn! Are you ready to go to school now?"

I spun around to see Chelsea, noticing her cherry red shirt, blue jean overalls, and worn out Converse, and watched her pink bubble gum being blown up then popped.

"Yeah… ready as I'll ever be. How come you're not in uniform?"

Chelsea shrugged and chewed her bubble gum. "My mom hasn't bought some for me yet, besides, I hate school uniforms; they're so uncomfortable."

I wasn't quite used to having someone walking to school with me, or not being beaten up every day by Tommy, having someone to eat lunch with, and talking to somebody on a regular basis. I guess it was nice.

School was pretty normal, teachers stared, kids whispered, but now I had Chelsea by my side.

That day after school, Chelsea smiled mischievously as she grabbed my hand, and pulled me away from our houses.

"Where are you taking me? I have to be home right away or my Mom is going to kill me!"

Chelsea giggled and kept tugging me along by my arm. "Come on, I doubt she'll do that."

After she said that, I thought to myself: You'd be surprised about what my mom would do….

"Please, Vaughn! I have something really cool to show you!"

I stopped struggling, and walked by with her reluctantly. Where was this girl taking me?

Chelsea smiled brightly when she pulled a few tree branches behind her to reveal a small lake out in a meadow. I stared at the beautiful scenery and looked over at Chelsea.

"How did you find this place?"

Chelsea raised her eyebrow, "Oh so you like it here huh?"

I rolled my eyes at her and ran over to the tree that stood tall close to the sparkling lake. It was an old willow tree…

"It's beautiful isn't it? I found this place when I first got here… I was lost and I ended up here."

Chelsea began to climb up the tree, reached out for my hand, pulling me up in the tree beside her.

"It is beautiful."

Chelsea gave a little half smile then tilted her head up towards the sun, while she gently closed her eyes. I couldn't help but notice how pretty she was when she did this.

"I'm glad we met Vaughn," she whispered.

All of a sudden, she got a playful look on her face and she tapped me on the arm.

"You're it!"

I watched as Chelsea jumped out of the tree and began running. "What are you doing?"

"I'm playing tag! Come on, you're it!"

Tag… I've heard of it but I've never played. Maybe it will be fun. I made then made my way down the tree and I began to chase Chelsea around the large open space. I chased her around for a while, but soon we began to run dangerously close to the lake, and we ended up falling in. We were completely soaked.

I stood up, frowning, as I started to ring out the water in my uniform… then heard giggling.

"What's so funny Chelsea? We're all wet!"

Chelsea fell back into the water, laughing. I have to say, her laugh was contagious… I began to laugh as well.

"You look like a wet, gray cat!"

I laughed with her and we were both back in the water, giggling like crazy. Soon, we trudged out of the cold lake and sat on a hill trying to dry off. As the sun began to set, Chelsea got that serious look on her face again.

"Vaughn can I ask you a question?"

I shrugged my shoulders. Why not? "Sure."

"Have you ever played tag before?"

I bit my lip and shook my head, "No. Is that what friends do?"

Chelsea rested her head on my shoulder and smiled. This made my heart beat faster for some reason.

"Yeah… that's what friends do."

We sat there for the longest time; we stayed quiet and watched the stars fill the autumn sky.

"Can I ask you another question, Vaughn?"

"Ok…"

"Where do those bruises come from?"

I sighed and rubbed my arm as I felt the cool breeze. What was I supposed to do, lie?

"My mother gives them to me."

Chelsea gazed at me with sad eyes. It looked as if she was going to cry. Then she leaned in and kissed me gently on the cheek.

Her lips were so soft…. And warm. I brought my hand up to my cheek and touched the place where Chelsea kissed me.

"I-Is that what friends do too?"

Chelsea blushed, "Yeah, they do that too," and she got up.

I got up to, and grabbed Chelsea's hand. After that, I kissed her quickly on the lips.

"W-What was that?"

I smiled at Chelsea, "If friends kiss on the cheek then best friends kiss on the lips right?"

Chelsea blushed and looked down at the grass. "I guess so…"

We made our way back home and said goodbye as we reached our houses.

"See you tomorrow Vaughn!"

I nodded my head as I smiled to myself… but the second I found happiness, it was replaced by fear.

My mother swung open the door; looking drunker than ever. Her eyes were blood shot, her hair was sticking out in every direction and she had to support herself on the door way to stand up.

"I was waiting for you Vaughn… w-where have you been?"

I began to shake when I smelt the liquor on her breath as I tried to move my way past her. My heart began to race when she laughed and grabbed me by the shirt.

"M-M-other please… I'm sorry…"

Mother laughed again and got real close to my face then smirked. She gave me the exact same smirk when she hit me for the first time. All I could do now was beg and pray it will be over soon.

"I-I'm s-sorry."

Mother picked up her empty beer bottle "I'll show you how sorry you'll be, you little piece of shit!"

I clenched my fist and felt the hard bottle hit the top of my head. I could see the glass fall to the ground, making its way slowly to the ground. I soon felt warm blood trickle down my head. That's when everything turned black.

Author's note: Sorry about the language… : P Thanks for reading please a review to let me know what you think of the story so far. _forevergone123