“Oh, you’re the cunt that supposedly is abusing my family, the one who got my brother on drugs,” I said.
“I don’t know who the hell you think you’re talkingto—”
I turned around and stood inches from her face. She was inches shorter than I was. I looked down and into her eyes.
“I already told you who the hell I am,” I said.
Her eyes dropped to the ground, not maintaining eye contact with me.
“You been hitting on my baby sister?” I asked.
She didn’t say anything. Her eyes remained locked to the ground between us.
“Stop being a fucking coward, and answer the damn question,” I said.
“She deserves every spanking she gets, little fucking brat,” she said.
My palm met the side of her face. She gasped. I almost gasped. I couldn’t believe I’d done that, but I did it, and I needed to stay committed to it. She grabbed her cheek before turning around and running back up the hall.
“Zalayuh! Why’d you do that? She’s gonna act like a big damn baby,” Paxton said.
“She needs to leave,” I said.
“No, she lives here now,” he said.
I turned to face my mother. “You let his girlfriend move in here? The one who is being mean to Aspen?”
“I haven’t seen anything,” she said.
“Well, are you fucking deaf, because she just admitted it?” I said.
“You know you can leave. We’ve been just fine without you, Zalayuh,” mother said.
“Oh, I’m sure you have,” I said. I looked around the room, taking in all the empty beer bottles that lay around. “By the foreclosure notice on the front door, the past due bills on the table, beer bottles everywhere, and oh yeah, the needles, it looks like you’ve donejust fine,” I said.
“She’s got diabetes,” he muttered.
“Yeah… likely explanation,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Why even come back if you're coming to complain?” Mother said.
“Aspen is the only reason I came back,” I said.
“You see, she’s fine,” she said.
“She’s not fine. She’s neglected at a minimum, drug exposed at worst, but ya know, I’m gonna go ahead and leave… with Aspen,” I said.
“What? You’re not taking my daughter,” she shot out.
“I am, and if you have a problem with it, I’ll call the sheriff and the children’s division and have them remove her,” I said.
She pursed her lips and stared at me.
“Y’all need rehab and help, and until you get it, you won’t see her again,” I said.
“You can’t do that to me, take both of my daughters,” she cried out.
“I can, and I will, until you get some major fucking help,” I said.
