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“Can we have a sleepover please?!” Ella begged from her spot on the bench.
I shook my head. “Sorry dear, you know how Heidi gets when she starts…worrying.”
Ella’s face fell; she understood my secret code. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Maybe some other time,” I suggested, even though I had no intention of ever spending the night here with my sister.
Mr. Jace’s intentions were honorable, but he didn’t understand the full dynamics of our situation. He seemed reluctant to return us, and I knew it stemmed from wanting to protect us. Although, it still puzzled me why he had taken a special interest in us.
I helped put away our dinner after declining the offer of taking it home. I didn’t want Heidi to think I had purchased all the food without bringing her any or allowing her to believe I had more money than I did-although I did. She would never know I had several hiding places for my money. I probably should open a bank account, but the few times I had tried to get one I was told that I needed a parent or legal guardian.
Before leaving Mr. Jace’s house, I put Ella’s fruit snacks in her backpack along with some tuna fish packets, crackers with peanut butter, individual snack cups, and individual applesauce cups. In my own messenger bag, I placed some breakfast bars, protein bars, trail mix, rice cakes, pretzels, and a loaf of bread. The rest of the stuff I left in the grocery store bags.
I could feel Mr. Jace’s quizzical eyes on me, but I shrugged unwilling to explain why I did it. The less he knew, the better.
It didn’t take long for Ella to fall asleep once we were in Mr. Jace’s car. Once again I was enveloped in warmth and the smell of leather and citrus. I sunk down into my seat and sighed in contentment; the heated seat felt great on my back. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, and I had to tell myself not to get used to this.
“Thanks again for dinner,” I said softly as he turned the radio on; soft music came from the speakers.
“Anytime,” he spoke back quietly. “I just wish you felt comfortable telling me what was going on.”
I looked over at him. “I can’t. The last time I trusted someone I was separated from my sister for almost a year.”
“You can’t expect everyone to betray your trust. Maybe I can help you,” he said urgently.
I shook my head, pushing my curly hair out of my face. “They really didn’t betray my trust-they thought they were helping me. They thought they knew what was best for us, but they didn’t. They had no clue how screwed up the system is.”
Any hopes of going to bed early were thrown out the window the moment I walked through the door. Tom and Heidi were lounging on the couch watching television when we got home. Tom was only wearing his boxers, and Heidi was laying in her tiny underwear. I hurried Ella off to her room so I could deposit the groceries in the kitchen.
“Where were you?” Heidi asked shrilly.
“At the library,” I lied. “I have a project to complete for macroeconomics.”
“Why didn’t you text me?” she asked suspiciously. She didn’t seem as high or drunk as normal.
“I did. I don’t think your phone is on,” I replied. It wasn’t. I don’t think she paid her bill recently.
That was one bill I refused to pay. I had one of those phones you paid for on a month to month basis and allowed me to have the basics. I even stashed one in Ella’s backpack with only my number stored in it in case of an emergency.
“Give me your number,” Tom said shrewdly; he didn’t believe me either. “You can text me to contact her. A young girl like you shouldn’t be out this late on a school night with her younger sister.”
I started to store our groceries, not sure if I really should give him my number. “Are you planning to stick around then?” I asked flippantly. “And it’s only…seven o’clock. Hardly late by any standards. Besides, if you guys were so worried about the welfare of a seven-year-old, I suggest wearing more clothing around her and keeping your sex and drugs in your room where she isn’t exposed to it.”
I wasn’t expecting the attack that came from nowhere. I turned in shock as Heidi went to hit me with the broom once more; the handle striking me hard against the ribs. I winced in pain as she attacked over and over again. I tried to evade her, but she had me backed up into the corner.
Heidi was gaunt, but she was still seven or eight inches taller than me. I was quick, but there really wasn’t any place to go.
“How dare you question my mothering, you ungrateful whore! I should throw you out on the streets. You’re a nobody. You’re not even my daughter! You think you are so much better than me because you get good grades in school?” It appeared Tom had filled her in on the meeting at school earlier. “But you’re not! Your own mother didn’t even want you. That’s why she left you and your paranoid father. Both of you are—and were—crazy! You’re hearing voices and believing people are chasing you! Pack your bags and leave now! I know you’re hiding money from me. How do you expect me to live off fifty dollars this week? You owe me!”
“Stop it!” I screamed ferally from within when I felt the broom strike me against my cheek. I knew immediately it would welt and leave a mark.
As suddenly as the attack came, it stopped. I looked up with wide eyes as Heidi seemed frozen in place. Her eyes were shifting in panic, not knowing why she couldn’t move. I looked up in shock. I did it again.
“What the hell,” Tom muttered looking between the two of us. I hated him more; he may not have been attacking me, but he hadn’t tried to help me either.
I felt this weird energy humming through me. “Heidi suffers from…seizures sometimes. She’ll be fine soon.” I took a few steps toward her. “I am not going anywhere. When I leave I will be taking Ella with me. I won’t have her ruined like you ruined me. I won’t let her get molested by your boyfriends like I was. Get a job and make me her legal guardian.”
With that, I turned and fled to our room, shaking. Entering our room, I looked on in horror at what was done the room—the lock had been broken off, and the room was in disarray. Everything was strewn across the room, and some of our stuff looked like it was damaged beyond repair. Ella was sobbing on the floor next to her broken ballerina music box I had given her last Christmas.
