“No!” I scream as I hear another bang.
I can’t see what is happening but I know that my dad is back from his drinking spree.
I hear a groan and shut my eyes trying not to think about what is happening.
That’s my mum and I know she has been hit by my drunk dad. It’s the life I have to live each and every day.
The life of poverty, an unstable family, a drunkard for a father, an abusive father; it’s just a family full of domestic violence.
“Stop it Joe.” My mum screams in pain making me spring out of the cupboard to go and rescue her. This is where I hide every time he gets home drunk. I am scared of him.
“Stop dad.” I beg trying to pull him off my mother but he grabs me and hurls me across the small room making me scream in pain.
“Are you okay Isa?” mum is already on my side pulling me to her.
“He hurt me.” I say amidst sobs.
“You hurt our daughter Joe.” She says softly, careful not to sound reprimanding. She knows what is going to happen if she chooses to go that direction.
“Your stupid daughter shouldn’t have gotten in my way!” he shouts, his voice booming in the small room.
I hate this man. He is my father but this is what we have to put up with everyday. He is a monster.
A monster who doesn’t care whether his family has had anything to eat. All he does is drink drink and drink. That is his hobby.
“But…”
“It’s okay mum.” I groan interrupting her. I don’t want her to get hurt anymore so I just bury my face in her chest and sob uncontrollably.
“I can’t stay here and hear her stupid sobbing! I’m leaving.” He declares and staggers to the falling door. It creaks open and he bangs it behind him making me think it’s going to fall anytime.
This is not the life I signed up for. I hate my life but I can’t do anything about it.
Okay. Here is my story.
I’m Isa. Six-years old and I don’t know the meaning of a classroom because I have never been in one. My parents can’t afford school fees. That’s because all the money they make goes to my father’s alcohol.
I come from a family of four but not anymore. My brother Jim, ran away from home because he couldn’t put up with an unstable family. We have never set eyes on him since then but we know he is somewhere in the streets.
I don’t want to imagine what he goes through trying to look for food and shelter but is there much difference with this place?
No. It’s not different. We sometimes go without any meal. Our house is going to collapse anytime so the street life is better but I can’t leave mum here with this monster. I can’t help much but she needs my company and someone to comfort her.
See?
That leaves me with a family of three. I consider it a family of two because dad is barely at home.
I have lost count of how many times he has tried to force himself on me and mum got in the way. In all these times, she signs up for more marks on her body.
I at times want to tell her we should leave but to where? We don’t have a place to go so we just have to put up with Joe. He doesn’t deserve to be called dad.
“It’s okay baby.” Mum caresses my long, unkempt hair snapping me to the present.
“I hate him.”
“Hush! Don’t say that. You are a little girl and he will change. Don’t worry baby. This is going to pass soon.” She continues stroking my hair.
“Till when mum? He always comes back drunk and abusive.”
“Just give him time. He will change.”
“I don’t think so. It’s too late. Jim is nowhere to be seen and it’s because of him.”
“We will find him soon. Come. Let’s go to bed.”
“I’m hungry momma.” I rub my stomach.
“We don’t have food baby. Just sleep let me go out and get something to eat.”
“It’s okay. You can’t go out. It’s dark. I can survive until morning.” I wipe my tears and stand up. She takes my hand and leads me to the small bed. It creaks when I lie on it but I’m used to this and it’s no big deal.
“Goodnight baby.” She pulls the dirty, old quilt over my body and plants a kiss on my forehead.
********
“Momma!” I scurry out of the bed and run towards the direction of the screams.
“Momma.” I call my eyes taking in the scene before me.
Mum lies on the cold floor with a knife in her chest. She is groaning in pain, looking at me with eyes full of pity. Blood is pooling around her.
“Mum.” I throw myself at her.
“Go to bed Isa.” Dad orders but I don’t give in to his demand.
“You hurt mum.” I say hugging mum tightly. I’m helpless. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to save her.
“Isa.” Mum calls weakly.
“Mum.” I answer and feel tears piercing my eyes.
“Take care of yourself. You can do this.” She says amidst groans.
“Don’t leave me momma.” I beg in tears.
“It’s too late baby. Run away from this before he does this to you too.”
“Dad stabbed you?”
“Yes. Go away. Look for help and don’t come back to him. Look for Jim and tell him I love him so much.”
“No momma.”
“Just go Isa.” She begs one last time and shuts her eyes.
“Momma.”
No response.
“Momma.” I call shaking her but she doesn’t respond.
When I look around, the monster is nowhere to be seen.
“Help!!!” I shout running out of our small house.
“Help!!!” I shout again. I’m now hysterical. I don’t want to lose mum. Not now. Now when I’m this young and don’t have anywhere to go.
“Isa.” Hellen runs to the house and screams too.
“What is it?” I don’t know who asks that because my vision becomes blurred as the whole world crumbles down on me.
I crouch on the bed tightening the old quilt around my body. It’s cold. It’s fucking cold and it’s raining. To make the matters worse, my roof is leaking and part of my bed is filled with water.I can’t sleep anymore. I turn on the bed and a cold pierces my whole body.Damn! How did I get here? How did I sign up for this? Why all this?No good meals apart from when there are leftovers at the club I work at. That is when I’m on shift. I started working recently so I’m yet to make enough money to look for a decent place and meal.This life sucks.My whole life sucks and if there is one person I’m blaming for this is my dad. He is now in my past but the dark moments keep coming back to me.I don’t know where he is. I haven’t set my eyes on him for the past fourteen years. To be precise, I haven’t seen him since that day in our collapsing house. Since that day he stabbed momma.I don’t want to go there. It makes me nostalgic so I will focus on the present.I fumble with my phone and sn
I sit directly opposite him and see him shivering. His head is bowed down so that I can't see his face. Looking at his hand, there is a deep cut which is filled with dried blood. His hands look dirty and so do his clothes. His hair is unkempt as if he was planning on doing dreadlocks.He looks like he is in distress. Having come from the streets, I know how it is to be in such a situation.“Hey.” This is just to start our conversation.“Hey.” He doesn’t look up but there is something warm with his voice. Something that sounds familiar. Something that makes me want to talk to him the whole day. Reach out to him and probably help him. No matter how broke I’m, I can try to help him.“Need anything?”“A glass of water please.” He still doesn’t look at me. I don’t know whether I'm being paranoid or he just sounds familiar.“Anything else?”“No.”“Bringing your water.” I give him one last look and walk to the counter. If he doesn’t buy anything, they will have him thrown out and it’s not wh
Stone is nowhere to be seen when I wake up. I groan in frustration and slump on the bed again. It’s so hard to help him and I’m done doing that. I just met him today so I don’t understand why I’m inclined to help him.I reach for my backpack and take out my 'Moby Dick.’ This is what is supposed to keep me busy until in the evening. I’m doing night shift today.Fuck!I can’t concentrate. I keep thinking about Stone and whether he is safe. What is he up to out there? Where is he? I thought we agreed he should stay at my place and I will help him get a job?I toss the novel into the backpack and decide to take a shower. Maybe I should head for Lex early today. I might bump into him. I might make extra money too.I settle for baggy blue rugged jeans and a white T-shirt. The pair of canvas doesn’t change because it’s the only one I have. I toss a joint into the backpack and leave the house. I decide to walk. Maybe I will bump into him somewhere in the streets.He reminds me of Jim. That’s
“I'm not a whore.” I snort glaring at him.“No one said you are.”“Paying me for sex insinuates that.”“Just wanna feel how a tomboy tastes like.”“If you don’t need anything else, I will leave.” He is starting to irritate me.“I need something else tomboy.”“I’m Frankie sir. It’s on my tag.” I say showing him the name tag.“I know. I can see that.” Some nerve he has.“Good.” I turn to leave.“Not done asking for what I need.”“What!” I snap turning to look at him. I shouldn’t be rude at the customers but this one is really getting on my nerves. I’m trying to be nice to him.Yeah. This is me being nice. When I decide to explode I will be fired so I rather play it cool.“No way to talk to customers. I want you tomboy. Just one round and we will be done.”“I’m not doing that.” I turn to leave again.“Bring me water.” I shut my eyes trying not to snap at him. I open them, calm this time round and give him a smile.“Right away.”I walk to the counter and take a sharp breathe. He is so e
Frankie.” Sera is still calling after me.”“Stay here.” I tell her and run after Stone who is really fast. I feel the need to protect him so I won’t let the mob hurt him.“What the hell Stone?” I shout after him.“Fuck! Just go away.” He shouts still running. I’m now closing in on him.“No way.” I grab his hand when I catch up with him. “Follow me.” I run towards an abandoned alley with him trailing behind me.“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I ask once I’m sure no one is following us.“Needed some cash tomboy. The lady was careless with her phone and I had to take it.”We are now leaning against the wall, breathing fast.“So you are going to sell it?”“Yap. That’s what we do.” He says and looks at the distant.“You need to stop this.”“You ain’t my momma.” He snaps.“I have saved your ass you fucker. You should be grateful.” I snap back at him.“Thank you but I don’t need you to take care of me.”“You do.” I take my cap off and hand it to him. “Here. You will be less noticeable.”“
He gives me a kiss and pulls out, lying next to me. He pulls me to him and kisses my hair, something that comes as a surprise. I didn’t expect it.“So tomboy, tell me about yourself.”“I'm not telling you anything.”“You don’t want to or you have nothing to say.”“Both options apply. I don’t know your name so you are not supposed to know anything about me.” I unwrap myself from him and walk to the bathroom to freshen up.“You can’t know my name.” He shouts from the bed.“You can’t know about me either .” I shout back trying to straighten my hair. Damn! It’s hard and doesn’t work. I groan and walk back to the room. His eyes don’t leave mine as I dig out a comb from my backpack.“You amaze me.”“Do I now?”“Very. You have nice hair and a very nice body. Why do you cover it with a cap? Why do you cover your body with these baggy jeans ?” he asks gesturing at my clothes.“Because I want to. Because it’s what satisfies me.” I answer not daring to look at him.“You are one hell of a myst
“Jim?” I widen my eyes moving closer to him.“I’m not Jim. I told you I’m Stone.” He opens his eyes and they are soft, looking at me with confusion written all over them.“You are Jim. You called the name Isa.”“It’s a random name.”“We both know that’s a lie.”“And you are Frankie not Isa.”“My real name is Isa and you are my brother.”“Fuck Isa.” He groans shutting his eyes again.“See? You called me Isa again .”“Yeah.”“Why did you hide that you are Jim from me?”“Because this,” he looks around pointing at himself and the bed. “Is what I don’t want. I don’t want you to take care of me Isa. That’s what you are doing.”“Yeah. Because I want to. No one is forcing me to.” I move closer and take his hands in mine.“When I saw you at Lex, the urge to help you overcrowded me. There was that sudden feeling I got and compared you to Jim. I will help you Jim. My place is small but I’m waiting for another job and we will move to a better place.”“I should be the one doing that Isa. I’m the
I raise my brows at her.“What’s this?” I ask raising the piece of paper.“Was told to give it to you my some gentle man.” “Whom?” I ask looking around. There is no sign of the weirdo so I wonder who it is.Of course I do. He must be hiding somewhere. Otherwise, no one else knows me in this hotel.“He left. I will leave.” She smiles and walks away.“Having secret admirers here?” Sera asks with a grin.“Oh please Sera! With this tomboy look? You think anyone would fall for this?” I chuckle pointing at myself.“Yes. You are so beautiful. You just need to lose the tomboy look and every man will go crazy.”“It’s never going to happen Sera. I love my look so cut it.”“If you say so.” She shrugs. “I don’t mind giving you a make over though.”“I said you should cut it.” I snap at her making her laugh.“Okay. Open it or you will never know who sent that.” She urges me on.“Cool.” I open the paper and catch a whiff of some cologne. It’s a sweet scent and I’m sure it’s some expensive shit.“M