Page 2 of Intercept My Heart

My dream was to become a physical therapist, and I knew there would be no way for me to do so without a high school diploma. I couldn’t afford to make impulsive decisions thatcould potentially alter my future. I’d made it this far; one more year wouldn’t hurt… would it?

“Charae! Where the hell are you?” Vera yelled through the hallway. I already knew what was up, and I wasn’t in the mood. “I know you hear me!” She pushed my room door open while I lay in the bed, pretending to be asleep.

It wasn’t like she cared one way or the other, because let her tell it, none of us worked hard enough to sleep as much as we did. The cool air caught me off guard when she ripped the covers off me, before tossing them on the floor. We went through this at least two to three days a week. Vera would get pissy drunk and then accuse me of doing something I hadn’t done. Even when I attempted to reason with her, it ended the same way each time. Although Vera was much shorter and thinner than me, I couldn’t fight her back if I wanted to. That was how she got away with it because she knew I was defenseless. If I even held my hand up to defend myself, she would swear I attacked her, which would lead to even more problems.

“Get your lazy ass up! The sink is full of dishes that need to be washed.” My eyebrows furrowed since I knew it wasn’t my turn to wash them. We put up the chore wheel every Sunday, and I knew for a fact today was Drake’s turn. I thought about bringing it to her attention but decided to save my breath. Trying to reason with a drunk was a waste of time. In her mind, I was guilty, and proof wouldn’t change her reality.

“I-I’ll go wash them now.” Drake was one of her biological children, and he often got away with murder around here. SinceDrake was a star athlete for our high school, most people treated him like royalty. Even the teachers would make exceptions for him when it came to his attendance. On the rare occasions that I rode to school with him, we would get there late, and I would get written up, but not him.

“It’s too late! You know the rules, but you insist on challenging me. I’m the woman of this house, not you!” I slid out of bed knowing she would more than likely try to attack me. Most days, I would allow her to have her way, but between my hunger pains and missing Ciera, my patience was thin. What did I have to lose anyway?

“I wasn’t aware that it was my day. You want the dishes done, and I’m offering to wash them. What more do you want from me?”

“I want you out of my house. That’s what I want! I’m sick of looking at your face every single day. You should have left with Ciera’s slut ass, because no one wants you here. I can’t wait for the day you age out, and I don’t have to look at your disgusting face ever again. You think I’m stupid, but I see the way you look at my husband. It’s the same way all the other girls that have stayed here looked at him. You can’t have him though. I’ve let a lot of shit slide, but I’ll kill you before I allow one of you sluts to destroy my family,” she ranted. I stared at her blankly, not understanding where any of this was coming from.

Whenever she made these wild accusations, I usually had no response. Beside the fact that he was much older than me, nothing about Dennis attracted me. He creeped me out most days, so I didn’t understand why she thought I wanted him. From dry, discolored skin to his beer belly, which hung over his pants, nothing about him screamed desirable. I had no idea who the other girls were, but I would be willing to bet on my life, they weren’t going after her husband.

“Can I go wash the dishes now?”

“Are you getting smart with me? Huh?” Vera got in my face, but I took a few steps back. I said a silent prayer that someone would step in before things got too far out of hand.

“N-no, ma’am.”

“Damn right. You don’t want it with me because I’ll beat you until you can’t walk. Now get your ass in the kitchen before my husband comes home. I can’t even make him a decent meal because of you!” Stepping to the side, she allowed me to walk past her. I should have known things wouldn’t be that simple when she shoved me down onto the floor. My face hit the corner of my dresser as I went down.

“Ahh!” I screamed, cradling my face in my hands. Blood covered my fingers as I lay there rocking back and forth.

“Get your dramatic ass up and clean my kitchen! You’ve got two minutes to clean yourself up and get in there.” Vera kicked me in the side, then walked out of the room.

There was no time for tears, so I got up, limping to the bathroom. I washed the blood from my forehead, before applying a bandage to it. Vera yelled for me, so I shuffled my way into the kitchen. I’ve become numb to this kind of abuse over the years. Every house I’d been in was reminiscent of the one before it. They would all have big smiles on their faces when my caseworker dropped me off, but the moment she left, everything would change. The bruises and cuts would eventually heal; I couldn’t say much about the damage to my heart. Those wounds would more than likely never recover.

There were only a handful of dishes in the sink, so I got to work quickly. Within fifteen minutes, I finished Drake’s chore and cleaned off the counter too. The floor needed to be swept, so I went ahead and took care of that as well to avoid having a repeat of this later. I heard the door open, but I never bothered to look up. No one in this house paid me any attention anyway.

“What’s up, Rae? Damn, who the hell clocked your shit?” Drake questioned, while walking toward the fridge. We weren’t close, but he spoke more than the other kids.

“I fell,” I replied flatly. Telling him the truth would be pointless because everyone in the house knew what was going on, even if they weren’t dealing with it personally. They chose to ignore it because she left her biological kids alone.

“Damn, it looks like the floor won. Next time, put your hands out.” Drake laughed, pulling out a jug of juice. The sound of someone clearing their throat caught my attention. That was when I realized we weren’t alone. We stared at one another until I got an uncomfortable feeling in my belly. Dinero and Drake were best friends, yet they were worlds apart. Drake was loud and boisterous while Dinero kept to himself most of the time. Dinero always had this faraway look in his eyes as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. I knew the look all too well.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve laughing at her when you were curled up in the fetal position at practice on Wednesday,” Dinero teased, setting a bag of food on the counter. My mouth began to water since I hadn’t eaten since lunchtime at school.

“Man, here you go. Those laps almost took me out. I don’t know what the coach’s problem was, but he needs to get laid or something. There’s no reason for him to work us that hard,” Drake fussed.

“Hey, we won tonight, so whatever he did worked. Plus, you have some weak ass lungs because I feel perfectly fine.” Dinero shrugged his shoulders. He caught me staring at his food but never said anything. He visited often, but Vera usually put on a good show whenever company came around, so I doubted he knew what went on behind these walls. They engaged in their usual back-and-forth as they sat down to eat. The smell of theirfood caused my stomach to rumble, but I ignored it as best as I could.

Once I finished sweeping, I rushed back to my room to grab my things for my shower. When I walked into the bathroom, I avoided the mirror as much as possible. My hair was ruined, and the new gash on my head would only make my appearance worse. Vera took her daughters to the salon with her every two weeks, but Ciera and I weren’t allowed to go with them. Ciera did her best to keep our hair looking decent, but now, since she’d left, I didn’t know what I would do. Maybe I should have gone with her like she’d asked.

We were only allowed to take ten-minute showers, so I made sure to wash up hastily to avoid Vera’s obnoxious banging. I didn’t understand how anyone in this house dealt with her, but I guess they were numb to her antics as well. While she mainly targeted Ciera and me, she often woke the house up, screaming and throwing things around. Dennis would intervene after a while, but he often worked late nights, so he wasn’t always there to save us from her rage.

I got dressed in the bathroom. The giant T-shirt I sported hung past my knees, but I wore some shorts underneath. They weren’t the freshest, but they were all I had. The time on my alarm clock read 10:26 p.m., and I needed to get some sleep because Vera would be waking me up bright and early to cook for the family. Sitting on my bed, I glanced over to the empty bed across the room. It’d been a couple of days, and it felt like I was drowning without Ciera here with me. I’d spent most of my life alone, but she changed all of that. From the first night I came here, she welcomed me with open arms and we’d been thick as thieves ever since. My days and nights seemed much longer without her being here with me. There was no one for me to talk to or share my hopes and dreams with. No one else even cared that I existed.

I must have dozed off briefly because when I checked the clock again, the time read 12:15 a.m. My hunger pains were getting the best of me, and I remembered Ciera left her snack box in here. At this point, anything sounded better than trying to sleep on an empty stomach another day. I got ready to check when I heard the sound of my door being opened. I forgot to lock it like Ciera advised. I prayed Vera wasn’t coming back for another round, because I didn’t have the energy for it.

“Charae.” Dennis whispered my name, causing me to freeze in place. He hadn’t come into our room since Ciera left, so I couldn’t help but grow concerned. My floor creaked underneath his footsteps. If I pretended to be asleep, maybe he would go away. It made no sense for him to be in here to begin with.

His heavy breathing filled the room as his dry feet dragged across the wooden floors. Dennis pulled my covers back, exposing my T-shirt covered body. The sudden movement caused me to jump, completely blowing my cover.

“I heard you and my wife got into an altercation this evening. You know we can’t have you misbehaving the way Ciera used to.” I rolled my eyes, knowing she lied about what really happened. His hand traveled up my thigh and the room fell eerily silent. The walls seemed to close around me, and I found it difficult to breathe.

---