touched my heart. The cocky irritating Johan I usual dealt with was completely missing. But the one who replaced him was so terrifyingly broken, I prayed for the former one to return.
“Sure, we can get her Maccy D’s and us a Chinese takeaway. What do you reckon?”
His beautiful dimpled smile appeared making me grin in return.
***
“ Jo-haan ?” Ellie drawled, trying her best to get the pronunciation correct. From the day she had met Johan, she’d called him Joanne, but after a few months we were finally getting somewhere with her.
“Yes my little pumpkin.”
“Weeeeelllll.” She drew out the word, making me smile because I knew the deviant little minx was gearing up to ask for something she knew was out of bounds. “If you’re staying at my house can I stay up with you and watch a DVD so you not get scared.” She leaned forward in her car seat. “It get real dark and scary at night time.”
“Ellie, you little sneak, you have a night lamp and no, you are not having a DVD,” I chided, trying not to sound as amused as I was.
“Me wasn’t saying it to you.” She sulked.
“Hey don’t be cheeky young lady and it’s I not me. ”
“Sorry,” she muttered.
I hated when she got upset. I chastised kids daily but this was my baby sister and she had a special way of making me feel like poop when I didn’t let her have her way.
“Maybe we could watch half, so G.I.—”
“Stop calling me that,” Johan snapped in a tone not to be messed with.
I glanced at him quickly, averting my gaze from the road long enough to see his jaw clenching tight.
“Sorry,” I muttered, feeling like the witch in the car. “We can watch half of the film, Ell, until bedtime, okay?”
“Hmm,” she huffed. I felt like the shittiest person around for pissing them both off.
We continued the drive in silence.
Caught by a Monster
Chase Dermont Junior III
6 y ears old
Boston Massachusetts
My tummy hurt, my head hurt, and I was so cold. I curled up on the hard concrete floor of the basement hugging my knees to me so the pain would stop. It didn’t, the growling only became louder. Grandpa Chase was angry at me again so he’d locked me down here. I think it had been three days because it had gotten dark two times. The moon had come into the sky and the stars had shone so brightly through the small dirty window. My momma had stopped coming in my dreams, she didn’t call out either. She had completely left me. The only things that came now were the monsters. So I stopped sleeping, I tried not to close my eyes for too long because they would haunt me like nasty ghosts, only worse because they were real.
I clutched my knees to my tummy as another horrible pain hit me. I moaned and breathed faster, sometimes that helped. I felt sick but nothing came out anymore when I retched. It was just empty painful gagging. My throat was sore from it. At first the smell of my toileting on the floor made me gag but I had gotten used to that.
I heard the door rattle and then open. I curled into a ball when heavy footfalls came down the steps. The biggest monster of them all came down the stairs.
“You about ready to make friends again, boy?” Grandpa asked.
I didn’t answer him; I curled into a tighter ball. I hated my Grandpa, he lied and said he would be my friend, but he wasn’t my friend because he made me do horrible things.
“I figure maybe you’d be hungry enough to join us at the table.”
I lifted my head to see him bite into a big green juicy apple.
“Am I wrong?” he asked. Throwing the apple across the floor to me, it rolled through my toileting and vomit but I still picked it up and wiped it on my underpants. I had been sent down here and stripped of everything but my underwear.
I moaned again when my tummy hurt more and considered eating the dirty apple.
“Those are hunger pains, son. Come have dinner and they will go away.” He sounded kind, but I knew nothing he did was kind. “You know
“Sure, we can get her Maccy D’s and us a Chinese takeaway. What do you reckon?”
His beautiful dimpled smile appeared making me grin in return.
***
“ Jo-haan ?” Ellie drawled, trying her best to get the pronunciation correct. From the day she had met Johan, she’d called him Joanne, but after a few months we were finally getting somewhere with her.
“Yes my little pumpkin.”
“Weeeeelllll.” She drew out the word, making me smile because I knew the deviant little minx was gearing up to ask for something she knew was out of bounds. “If you’re staying at my house can I stay up with you and watch a DVD so you not get scared.” She leaned forward in her car seat. “It get real dark and scary at night time.”
“Ellie, you little sneak, you have a night lamp and no, you are not having a DVD,” I chided, trying not to sound as amused as I was.
“Me wasn’t saying it to you.” She sulked.
“Hey don’t be cheeky young lady and it’s I not me. ”
“Sorry,” she muttered.
I hated when she got upset. I chastised kids daily but this was my baby sister and she had a special way of making me feel like poop when I didn’t let her have her way.
“Maybe we could watch half, so G.I.—”
“Stop calling me that,” Johan snapped in a tone not to be messed with.
I glanced at him quickly, averting my gaze from the road long enough to see his jaw clenching tight.
“Sorry,” I muttered, feeling like the witch in the car. “We can watch half of the film, Ell, until bedtime, okay?”
“Hmm,” she huffed. I felt like the shittiest person around for pissing them both off.
We continued the drive in silence.
Caught by a Monster
Chase Dermont Junior III
6 y ears old
Boston Massachusetts
My tummy hurt, my head hurt, and I was so cold. I curled up on the hard concrete floor of the basement hugging my knees to me so the pain would stop. It didn’t, the growling only became louder. Grandpa Chase was angry at me again so he’d locked me down here. I think it had been three days because it had gotten dark two times. The moon had come into the sky and the stars had shone so brightly through the small dirty window. My momma had stopped coming in my dreams, she didn’t call out either. She had completely left me. The only things that came now were the monsters. So I stopped sleeping, I tried not to close my eyes for too long because they would haunt me like nasty ghosts, only worse because they were real.
I clutched my knees to my tummy as another horrible pain hit me. I moaned and breathed faster, sometimes that helped. I felt sick but nothing came out anymore when I retched. It was just empty painful gagging. My throat was sore from it. At first the smell of my toileting on the floor made me gag but I had gotten used to that.
I heard the door rattle and then open. I curled into a ball when heavy footfalls came down the steps. The biggest monster of them all came down the stairs.
“You about ready to make friends again, boy?” Grandpa asked.
I didn’t answer him; I curled into a tighter ball. I hated my Grandpa, he lied and said he would be my friend, but he wasn’t my friend because he made me do horrible things.
“I figure maybe you’d be hungry enough to join us at the table.”
I lifted my head to see him bite into a big green juicy apple.
“Am I wrong?” he asked. Throwing the apple across the floor to me, it rolled through my toileting and vomit but I still picked it up and wiped it on my underpants. I had been sent down here and stripped of everything but my underwear.
I moaned again when my tummy hurt more and considered eating the dirty apple.
“Those are hunger pains, son. Come have dinner and they will go away.” He sounded kind, but I knew nothing he did was kind. “You know
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