**V!0L3NCE GREIF & IMPLIED MENTAL ABVSE TW!!** **ALSO THIS IS ALL FICTIONAL** (press flag before reading for more emotion lol) *Thud*. I start awake in my bed, sitting up slowly and looking around. Was I imagining it…? *Thud-* There it was again! I know I’m not imagining it this time because I hear my baby sister start to cry down the hall. I get up to go check on her, but as soon as I get close to her room -it’s right by mommy and daddy’s room- the door to their room opens! My mom runs over to me, checking me with this look on her face. “Mommy? Are you alright? What’s wrong?” Her expression softens to a gentle smile. “Nothing, baby, go get your sister for me?” There's another thud, and the whole house shakes this time. I stumble and hurry to do what my mom said. I came out carrying my little sister, who was crying and wouldn’t stop. “Mommy…?” I say quietly, the sounds making me nervous. My mom comes back out of her room. “It’s alright, sweetheart, just follow me and keep hold of Isla, okay??” She grabs my arm gently, but walks so quickly that I almost fall. Suddenly, there’s a loud bang and my mom ducks down. I didn’t know what it was, but my daddy told me later it’s called a gvn. There are boys shouting and yelling, and little Isla starts fully wailing. My mom suddenly runs into another room, the one with the door leading out of the house, the downstairs back one, not the main one. Mommy picks me up and sets me down in the open closet. “...Mom…?” I ask quietly, confused. She puts a hand over Isla’s mouth, and her blue eyes close softly, the wailing replaced with slow, quiet breaths as the pacifier calms her down. I look up again and frown, seeing my mom’s shaky smile as she looks at my baby sister. Then she looks at me, cupping my face gently. “Mommy, what’s going on..?” She glances behind her before answering me. She met my eyes. “Nothing, baby. You’re okay. Take care of Isla, alright? Just stay here and hold onto her.” I noticed the extra water in my mom’s eyes, like mine or Isla’s, when we cry. But mommy doesn’t cry, right? She pulled me into a hug. “I love you, Cassie.” “I love you too!” She pulled back, brushing my cheek again and smiling. When I think about it, I always remember the little tear I hadn’t seen at the time. Then there was a shout, and she pulled back and closed the doors almost all the way. I could only see out a bitsy crack. I moved to peek out the little crack in the door. This is the part I'll always remember. My mom was standing in the middle of the room, little tears staining her cheeks. Then a loud crash and what sounded like ice cubes hitting the floor. Then footsteps. “Where is it, Maria.” a deep voice said. It sounded low, kinda like my uncle when he had too much juice. “Nowhere you’re going to get it.” “You know I warned you.” “..Yes.” Her voice caught, but her head stayed high. My eyes started stinging. I’d never heard my mom’s voice not strong and gentle, but now it was shaking. Then a million things happened in a second.
There was that bang again. So loud my ears hurt, and I watched my mom fall over. My hand flew to my mouth and I tried not to cry. She was okay.. Right…? Just.. sleeping! She got tired and needed to sleep!! But the smell of something burnt and metallic filled my nose and I saw red on the carpet. Then time sped back up, and… isla started wailing again. The sound hurt her ears too. My little sister’s cry pierced my ears and.. Also the ears of the men outside. The door flew open, someone grabbed my arm, and I almost dropped Isla, then someone yanked her out of my arms. I yelled and fell over when they pulled me out, little sharp pieces digging into my hands. I look up and see they were holding Isla by her arm. “Wait, don't do that! You’re gonna hurt her!” Someone smacked the back of my head. “Shut up.” They grab my arm again and lift me to my feet, then throw me down over by my mom. My hands land in something wet and sticky and I see red all over. I start crying now, loudly. “Mommy…!?” I beg, sobbing. “What do we do with the small one?” one of the boys asked and I turned back around. “Put her down! Please! You’re hurting her arm!” My chest hurt when they just laughed. Then another one came into the room. “The father’s on the way, we need to wrap this up.” The man sighed, then he suddenly dropped the screaming baby. I gasp and run over to my sister, who was trying to scream but also struggling to get air from the hard fall. I pick her up and try to help her breathe better, the red still on my hands staining her tiny onesie. They pulled out these small metal things in their hands -once again, a g*n- and pointed them at my sister and me. I just curled up and cried, not knowing what to do anymore, but trying to keep my sister safe as I turned to hide her from them. Then my daddy’s voice yells down the hall, and the bad guys say words I'm not allowed to and run out. My dad runs through the house trying to find us, and I try to yell to him, but my voice is cracked and rough from the yelling and crying, so I just lie there, waiting for my dad, next to my mother and holding my screaming sister. He ran in the room and I heard him stop “Cassie!? What-” Then I think he realizes where all the red is coming from.. I look up right as he kneels next to mommy. I saw him take her hand and start to cry. Then he looked at me. “What happened!?” “Mommy’s okay!” I reassure him, my voice quieter than I want it to be. “Sh-she’s okay, right…?” “Cassie, what happened to your sister.” He took Isla from my hands, who was still screaming. The back of her head looked like it had a little bit of red on it, too. Had I touched there? “They dropped her...” I whisper “You let them take her!?” “They grabbed her, I-I didn’t-” “Go to your room.” His voice dropped and sounded scary. “But-” “GET OUT!” I ran out crying and collapsed on the floor in my room, rocking and shaking. It was terrifying, the way I felt like I couldn’t breathe. What if I all the way stopped breathing?? But, I would become used to this feeling in the next few weeks. I don’t like this part, so I’m not gonna write it, or I’ll mess up the pencil when I cry, but.. Daddy yelled at me a lot, and I figured out it was my fault mommy was gone. When he yells too loudly, I go out in the front and lie on the dirt where he put her. The rock says Maria Foster, but it doesn’t feel like my mom. The only place I feel like she’s there is when I lie with her, usually sad and crying, but /with her/. Because.. I would never actually be with her again. Not if I go where daddy said I would. So... I lay with her body and hope her ghost forgives me. I love you mommy. *extra note, different handwriting* I wrote this when I was 5. I spent 4 hours rewriting it so it was legible, and... If my inner child is still in there... I'm sorry kido. You never deserved any of that. And know it wasn't your fault. Mommy doesn't blame you okay? And it's over now. Go play. And since he never told you.. I love you hun. Go be a kid again. ~~~~ This is written in the perspective of my oc a few years after this happened bc she got the idea to write it, then years later her older self put it on the computer and corrected the spelling, while keeping the wording as it was (or in the way it was intended) in honor of her younger self. (side note- I DEFINITLY CRIED WRITING THAT LAST BIT HOLY HECK! I'M SORRY IF THIS CAUSED UNWANTED MEMORIES OR MADE YOU CRY BUT FEEL FREE TO RANT IN CHAT/CALL ME OUT LOL)
