The Step Dad

I sat straight up in bed when I heard the sound of breaking glass coming from downstairs. I glanced over at the clock on the table beside me. It was only two in the morning. Trying to control my panic I quietly walked to my closet and pulled out my baseball bat.

Just as I pulled out the bat I again heard the sound of breaking glass but this time it was followed by the loud slam of a door. I walked quietly across the hallway to the stairs and I began to hear sobbing and arguing. That’s when I realized exactly what those horrible noises were. He was at it again and I wasn’t about to let him get away with it this time.

My mom and step-dad had been married for ten very long years. Every since day one he had hit my mom. That wasn’t the worst thing he had done, though. He also had raped my younger sister and me. We had both tried to tell my mom about it several times but she would just call us liars and ignore us. She just wouldn’t listen to us no matter how hard we tried to tell her about him. It’s like she didn’t even care if he hurt us. After years of trying to tell her we had finally given up on her ever listening to the truth. We just kept quiet and tried to pretend it wasn’t happening. The way she always did.

I had finally had all I could stand when I raced down the wooden stairs with my bat in my hand. I screamed at him to stop or I would hit him but he just laughed and started walking towards me. Trembling from fear I swung the bat hard at his head. He caught it with his hand and laughed.

After he had jerked the bat from my hands he pulled off his belt and came after me. I turned and ran up the stairs franticly trying to find somewhere to hide. I slammed my bedroom door behind me and quickly climbed into the closet.

It wasn’t long before I could hear his thunderous footsteps getting closer and closer as my heart began to race faster and faster. As he stepped into my room I held my breath, praying that he wouldn’t come to the closet. Seconds later he jerked open the closet door and grabbed me by the arm. As I let out a shriek of pain he began hitting me with his large leather belt.

The next morning before school I tried to cover the bruises with make- up. I got most of them covered but there were a few that I couldn’t hide. I was careful to avoid him until I could get out of the house because I knew that he would still be angry.

I walked up the stairs to the school and took a long deep breath before I opened the door. A thousand things were running through my mind. I had to stop him but I didn’t know how. I also had to keep everyone from noticing the bruises that he left on me the night before.

I kept my head down as I walked slowly through the crowded hallways to my homeroom class. As I slowly lowered myself into my desk a pain shot through my back and my legs and I grimaced in pain. Everyone around me was chattering and laughing the way they always did before the bell rang. I was only in class a few minutes when my best friend Abby walked up to me and started talking.

I kept my head down so she could not see my face and she began to think I was ignoring her. When she started fussing at me for ignoring her I jumped up and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her down the hall to the girl’s restroom.

“Abby, can you keep a secret?” I asked without looking at her.

“Brandy, this is me you’re talking to. Of course I can keep a secret. What’s going on with you today?”

I slowly looked up and Abby saw the bruises all over my face. She gasped in horror as she stared at me.

“Brandy what happened to you?”

“My step-dad happened.”

“What?” Abby asked confused.

“My mom and step-dad were arguing again last night and I went downstairs to break it up. He started coming at me and I tried to hit him with my bat but he caught it.” I finished telling Abby the story of what had happened the night before as she listened in horror.

“Has he ever done anything like this to you before?” Abby looked at me with concern in her eyes as she awaited my answer. I broke down into tears and Abby put her arms around me to comfort me. When I grimaced in pain she pulled up my shirt and saw the bruises on my back and stomach. “BRANDY! Has he ever done this before?”

Through my tears and sobbing I managed to tell her yes he had but only worse. I broke down as I told her all the things he had done to my sister and me through the years. The bell rang and I started out of the bathroom to go to class but Abby pulled me back in.

“We have to talk about this Brandy, this is serious. Have you told anyone?”

“No! Abby you said you could keep a secret! You can’t tell anyone.”

After talking to Abby awhile I felt better and was ready to go to class. She was still trying to talk me into telling someone though but I knew it would just cause more trouble.