protecting whats mine

“Protecting What’s Mine”
By: Kylee Wingrove period 4 red













Hi, my names Carter. I have long blonde hair and blue eyes. I am fifteen years old. I have a four year old little sister and a beautiful mother named Laura. My dad left me and my mom right before my sister was born so we have been pretty much on our own. Then my mom met my stepdad, Chad. After two years of dating, he proposed to her. She said yes and then they got married. Ever since then he seemed a little strange. He’s always angry at her. One day I got home from school I saw my mother lying on the couch crying while holding her arm. I didn’t know what was wrong so I asked, “Mom, are you ok? What’s wrong?” I gasped as I threw my backpack on the floor beside the love seat.
“Umm yes, everything is ok.” She sniffled.
I didn’t believe her for some reason. Something had to have been wrong.
“Then why are you holding your arm crying?”
She looked at her arm and then looked back up at me again.
“Oh, yeah I burnt my arm on the stove making soup for your sister this afternoon, I’m fine don’t worry,” she smiled.
“Ok, where’s Chad?” I asked.
“He just left for work before you walked in,” she sighed.
Then I gave her a hug and walked into the kitchen to get her a cool, damp towel for her burn. Then walked back into the living room where she sat.
“Carter, could you please do me a favor and check on your sister?” she said.
“Of course I can.”
I picked up my backpack and went upstairs and down the hall to Emma’s room. She was sound asleep grasping her favorite giraffe plush toy.
“No worries mom, she’s fine,” I called down stairs.
Then I walked back down the hall to my room to start my homework.
Forty minutes later my mother called me for dinner. Then I saw my stepdad sitting at the other end of the table.
“Why are you home so early?” I asked him suspiciously.
He didn’t answer right away. He just looked up at my mother and then back down at his plate.
“I got fired from my job…” he said looking up at me with a harsh glare in his eyes.
“Oh, well are we going to be ok?” I asked.
“Yes, we should be, I’m getting another job and your mother is looking for one too.” He said.
I nodded my head and sat down to eat. After dinner my mother asked me if I could take my sister and go into the other room so her and my stepdad could talk, so I did. Normally, they’re talking ends in a fight, and so it did. They both started yelling and screaming and throwing things. I put my little sister on the couch and ran in as fast as I could to see what all the fuss was about. Chad threw one of my mother’s good china. She stared at the shattered pieces on the floor, and started to cry.
“That was my mother’s china!” she screamed.
I ran over to comfort her and then looked at him with an angry look on my face. He grabbed the broom and dust pan. “Pick this mess up!” he screeched as he handed me them in an angrily manner. I snatched them from his hands and then did what I was told so he didn’t get angrier. My mother ran upstairs to calm down. Not long after he followed. I became very nervous in those five minutes they were alone. Then I heard her scream.
“Let me go! Don’t touch me! Ouch! Stop! ”
I couldn’t leave my sister sitting there all alone, but I couldn’t let him hurt my mom either. I didn’t know what to do. I’ve never been so scared for my family in my life. I called my best friend Tony. I had him take my little sister to the park. She doesn’t need to see or hear the fighting. Tony rushed over and took her, as soon as he left I ran upstairs. I saw my mother lying on the bed holding her head. I saw her bleeding. I didn’t think about anything else but to call an ambulance. I dialed 9-1-1 and told them our address. I didn’t even know how to tell them happened. All I knew was that I needed to get this man away from our family before he did anything else. When the medics came I led them upstairs. When we got there, my stepdad was gone.
“Excuse me Laura, can you hear me?” the medic asked.
No answer. Dead silence.
I started to panic. I’ve never had to deal with anything this dramatic in my life. I looked at the medic and asked, “Do you think she’s going to be ok?”
“Well, right now we can’t tell, she’s unconscious. We are going to take her to the emergency room and run some tests. Do you know what had happened?” he asked.
“No,” I answered.
I wasn’t sure to tell him that Chad hit her or not. I was terrified that he would come back to hurt me next, or worse, Emma. I wasn’t even sure where he was. That’s what terrified me the most, and if my mother was going to live or not. The medics rushed my mother to the hospital.
Tony’s mom came to pick me up then she went by the park to get him and Emma. She dropped them off at her house with her husband. Then we drove an hour and a half to the hospital. As soon as we got there, we saw my stepdad standing over her. I couldn’t look him in the eye. I was too afraid of what he would do. Then the nurse came in. She told us that my mother was in critical condition and if I didn’t call when I did, she would have bled to death. I started to cry. I had to speak up to them. I needed to tell them what really happened. There was a police officer outside of her room, I walked out and asked him...
“Excuse me sir, do you have a minute?”
“Yes, I do,” he said.
We walked to the bench around the corner, and sat down.
“When the paramedics got to my house, I panicked. My stepdad hit my mom over the head with a glass vase. I didn’t know what to do all I knew was that I needed to call 9-1-1 and get her here.”
It was a relief to get that off of my chest.
“Why didn’t you tell the medics?” he asked.
“I didn’t think to at the time, and when I brought them upstairs he was gone,” I sighed.
“Ok. At least you told me now,” he said as he got up and walked around the corner.
I did the same. He walked into the room and pulled my step dad out into the hall. They talked about some things. Apparently, Chad had a record of abusing women. He never told my mother. Before him and my mother got married, he was in jail for three years for burning a women’s arm. I couldn’t believe this. All of this was such a shocking experience. My mother didn’t deserve this. I’d rather me get hurt than her. I felt bad that I didn’t tell the police what had happened from the beginning. I’m just happy they took him away. I don’t want my family getting hurt anymore. They are too important to me, and they are all have. When I went back into the room my mom was laying there still unconscious. All I could think of was, what would have happened if I didn’t hear her scream? Would she have been killed? I wouldn’t have been able to forgive myself for that. I laid there next to her until the nurse came in.
“Is she going to be ok?” I asked.
“Yes, she should be fine. She bled out a pretty good bit but, we removed the glass from her head. A few stitches and she’s good to go!” she said with a warming smile.
“Thank you so much!” I exclaimed.
Then I went home. All I could think about was how happy I was that she is going to recover. When I got home the police were sitting in front of my house. I got really nervous as I hopped out of the car and walked up my drive way.
“Hello there, can I help you?” I asked as my voice shook.
“Umm yes, I would like to ask you a few questions,” he said.
“Ok, come right in,” I said as I unlocked the door.
“Would you like something to drink?” I asked thoughtfully.
“Yes please,” he smiled.
I walked into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. I walked back in and asked, “How do you like your coffee?”
“Black is fine, thank you,” he replied.
While I waited for the coffee to finish brewing, I sat on the couch next to him.
“When you heard your mother scream, what did you do?” he asked.
“I couldn’t really do anything because I was with my little sister, so I called my best friend, Tony, and he came to take her to the park. Then I went upstairs to see what happened. That’s when I saw my mom lying on the bed bleeding, holding her head.” I said.
“That must have been very hard for you to deal with. I’m very proud of you though. You did the right thing to call us. You must really care about your family,” he said with a smile.
“Of course I do. We are all each other have. I’m just protecting what’s mine.” I finally said.