July Greek (18) grew up in a world of money problems, alcohol and drugs. She has a brother and two sisters, all from different fathers but the same mother. Their lives weren't easy. They have been homeless, they have been abused, they have been mistreated and drugged. They don't tell anyone about their lives and keep to themselves. Oldest brother Sept moved away a long time ago, leaving oldest sister Marchi to the task of taking care of mom and her sisters July and Deci. But then one day mother gets arrested and all goes to shit. Their house got broken into, Marchi gets fired and child protective services tries to take Deci away. Men are hunting them. Their mom is hiding something and they think the sisters know where it is. It's not safe for them to stay home. Who are those men? What has mom been hiding from them? Who can they trust? Where is Sept? The hunt begins. Ps: I'm Dutch, English is not my first language. I'm sorry if I made any spelling mistakes.
Chapter 1 Mommy's dearest
JULY'S POV
Almost 12 years ago.....
A loud bang. A hard scream. Silence. I start to cry.
'July, ssh. We have to hide. Come July we have to hide.' My sister's voice is trembling with fear when she whispers in my ear. Marchi's shaking body is holding tightly onto mine. Someone is in our house; I can hear them. There are men in our house; they are talking very loudly now. What is happening?
Marchi takes my hand and pulls me out of bed. Mom had said if this would ever happen again, we have to hide. We run to the small stairs that leads to the tiny attic. We have a secret wall there. We will be safe. We have to be safe.
I can hear another scream. Mommy. I want to run up to her and hug her.
'No, July we have to keep going.' Marchi whispers. We hurry upstairs.
'Where is Sept?' I whisper back to her.
'I don't know.' my sister said. Where is our brother if you need him? He is probably not even home.
Another scream echoes through the house, but this time it's a male's voice.
'You bitch!' he yelled.
Marchi and I run up to the secret wall. She pushes the hatch to the side and wants me to go inside first. She comes in seconds later and closes the hatch behind her. It's dark inside and I can't see a thing. Marchi holds onto me tight while sitting on her lap. I hide my face in her chest and cry. What if the bad man hurt mommy or even worse; hurt us.
'Ssh, don't cry. They will leave. They always leave.' Marchi says, but she doesn't sound so sure right now. Marchi is way more than just my sister. She is seven years older and has been taken care of me, because mommy can't sometimes. We have found mom more than once drunk, high, passed out or sleeping on the couch. Sometimes she says she is going to buy groceries, only to come home a week later.
Our brother Sept doesn't like mom. Sept and mom fight a lot and when he leaves, mom cries for days and drinks even more.
We sit in the dark for a long time. Mommy will find us when they are gone. We just have to wait. We don't hear screams anymore. Are they gone? Is mommy okay? I never been so afraid in my life. It's taking too long. I want to get out and see if she's okay.
We can hear someone walk up the stairs to the attic. The steps crack with every step. That is not mom. It's the sound of heavy boots; it is one of the men.
Marchi almost squeezes me now. She cries with me in silence. We stay as quiet as we can. We can't make a sound.
Then the hatch is pushed aside and I scream. There is a man standing in front of us. He has a wide grin on his face.
'Well well, what do we have here? The bitch has kids. I knew it.' The man takes a hold of Marchi's ankle. She screams and hold me tight while we are dragged out our hiding place. Another man runs up to us and takes me away from her protecting arms. I scream and try to get away. I punch and kick him, but he throws me over his shoulder and walks downstairs like I weight nothing. He never let me go as we walk into the living room. More than six men are standing in the small living room, where mom lays on the ground. The man puts me down on my feet. I want to run to mom, but the man behind me is holding me in place by grabbing my arms. Next to me the other man does the same to Marchi. She looks really scared and stares at mom.
'Hello there.' A man walks up to us. He grins angerly. He is a bad man; I can tell. He has his long raven black hair pushed to one side; showing his long scar from his hairline to his jaw. A drop of blood in his mouth corner, lets me know he was the one screaming in anger. Mom had hit him. He kneels in front of me. His black dark eyes of evil staring right into mine. His hand reaches up to touch my face. I instantly take a step back from him.
'Don't touch her!' mommy screams. Her long brown hair is knotted and her forehead is bleeding. The bad man had hurt her. 'Please, don't touch her. She is only six years old.'
The man's grin grows wider and asks: 'What is your name sweety?'
'I don't talk to bad man.' I answer. 'You hurt mommy. I don't like you.'
'Oh, you are feisty for a six-year-old. I like it.' The man holds my chin and squeezes. I try to get away, but he just holds me tighter and so does the man holding my arms. I whimper in fear.
'Let her go!' my mom screams. A man that was holding her, just punched her in the face. Her head swung to the side when his fist hit her cheek. She now only whimpers too.
'I'm sorry mommy.' I let my tears go free.
'Just answer my question and I don't have to hurt your mom. Can you do that?'
I just nod.
'What is your name?'
'July.' I answer.
'Where is your father?'
'Dead.'
The man just raised an eyebrow. My dad had died before I was born; I never even met him. The man let go of my chin and walks over to Marchi. 'What is your name, darling?' I now only see the bruise on Marchi's face. The man holding her had hit her too. How didn't I notice this before? Someone hit her.
'Marchi.' she said with a soft shaking voice. She didn't cry; not in front of these men.
'And your father?' You can see we're related, but definitely not from the same father.
'In jail.' she says.
'Mom, is it okay if I have some fun with your daughters? They look lovely.' His evil laugh echoes through the room. He is still grinning; he really enjoys himself. He cups Marchi's cheeks, trying to kiss her, but she just spits in his face. He simply smiles and wipes away her spit. 'Let's have some fun.' he says.
'No!' mom screams. 'Just take me. Don't touch my daughters. They have nothing to do with this. Just take me. I can't pay you, but I would never let you take my children. Just take me.'
'Okay, way to go mommy. Let's go to your room then.' He looks over to us one more time and says to his men: 'Just tie them up. They are little but feisty and we can't have them ruin our plans.'
The following hour was terrible. Both me and Marchi cried. Mom was screaming a lot. The man watching us, were smiling the whole time. Couldn't they hear mommy scream? Didn't they care?
The evil man came walking into the living room again. He was alone. Where was mommy? He kneeled in front of us. 'I will see you again girls. I promise you.' he said and just left. The men all just left. Marchi and I were both tied up to a chair. We couldn't protect mom, we couldn't go to her, we couldn't call the police. We thought we were going to die.
Almost 12 years later...
I run downstairs. Marchi is already in the kitchen. She is almost ready with the cake. I smile at her as she strokes my head. It's the best cake we have had in years. Together we walk to our bedroom. I'm excited for her to see it.
'1, 2, 3.' Marchi says. I push the door open.
'Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday sweet Deci. Happy birthday to YOOOOOUUUUU!' we sing together.
'Oh my god!' Deci screams with her hands in front of her mouth. On the queen sized bed we all three share together, my little sister sits in her pink pajama's, smiling from ear to ear. I can't believe she is eleven years old now. How did this happen? She was only a little baby yesterday.
'Make a wish.' I say to her.
Deci blows out the candles and smiles. 'This is the best cake I have ever seen.' she says happily.
'That was what I thought!' Her smile is everything to me. She is the best thing we got from that horrible night almost twelve years ago. 'Only the best for you.' I say.
Marchi, Deci and I ate almost the half of the cake. We ate it for breakfast and probably for dinner tonight too. Deci opened all her presents we got for her. A shirt from Walmart with a butterfly on it, two candy bars, lavender soap and a tiara for in her hair. It isn't much, but it was all we could give her. Even without presents she would be happy on her birthday. Just being with family was the best gift.
We are a broken family. We are all alone here. Mom got depressed after that night. She hasn't been sober for a long time now. She is probably high or drunk in her room again. I don't know. I haven't seen her yet. She could even be dead.
We are broke. Marchi tries to care for us, let us go to school as she works her ass off working three different jobs. When I finish high school, I can help her. I would find work too. I can help her take care of Deci. We sisters have to stay together. Sept left us two weeks after we were found. We had been tied up for almost three days. We nearly died. He blamed himself for not being there to protect us and he left us again. He sometimes calls or writes a letter. I haven't seen him in two years now.
I wake up from my thoughts when I hear a voice behind me.
'What is happening here?' mom asks with a low crackling voice. Her face was red, her skin is pale. She wears a white pajama with dirty brown and red spots. Her hair is a mess. At least we now know she is still alive, but she didn't even know it's Deci's birthday. Stupid mom.
Chapter 1 Mommy's dearest
27/07/2021
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