Altered
They said everything will be okay. They said you just have to hang on a little bit longer. They said turned into they promised and they promised eventually became they lied…
9:00 am I received a phone call from my dad demanding me to come home and I knew I had to come home eventually because we were going on vacation. I felt the anger and agitation within his voice through the phone. I was at a friend’s house and she wore a puzzled look upon her face as she heard my dad and I’s conversation. She told me to go home and I told her I’ll let her know what happens and when I arrive in Asheville, our vacation destination.
My mind went wild as I drove as quickly as I could home: my thoughts for my little sister were severe. She must have done something unforgivable because I immediately recognize his tone. She seemed to always find a way to make my dad upset. I didn’t know that soon enough it would be my dad who committed the unforgivable.
As I approached my driveway, my dad waits beside his black truck with a distressed appearance. He looked both angry and distraught at the same time. I asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Your idiotic sister decided to sneak out of the house and go pool-hopping with the neighbors next door and some boys. So y’all are no longer hanging out with those girls.” His face intensified with each word he spoke.
“Are we still leaving for North Carolina in a couple of hours? Where is she?” I asked assertively.
“She’s picking weeds and we are. I don’t know about her. She doesn’t deserve it one bit.”
And with that I went into my house only to come across my little adventure seeking sister with a purple and blue left eye, a crooked and inflamed nose, and a busted upper lip. Her eyes immediately gean to water as my own were becoming filled with every tear that seemed like a waterfall. My eyes scattered all over her, head to toe. I began to gag on my own deafening sobs. There was no way we could take her seeing my grandparents looking like this.There was no way I could ever look at my father again, I questioned what happened and she began to explain,
“It was around two in the morning and I was bored, Em. I was just bored and wanted to do something fun. It’s summertime and I’m tired of being cooped up in this bloody house.
“So I left with my friends and we wanted to go swimming. I thought it was no big deal since dad was asleep and I was only going to be gone for a couple of hours. But then the cops came and we panicked, they ran but I didn’t. I knew that would make things worse. So they called dad and he was so ------, Em. I’ve never seen him so upset. He told me to get in the truck while he talked and eventually thanked the cop for calling him.
“He climbed into the truck and just glared at me for a couple of seconds the next thing I knew he slapped me violently across the face,” she pauses because by now she’s sobbing as she reads my expressions of disbelief, fright, and anxiety like an open book. I’m trying to contain my emotions and not let them escape from my mouth and somehow the realization of being strong for my sister seemed much more important. Because I knew that the next couple of hours our lives might ultimately be altered entirely.
I didn’t really know if I wanted to know the rest of this horrific night seeing that I wasn’t there to prevent all of this. My guilt consumed me as she continued, “He slapped me so hard that I can still feel his hand sting my face. But once we got home he told me to go to his room as if he were going  to spank me or something,” I admired her bravery right here because I surely wouldn’t have had the guts she did. “I refused it of course, which only made him even more ------. So I went to my room while he kept screaming at me. He followed me to my room, I could tell he was trying to calm down but with the alcohol filled him with even more rage. He kept telling me how terrible of a child I was and I kept ignoring him and apparently the only way to get my attention was to kick my laundry basket. It hurled at my face and then blood started to pour out of my nose like rain from the a rainforest sky. Of course once he realized the severity of what he had done that’s when he snapped back to reality…”
My dad came through the garage door and I become startled and I spun around on my heels. He exclaims desperately, “Emily, I can explain…”
I cut him off immediately and shout, “There is no explanation for this, dad. Look what you did! That doesn’t just happen on its own--”
“It was mistake it’ll never happen ag--”
“I DON’T CARE! I am taking Valerie with me to Aunt Carol’s. Val, go pack your stuff, we’re leaving.” My father tried touching my arm and I snarled, “Don’t you even dare lay a hand on me.”
And with that I packed a bag, my keys, and my little sister in the car, leaving my father with his entire world torn apart and nothing left to say for himself.
-----
After hours and even days of talking to my aunt, she convinced me that parts of that night were accidents and my sister had acted foolishly which resulted in an unfair punishment. We moved back in with my father and things eventually went back to “normal”, whatever that was. Until my father let the alcohol consume him once again…