Broken

The sky was unusually dark as a storm was on its way from the west. The shadow upon the window shifted uneasily as a loud crash was heard from the lower level of the house. Along with the loud crashes were screams and shouts of rage.

“Why don’t you talk to your daughter?” came a hoarse female voice.

“You’re the one who gave birth to her!” shouted a male voice in reply.

Tears slowly began to fall from the light brown eyes that stared out the window silently. Her hands were clenched in tight fists and her body stiffened.

An evil voice in her head slowly began to laugh as the shouts got even louder.

“You’ve done it again Tammy. You made your parents fight once more. Now you’ll n ever be able to make them like each other anymore. It’s your entire fault your parents hate each other.”

More tears fell from her eyes as she lowered her gaze from the window to her lap. “But I didn’t do anything...” Her voice was barely audible, even to herself. Her fists tightened even more upon her ragged black pants.

“Tammy! Get your lazy stupid self down here this instant!” came the voice of her mother.

Tammy went rigid and the color immediately drained from her face. She slowly moved one hand up her arm, revealing large amounts of bruises. Soft sniffles were hears as her bedroom door burst open and her mother’s large figure appeared through the shadows on the darkened hallway.

Her eyebrows curved up in the way most do when angered or agitated. One of her large hands was still on the doorknob when the other was on her hip. The fat pink blobs, supposedly her lips, were curved down and her face a beat red color. Her mouth opened slowly and immediately, Tammy knew what was to happen.

“You good for thing girl! Don’t you know how to do what you’re told?” her mother shouted distastefully.

Stomping wildly towards Tammy, she grabbed Tammy’s golden blonde hair and with a strong jerking force, threw her off the chair and onto the floor. Her mother continued to yell, but she didn’t care to take notice, for all she could think of was the stairs in which she was being dragged down. Tammy remained quiet after a few winces from the stairs.

This is so common, she thought as a tear fell from her eye, but why do I always cry every time? She was angry that after so many years of the same pain, she still cried.

Her heart longed for nothing more than compassion or at least one sign of love from someone. Unfortunately, that life wasn’t anywhere near what her life actually was. Broken, she began to cry harder.

“What kind of child are you? Have we taught you nothing?” shrieked her father in complete outrage.

Her mother stepped forward and threw a piece of paper to Tammy’s face. “How do you think it makes us look when you fail all of the time?”

“I’m sorry,” Tammy whispered, too afraid to say it any louder.

“Sorry? That’s all you can say?” her father shouted again.

He grabbed her tightly around the shoulder and shook her violently before throwing her back to the down. Taking hold of her arm, he dragged her across the floor and threw her out the door.

“You’re not coming back until you fix your behavior!” he shouted before slamming the front door on her.

The heavy rain had begun to fall, and it hit her bruised arms with such massive force. Struggling to get to her feet, Tammy took hold of the railing and pushed down with all of her might.

“This is it,” her mind whispered. “It all ends here. This is the end of my journey.”

She began to walk away from the place she called home. Limping to and fro, she refused to turn back, even a little. Every dream and every hope she ever had was gone and she wanted nothing anymore. Everything was broken. She was broken.

Her face became a light pink and her arms were slowly getting numb. The dark blue, long sleeved shirt and thin, ragged black cotton pants were no help in protection over her body from the rain. Her feet were numb in the three-inch pool of water on the ground.

She stopped in front of a broken window. Slowly, she worked loose a piece of the glass and held it tightly in her hand. The red ooze quickly drained from the hand that held the sharp transparent blade. It mixed instantaneously with the rain.

“Grandma, you won’t die will you? I don’t want you to leave me! Please,” the five-year-old pleaded as her light brown eyes began to water.

The elderly woman on the bed turned to the small child with a faint smile. “Tammy dearest, don’t worry about me. When I die, I won’t go away forever you know. We’ll see each other again, I promise.” She stopped to let a few coughs out of the way, spitting up blood along with it. “Honey, sometimes, some things just have to be done and this is one of those things.” She stopped once again to take her medication, which were three pills of some odd medicine and a large cup of water. “I’ll tell you what Tammy, if you promise to live until you grow old like me, I’ll make sure that we will meet again.”

“Grandma...”

The fifteen-year-old looked down to the glass in her hand. “Grandma...” she whispered inaudibly. She let the glass fall into the water with a soft plop and leaned against the wall weakly.

“For you, I will...I promised.”