Alex

1

Alex was not sure what woke her up.

It might have been the cold draft from her bed on the floor. The single sheet was not enough to keep off the chill. It could have been the uncomfortable scratchy rug of the motel room floor. It may have been the hunger pangs.

Dinner had been a bologna sandwich. There was no such thing as lunch in the Potterbin household. Breakfast was only for the younger children.

It could have also been the loud snores of her stepfather Lyle in the adjoining room. He'd spent most of her mother's tip money on beer. He was blissfully passed out and sleeping it off.

Alex tried to shift into a different position for comfort. It was useless trying to wrap the sheet tighter for warmth.

The two double beds in the room both had a warm blanket, but each bed was already filled with four children each.

Alex's half-sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Ruthie, and Ester shared one bed. Her two half-brothers Abraham, Elijah, half-sister Leah, and stepsister Angela shared the other.

There was no room for Alex in either bed.

Lyle told her she could sleep on the floor.

Alex wondered if it would always be this way. Would she always live under the iron rule of Lyle Potterbin? Would she ever escape and find a normal way to live?

She knew from television that most people didn't have to live in such impoverished conditions.

Television fathers went to work and had jobs. They cared about their children and gave them real houses to grow up in. They did not move around all the time. They never sent their wives off to work meager thankless jobs and then spend all the money on booze. TV Land kids never got punished. Alex and her siblings lived in daily fear of Lyle and his trusty black belt.

Alex knew that it was against the law for Lyle to beat them like he did. She was more afraid of the scary alternative. If she were to report Lyle, the Potterbin children would be separated and split up into foster homes.

Alex's mother Erma drilled this into their minds on a daily basis. She also warned that both she and Lyle would be locked up in jail.

Lyle just promised he'd kill the whole family if he even thought the law was closing in on him.

Alex felt nothing but fear and loathing for her stepfather. Though she was required to call him 'Dad' when addressing him, she never referred to him as anything other then Lyle in her heart.

Alex couldn't remember her real father at all. All she really knew was that her parents split up when she was three years old. Alex's memories of early childhood were scattered and distant.

When Alex was five, her mother married Lyle.

Alex could never remember a time that Lyle was ever kind and loving toward her. She couldn't even remember any type of courtship. It was just suddenly Mom got married and Lyle began his evil tyranny over the family. He was quick with his fist or any object he could find to inflict pain.

Alex could certainly never figure her mother out. No matter how hateful and cruel Lyle was. No matter how many women he flaunted under Erma's nose. No matter what horrible things he did, Erma blindly worshiped the man. She adored him as a god and was quick to obey every harsh command. She would go around weeping like a lost soul when she felt she was being rejected by him.

Alex could never hate her mother in spite of the disgust she often felt toward her. How could she let Lyle beat her like he did? Why did she never stand up for her own children? Once Erma even brought pan after pan of warm water for Lyle to soak his hands in between beatings. He'd been angry because Alex had trouble pronouncing certain words.

Lyle believed that beating was the best way to teach a child anything. Alex knew that in her case it worked. She was so terrified of the man that she tried really hard to speak properly whenever she was around him. She did everything she could think of to please the man so he left her alone. It rarely worked. She was his favorite target. He knew he intimidated her.

His second favorite person to pick on was his own daughter Angela.

Angela was six months older than Alex.

Erma had done all she could to nurture the little girl that had lost her own mother. Unlike Lyle, Erma was good to Angela. Angela in turn belittled and verbally abused Erma and bullied Alex.

Every year after it seemed Erma gave Lyle a new child until there were ten children living under Lyle's reign.

After baby sister Rebecca was born Lyle demanded that Erma get her tubes tied.

He seemed to feel he had nothing to do with all the babies that kept coming.

Lyle was work shy and rarely held onto a job longer than a few months. He also liked to keep on the move never allowing the family to grow comfortable in one spot. Lyle preferred Erma to work and had his hand out for the paycheck.

When Angela and Alex turned sixteen, Lyle informed them that they could legally drop out of school. They could give up foolish notions of an education that would only be wasted on them. They were to take jobs that Lyle found for them to earn their keep. Lyle chose their jobs.

It was also their duty to see after the younger children.

Somehow they found themselves in this seedy motel in Somerset, New Mexico.

Erma had taken a job at the truck stop diner next door. She worked the graveyard shift. Lyle offered both Angela and Alex's services as maids to the motel owner.

Alex heard the shift of box springs.

Angela quietly crept from the bed.

Alex thought she was only going to the bathroom, but was surprised when she pulled her clothes out from under the bed and began to dress.

Where did she think she was going? Lyle would kill her if he caught her trying to sneak out.

Angela would be a real hell raiser if it weren't for Lyle's total domination.

"What are you doing?" Alex whispered, hoping that she could talk Angela out of whatever she had planned.

Angela had tried to run away several times, but was always found and hauled back by Lyle every time.

After he'd beaten Angela, Lyle always lined up the oldest children and with his belt tried to show them how everyone in the family had to suffer when one was disobedient.

The last time he'd even tied Angela up like a dog for a month. He made Erma serve her meals and water to her in bowls on the floor. Angela was only allowed off the short leash to go to the bathroom. It was only after Erma's tearful pleadings and Angela's promises that she'd follow the rules that she was allowed to live like a human again. (At least as human as possible in the Potterbin household.)

Angela whirled around.

"I'm running away." Angela hissed defiantly.

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