Never Again

CHAPTER ONE

Alex

I looked up from one of my many books to see my mom staring worriedly at me. She looked like she was constipated, between you and me. "Uhm... Hi?" I say, not sure exactly what else I'm supposed to say.

"Hi." She says, looking away from me at last. "What are you uhm... up to honey?" She asks me, hesitating as if she's scared of the answer. She has no reason to be scared, it's not as if I'm gonna jump up and st*b her for just talking to me. I only did that once, and it wasn't even to her. Just kidding. Maybe. Okay, I'm actually kidding.

"I'm reading mom. What are you doing?" I say back, no hesitation whatsoever. She's been really jumpy and weird for as long as I can remember. Okay, that's a lie. I remember back before everything happened we were all a super happy family. Me, mom, Aaron, and my little brother Jace. Now Jace has moved away, Aaron lives with my step-wh*re Marianna, and Mom is living here with Max. Max is an absolute piece of sh*t and I still fail to understand why Mom stays with him.

"N-nothing honey, I was just about to go get ready for when Max gets h-home." She stutters out, and I can tell she's really stressed. More than usual stressed, too. I sigh internally, knowing that what she means is that she's going to go up to her room and put on that slutty little number she hates that Max loves. It's barely even clothing, a little white bikini-type top that makes moms tan skin look even tanner and pushes her chest practically to space paired with a mini skirt that barely even covers her vag, and I'm not even gonna get started on her a*s. Max, that rat bast*rd, expects her to have it on and dinner ready every night by the time he gets home.

Not that she really has a choice, of course. He threatens to leave her every time she doesn't do exactly what he says, and then we wouldn't have a house. My friend Madi and her mom, Alendra, said that they would house us for as long as we needed, but mom always says she doesn't want to be a burden to them. As if, Madi and Alendra know about the way Max is, they would gladly let us stay. They've begged on multiple occasions.

He wouldn't hit her, that could be too easily traced back to him. No, instead he abuses her verbally and in a different way physically. He's such a douche, I would more likely jump up and stab him than Mom. It makes me tear up just to think about the ratty a*shole piece of f*cking sh*t, pardon my language. He just peeves me off so badly.

"Mom... why do you even stay with him? I would rather be homeless than stay here with his crusty, dusty, musty, old, rude, crude, uncultured, uneducated self. He's such a pig." I say to her, angry at the very thought of him. If she knew what he does to me, we would definitely leave, but she would probably hate me for ruining their relationship, so I'm trying to avoid telling her, and hoping something else will be the reason we leave. She knows who I'm talking about without me having to even say his name.

"He's a-all we have honey, i-if we leave we definitely w-will be homeless..." She says, closing her eyes. I notice for not the first time how skinny she is. How unhealthy she looks. Her skin is tan, but less tan than it was because Max refuses to let her go outside, for fear of the neighbors looking at her. She has a bruise on her leg where she hit it on the table. I saw it, she didn't hit it hard enough to bruise a normal person, but she's getting to be fragile. Max doesn't let her eat if he has to wait for dinner, or if she wears the wrong thing to serve him. All he cares about are s*x, beer, and the TV. Mom's eyes are sunken, and I realize that they're red like she's been crying. Her smile always seems fake, nothing makes her happy anymore. No one can make her smile except me and even I can't do that much recently.

"I love you Mom." I say, getting up and hugging her.

"I love you too honey." She says, eyes still closed, giving me a very rare real smile. I'm gonna make that piece of sh*t pay if it;s the last thing I do.

**2 hours later**

"I'm home." I hear Max practically growl. I squeeze my eyes shut as one angry tear falls from my eye. I wipe it away as fast as it falls. I get off of my bed, the only one in the house that doesn't creak, and go down the stairs to see him standing there. Most people think that my Mom is a drama queen because he's 'handsome' (Ew, no.), and thus must be a good guy. They're all idiots. "Hey Lex." He says, winking at me. God, I hate it when he calls me that. Only Jace was ever allowed to call me that, and I never see him any more. I fake a smile as I walk past him to the dining room, knowing that dinner is done since he's here.

"Hey Max." I say to him, starting to help Mom set the table. He scowls at me while mom's not looking and I realize my mistake too late. The pig likes me to call him Daddy, otherwise I get punished. F*cking piece of sh*t. Whatever. I finish setting the plates and silverware and get out Max's beer. I hand it to him as he sits down. I go get the food and he frowns at me.

"Sit down, and let your Mother get it." He says to me. He loves watching her bend over to serve the food, the pig. I hand Mom the bowl and shake my head, sitting down. As she serves the food, he stares at her chest the whole time, not even bothering to try and hide it. She leans over the table from my side to scoop the pasta onto his plate, and he oggles her breasts even more. F*cking pig. Mom walks over to the counter to get the very hot garlic bread that just came out of the oven. I watch her walk over to the table again. The world turns to slow motion as she trips and the garlic bread goes flying, hitting Max right in the face. He yells, and I have to hold back a laugh as it burns him.

He runs around the table and stands over Mom, and I stop laughing. There, on the floor, lays my mother. Her head is bleeding. Oh f*ck, her head is bleeding. I realize that there's a giant cut on her forehead as he looks her over and says "Serves her right, f*cking wh*re. She shoulda been more careful." He walks away without even finishing his dinner. The blood is soaking into her hair and the waves are gone, her hair isn't wavy and brown, now it's pin straight and soaked dark red. I grab my phone and tearfully call 9-1-1.

"H-hello? It's my M-Mom, she's bleeding. It's r-really bad, please hurry! The address is 34217 Bulmerry Ave, HURRY!" I say, practically screaming. They always say in books and movies that you don't remember much of what happens afterwards, but they don't tell you that while it's happening you feel like you're swimming in cloudy sludge with your eyes partially shut. Everything is happening slowly, too slowly. Mom is breathing at the pace of a snail, and blinking takes minutes. I finally hear the sirens, but those are too slow too. I climb in the ambulance with Mom despite the paramedics saying I shouldn't. Like hell I'm staying in that house with him.

When we finally get to the hospital, I don't remember anything that happened during the ride. We rush her in and they tell me I need to wait in the waiting room for her. A nice lady in a blue shirt and green pants comes over to me.

"What's your name honey?" She asks me softly. This lady has a nice voice, but she talks too slow. It takes her hours to say one word. I try to respond and realize that my voice is coming out too slowly too, like it's pushing through molasses.

"Alex." I tell her, adding "Uhm, Blax." as an afterthought. It takes hours just to tell her that. She says something I can't hear and she walks over to the counter and picks up a phone. She hangs it up and says something else to me, but I can't hear. What feels like days later Jace walks in. He hugs me tight and I finally let myself actually take in the reality of what just happened and start sobbing. he doesn't say a word until I calm down.

"What happened?" he says, his voice calming me down even further. I tell him the whole story, everything that happened since he left seven years ago. Well, most of what has happened. He closes his dark brown eyes and shakes his head, his curly hair falling into his face. He scowls and I don't have to ask to know why.

"I'll kill that f*cking piece of sh*t rat bast*rd. I swear on everything I'll make him suffer." He says.

"I want to help." I say, dead serious. I've wanted to kill him since day one. Jace opens his mouth as if to deny it, but he must see the murder in my eyes, because he closes his mouth fast.

"Alright." He says, knowing that I have the brains of us two so he's going to need me. "We'll need a plan."

"Oh Jace, I've got a plan. You think about these things a lot when you live with someone you would like to murder. We need to go somewhere with less cameras to discuss it first though." I say to him. We get up and begin to go somewhere where we can work on the plan.