Rising up

chapter one, part one

The day started like any other day. The sun had not yet come up and already it was time for Anna to get up. "Noooo." She couldn't help the grumble that left her lips. "I don't wanna" muffled by the pillow so her siblings could not here. Glancing at the clock she mentally groaned again, four am time for training. Four am time to babysit her parents. Who knows what is what for her downstairs, in regards to her parents.

Quietly tossing back the covers and sitting up Anna stretched out the pain of sleeping on a mattress, that felt like a stale loaf of bread.

Getting up quickly she tossed on the first pair of shorts and a ratty t-shirt. Tippy toeing around sleeping siblings she finally made it to the door and down the stairs. The first thing that greeted her was the smell. Dried vomit and stale beer filled the air, pushing Anna towards what would likely be a diabolical headache if she didn't act fast. Sprawled on the chair surrounded by empty beer and liquor bottles was her dead beat of a father. Glancing around the room she saw her mother passed out under a table next to a tiny hill of white powder.

Shaking her head she carefully stepped around the mess and went into the kitchen for trash bags. After a couple of minutes, she got all the bottles into the trash bag. After a few moments of pondering she decided to scoop the white powder stuff into a little zip lock baggie. Finally came the hard part, the part she dreaded the most. She never wanted her siblings to see their parents like this. Lifting her mom off the ground she tried not to gag at the strong fishy smell coming from her mother. Heaving her up the stairs she sat her down on the floor and hurried into the bathroom where she ran a bath.

After the bath was filled up she carefully stripped her mother from her clothes and got her into the bath. Grabbing a washcloth she carefully lathered her up, the water turning a brown color.

She briefly felt the urge to throw up but somehow she managed to hold it in. Lifting her out of the tub Anna dried her off as best she could and clothed her in the first thing she could find, knowing that no matter how hard she looked she would find no clothes washed. Quickly rolling her mom into bed she quickly tucked her in and went downstairs to do the same with her father. When she got to the bottom of the steps she nearly cried at the sight of John standing there staring at their father. "John what are you doing out of bed. It's only 4:30." He shrugged, his eyes never leaving the drooling mess in front of him. "I know you get out of bed at four am every day, I just wanted to know why."

She shook her head, you don't need to be seeing this.' She reached out to guide him back to bed, yet he quickly stepped out of reach. "It's not fair that you have to do this all by yourself, Anna, why don't you ask for help?" She shook her head and froze as her father started to make unconscious mutterings. "It's ok, sweetie, go back to sleep." She mimicked the sound of her mother's voice and watched as he passed out again. John just stared at her. "This is what you do every morning?"

She shook her head "this isn't even half of it, right now I have to take father dearest upstairs to clean him up and get him into bed before the other children get up. He nodded a thoughtful look on his young face. " Do you need..." He began to say but Anna cut him off "no you have seen enough for today, why don't you go get some cereal." He nodded and stepped to the kitchen while Anna slowly lugged her father upstairs.

Stripping him and repeating the process she had done with her mother she quickly managed to get him in the bed in record time. Swiftly cleaning the bathroom she raced downstairs and swiftly laced up her old ratty tennis shoes. John poked his head around the kitchen wall. "What you doing now?" Anna sighed "now I get an hour of training and working out.'

Before he could ask any more questions Anna bolted out the back door. Checking her watch Anna began her 50 laps around their tiny backyard. Running always helped, the ache in her legs, and the feeling of her heart pounding out of her chest, helped all the worry, and fear dissolves into the back of her mind. Finally, after her last lap, she pulled out her used yoga mat. Sitting down she began the first set of stretched. Looking up she watched as John sat on one of the gym equipment she had picked up when the local gym went bankrupt.

"where did you get all this stuff?" She smiled a bit at that "bobs went bankrupt remember?" He nodded "let me guess you are training to enter the military so you can become crazy rich and then adopt all of us." She stooped stretching and looked up at him. "Actually, yes, I was planning on adopting every one of you guys." He. nodded again his brow wrinkled with how hard he was thinking. "can I train as well?"

Getting up and placing the weights on the ends of the bar she barely spared him a glance, "no." He started to protest but as soon as her back hit the semi sift mat she got lost in her thoughts. "Down, one, two, three, up, one two three." The thought of her siblings see their parents in such a way, drove her to continue. Even after her arms were burning she pressed on. She wouldn't let their parents neglect and bad habits affect her siblings, they were going to get the life they deserve.