The Broken Angel

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Run!

Angelica's POV

I woke up the next morning to see Wes sleeping next to me. I reach up and tucked a piece of his blonde hair behind his ear. I smiled as memories started to come back to me. I remember forcing him into the stream we have out behind our house, on his sixth birthday, just so I could teach him how to swim. He cried and clung to me. Even to this day, he refuses to step into any body of water without me next to him.

I remember all the snowball fights we have had. We would build little snow forts in one day and the next we would start our snow fight. Wes was always bad at making them, so when I got most of mine down, I would go help him. He hated it because he thought he could do it himself, so we typically started our snowball fights early. I always won.

I remember the first time he lost his tooth. Our father had pushed him away when he was five and Wes had fell into a table and knocked it out. When he woke up, he gave me the biggest smile and kept trying to show me it every chance he got. I ended up stealing a dollar from our father and I slipped it under Wes' pillow. Our father had found out, and let's just say he wasn't happy with me, but Wes got to keep the dollar, so it was worth it.

I remember the day Wes had gotten lost in the forest behind our house when he was seven. I was so terrified that I lost him that I went out and searched for him. I looked in that forest for an entire day, literally twenty-four hours of searching, before I had found him. He was hiding under a tree stump, crying hysterically. I climbed under with him and stayed there until he calmed down.

I remembered the day Wes came home with a B+ on his report card instead of an A. Our father had got mad at him and said we needed to maintain at least an A-, and then started to beat on him.

At that point I had jumped on our father's back and punching him repeatedly. He had flung me down on the floor, my back slamming against the hardwood floor, and he started to kick me repeatedly. Wes kept trying to crawl on me to try and protect me, but I would alway shove him away from me.

When our father left, Wes cried and I kept telling him how he did a good job and I knew he was trying his best. After that day, Wes only came home with A's and A+'s. I think he's scared that Father would beat him, I would intervene and then Father beating on me.

I remember watching Wes grow up and change into the person he was in front of me. I remember protecting him through everything. Even the time when my body and my mind would scream at me to just let it go and let him take it, my wouldn't let me. Ever. I remember watching him go out and helping other people.

And, honestly, I can't say I have a single regret for how I raised him. If I could, I would do it all over again, just so I can see this moment. The only thing I would change is our parents, that's it.

I groaned as I rolled out of bed. It was now time for my work and Wes had to go to school. I had to call Wes out of school for a few days because a dear father decided to punch him in the face and give him a black eye. The bruising had finally went away.

"Wes, wake up." I said, shaking him. "Time to go to school, buddy."

He rolled over and muttered, "No, five more minutes, Ang." I tried shaking him harder, but he still didn't wake up. I smiled and stood up. I unlocked the door, walked out of the room and down the hallway to the bathroom. I grabbed a cup of lukewarm water and walked back into my room. I quickly relocked the door and walked over to the bed.

Then, I threw the water on him. He jumped out of bed, looking around, and saw me.

"You shouldn't have done that." he said, smiling. He hugged me and I squirmed around, laughing.

"Awe, come on, Wesley. Now I'm all wet. Thanks." I said, laughing.

"So am I, so ha!" he said, smiling.

"Well, you should have woken up when I told you too." I said. "I tried."

"And you should have woken me up like a normal person." he said.

"Well, you didn't want to wake up, so ha." I said, sticking my tongue out to him. "You completely deserved it." Wes was about to retaliate, but a sudden and loud banding on the door scared both of us.

"Shut the hell up!" our darling and kind-hearted father bellowed from the other side of the door. He started turning the doorknob to open the door, but it was locked, so he couldn't get in.

I quickly got out of Wes' arms and ran to the window. I pulled it open and pulled Wes towards it. He jumped out and grabbed onto the tree next to the window. My father had kicked the door open in time to see me start to climb out the window, Wes already on the ground at this point.

My father lunged for me as I jumped out. I felt his hand clamp down on my foot and pull me back enough to where my fingers just barely missed the tree. So instead, my body went swinging downwards and slammed right into the side of the house.

Pain erupted in my skull as my head smacked into the siding. I didn't have enough time to put my hands out to stop myself from hitting that hard.

My father started to pull me back in the house, but I used my free leg to kick at his hand. He let go of me and I went crashing to the Earth. I was able to swing my body around, so my head wouldn't make the impact, but more of my legs and back. Well, little did I know, and probably should have expected, that Wes was going to try and catch me. Keyword; Try. We both went tumbling to the ground.

I looked up to see my father grinning down at us. He knew he had caused me pain, but not only that, but he was able to cause Wes pain too, so that was a big win in his book. I wouldn't be surprised if he went and screwed Melanie's brains out because I knew he got off on this. He's gotten hard before when beating on me, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did now.

I quickly scrambled off Wes and pulled him up. We tried running away, but it wasn't very good. My brain was scattered, so I was tripping constantly and I could see straight, so when Wes was able to gain his own footing, he took the lead and helped me around, more than I helped him. We ran to the diner as fast as we could and went in through the back entrance.

Thankfully, Rosa let me stash some of our clothes here, just in case this has ever happened. Rosa heard us and came to tend to our injuries. I did most of mine myself, but I needed help sometimes. Turns out, I also twisted my ankle, the same ankle my father grabbed, and sprained both of my wrists in the fall, so today's going to be interesting.

I changed into my new outfit for work and got started when I finally finished getting my bearing, and was able to function, mostly, properly. I walked out the door and began the day.