Charlie and I sat on the park bench for what seemed like a lifetime. We lost all track of time, but we couldn’t care less.

When the sun started dropping below the mountains, I nudged my sister. “W-we should g-go home n-now.”

She looked at me, frowning. “Can’t we stay here forever? He wouldn’t care if we never came back. The two biggest mistakes of his life would be gone,”

I stared at her.

Charlie didn’t break down and cry like I did. She would just say something like that so casually, and in a voice that was colder than Antarctica. Her words sometimes gave off the vibe that she didn’t care about anything.

“C-charlie,” I began, fidgeting with my hands. “Y-you know h-he’d c-call the c-cops just to s-show t-that he’ll never l-let us l-leave h-him,”

I looked at her pleadingly. I didn’t want to go back there, but he’d hunt us down eventually. And where would we go? Would we just sleep on a park bench? We couldn’t get out of the state without a car. He’d catch us.

Charlie suddenly whirled to stare at me. Her hands flew to my shoulders, nails digging painfully into my skin. “Reeve,” she said in an excited tone. “We could run away. We’ll pack our things, and run. We won’t look back. We’ll head to the school, or something, and tell them what’s going on. They have to do something, right?”

I stared at her. “I-I don’t k-know. Why s-should they-they care?”

Charlie slapped my cheek gently. “Reeve! Teachers would and will care if two of their students are suffering from child abuse! They can stop dad from doing all these horrible things to us! Don’t you want that?”

I nodded. “Y-yeah, but, w-what if t-they don’t b-believe us?”

She pulled back from me, glaring. She rolled up her jacket sleeve, exposing deep, bright red scars. “He did this to us. For God’s sake, look at your back! That’s child abuse! A parent’s not supposed to hit their child, Reeve. We have the proof all over our bodies. Something has to be done!”

She had a point.

“Yesterday at school, when we got on the computers?” Charlie continued. “I looked up if there was a law against hitting your kids. And, surprise surprise, there is one. You can go to jail for more than ten years depending on how bad it is. And guess what, Reeve?”

My sister’s tone of voice was rising with her anger.

“We fall under the heavily abused category, understand? Dad can go to jail, and we’d get a better home. Don’t you want that? For yourself? For me?”

I looked down at my shoes, ashamed. Why hadn’t I thought to ask all these questions? “I-I-I guess.”

Charlie smiled at me. “Don’t worry,” she told me. “We’ll go home, pack our things, and go to the school tomorrow, and tell them what’s going on. We won’t have to suffer like this anymore, Reeve.”

I frowned. “B-but why c-can’t w-we go t-to the school-school n-now?”

She punched my shoulder. “I doubt any of the teachers are there right now.” she looked around. “It’s getting late. We should be going home now. Dad’ll be suspicious already since we didn’t come sooner,”

She took me by the hand and smiled at me, as if there was nothing wrong in the world. “Come on. I’ll be there with you. You don’t have to be scared, alright?”

I hugged her, and we started on our way home.

“Well, the stuttering retard finally came home, huh?”

I flinched as I saw dad sitting on a kitchen chair, hunched over. Charlie shut the door quietly from behind me.

“Sorry, daddy,” she apologized. “We just went over to the library to study. I’m sorry if we made you worry.”

Dad didn’t as so much as glance at her. “Well, I got a call from the school a couple hours ago, saying that you didn’t even show up. So, where were you?”

My heart stopped. I felt Charlie’s grip tighten on my hand. “Oh, well, they must’ve made a mistake. We were there the whole day, daddy.”

One bushy eyebrow rose up in disbelief. “Yeah, I’m supposed to believe you? Do you think I’m that stupid?”

Yeah, when you’re drunk. I thought to myself, looking down at the floor.

As if he could read my thoughts, dad’s angry, beady eyes whipped around to stare at me. “Come here, boy. Now.”

My stomach started on a long roller coaster ride. I walked to him slowly, fidgeting with my hands. “Y-yes s-sir?”

Dad stood up and faced me. He towered over me, and I wished for a fraction that I had inherited his height. But I caught myself. That would just be one more thing that I had in common with him.

I looked up into his small, beady, angry black eyes. He stared back, his expression nothing but anger.

I saw it before I felt it.

Dad’s fist came crashing down and met my jaw with a horrifying loud crack! My head jerked back and I screamed, falling to the floor. I had a brief thought if dad had broken my jaw, or at least dislocated it. But I had no more time to think as blow after blow came my way.

He showed no mercy, as usual. He kicked and spat and punched. I could only cover my head and pray that it would end soon.

“Why were you ever born?!” he roared, veins in his neck bulging. “Why?!  What a mistake I made, staying with Marium! She left me with the biggest mistakes ever!”

My blood froze.

Marium.

Dad had used mom’s name. He never did that anymore. Every single bone in my body seemed to harden. Dad had paused with his beating, and I stared up at him with blind hatred.

“You don’t deserve to say her name” I spat, fists clenching so hard I thought they might break. “She’s too good for you.”

Dad’s lips peeled back in a snarl, revealing crooked teeth. He raised his fist, preparing to strike, but I was done playing.

I leapt up, hardly knowing what I was doing. I was acting in blind, fiery rage. My fist swung toward dad’s face. I pushed all my weight into the swing, and I almost laughed out loud as Dad fell back, rubbing his bleeding nose.

I rubbed my bruised knuckles, having never felt so satisfied in my entire life. I hardly noticed Charlie standing beside me, linking her arm through mine.

“Reeve,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “Please, stop.”

I whirled on her angrily. “Stop? Stop? This man has hurt you beyond mending! He’s abused you, taunted you, made you bleed, for god’s sake!” I turned back to dad. He was crumpled on the floor, rubbing is nose. Before he could blink, my leg swung, and my foot struck his rib cage.

“Why should I stop?!” I roared, advancing on him. “Huh?! Why? I’m just repaying all the hurt he’s caused you. Caused Me!” I kicked him again, harder this time.

He groaned in pain, but I had no sympathy for him. It had all gone down the drain.

“Why do you hurt us, huh?!” I screamed, eyes tearing up besides my best efforts. “Why?! Why do you make us suffer? Why?! TELL ME!”

But dad didn’t answer.

Because he was unconscious.

I felt a brief flash of pity, but then it disappeared. He deserved it, I thought, my hot, fiery anger dying down. I looked over at Charlie, and she was staring at me with wide eyes, hands over her mouth.

“R-Reeve…?” she whispered. “Why did you do that? He’ll get angry when he wakes up,”

I looked down at my hands. They were twitching uncontrollably. “I-I-I dunno. I-I-It felt g-good.”

My sister took my hands in hers. “Reeve, promise me something. Please, please, promise me that you’ll never do that again to anyone. No matter how much they actually deserve it. Please.”

I looked down at the crumpled form of our dad. His chest was rising and falling evenly, and I was scared to even think about what he’d do to me when he woke up.

But I pushed that thought out of my mind. There was no reason to be thinking about that now. Charlie took my hand.

“Come on, bro. I don’t suppose you took your medicine today, huh?”

I shook my head. My stomach felt hollow, like it always did. But today, it felt different.

For the first time in my life, I felt pride.

Pride in my actions. Pride for finally stepping up to dad. Pride for me being stronger than him. Pride for protecting my sister.

It was a shame I couldn’t feel that good every day.

Someone was shaking me awake.

I groaned, and rolled over. It was already time to get up?

“Reeve, please wake up. Please,” Charlie’s voice filtered into my head, snapping me awake. She was sobbing. I sat up, rubbing my eyes.

The room was still pitch black, but I could clearly see Charlie sitting cross-legged on my bed. Her blonde hair was matted and her clothes were wrinkled. Her collar was open. Her eyes were so red from crying.

“C-charlie?” I whispered, sitting up completely. I grabbed her arms. “What happened? Are you okay? What’s going on? Did he hurt you?”

I asked question after question, but Charlie kept shaking her head, still trying to get ahold of herself to talk clearly.

She sobbed into my shoulder, and I held her. It had been a long time since I saw my twin sister cry like this. I rubbed her back, whispering soothing words to her in an effort to calm her.

“Reeve,” she cried. “H-he, h-he, h-e,”

“Shh,” I whispered, stroking her head. “It’s okay, you’re safe now. It’s alright,”

“Reeve, it’s not!” she suddenly shouted. Then she crumpled onto my bed. When she composed herself, she looked back up at me.

I suddenly took in the fact that Charlie’s clothes were different. The collar of her nightshirt was open wide, and her hair was a mess.

My blood froze.

“C-charlie,” I whispered, horror filling every bone in my body. “P-please tell me he didn’t. D-did he…?”

She nodded frantically, sobbing into her hands. “Y-yes! Reeve, he did. H-he did it in the middle of t-the night. R-reeve, I don’t know what t-to do!”

I held her, tears falling down my cheeks. “Oh, Charlie. Shh, It’s alright. I'll always stand by you. We’ll figure something out, I promise. We'll find a way.”

She just sobbed into my shoulder.

Dad had gone too far this time.

There will be something done. I promised to myself, anger lighting up inside my body. I held Charlie tighter. There will be something done.