With all the god awful things going on in my life I thought there was no hope. Being only 17 so much had gone on already. It wasn’t just the typical childhood fights with my brother Daniel or falling off my bike. It was memories that scarred me for the rest of my life. I was without a pair of equally supporting parents. My mom Jen understood me and then there is Ben, my dad who was the complete opposite. Although, I’d rather just pretend like he isn’t there. He does more bad than any good in my family’s life.
“Good morning sweetie, how did you sleep?” my mom says while turning the bacon.
“I slept like a baby the whole night,” I say fixing my tangled brunette hair.
“That’s what I like to hear, ready for our...” mom hesitates as dad walks down stairs.
Hearing those foot steps brings chills to my spine and fear in my eyes. Ben was awake

and the splendid morning we were having was all about to change, like it always does

when his presence is near us.
“Ready for what Jen?” Ben questions my mom harshly.
“Oh...Ellie and I were just going out to buy a few pairs of jeans for the school year.

Her jeans are starting to fit her pretty short,” mom states unsure of Ben’s response.
“Did you discuss this with me before you decided to make your own plans?” Ben yells so loud the sizzling bacon becomes just a tiny whisper.
“No, I just thought I’d take Ellie to get some jeans that’s all. I wasn’t going to buy anything for myself, we weren’t going to be long,” mom says while avoiding eye contact with Ben.
“I’ve told you a million times Jen. You’re not going anywhere without my permission,” my mom’s husband states wearing a stern look on his face.
Mom quickly finishes up cooking the breakfast and calls down Daniel to join us. Suddenly, I’m not all that hungry anymore. I eat anyway because mom made it and I knew it would make her happy. I punch Daniel and tell him to hurry up so we can go upstairs and play some video games. My shopping trip was ruined so might as well make the best of what I had left in the day. I look over at my mom her eyes barely open,.Her head concentrated on the red kitchen tile. Her bad posture becoming a habit of how she presented herself.
After about fifteen minutes, Daniel was finally done with breakfast. We rushed upstairs to play Mario Kart our favorite video game. I could never seem to beat him, so I found ways to cheat because losing all the time got old. We were on our fifth round of racing and I just didn’t feel like playing anymore. My mind was stuck on mom’s hopeless face. I slowly headed to my room, over thinking what went on earlier. Nobody deserved to be treated that way. It’s summer we’re suppose to be having fun not sitting here rotting in this house. I couldn’t take the silence in the house any longer. I plugged my ipod into my square rainbow speaker and turned up some loud tunes.
A couple hours went by and the house was still dead. I swear you could hear the presence of a ghost. I decided to check up on mom, these days haven’t really been going her way lately. I walk to her bedroom door gently turning the golden colored doorknob, when I hear a quiet whimpering. I pause for a few seconds unsure of what to do. I could go inside and comfort her or just walk by like I didn’t hear her crying. Finally, I pace back downstairs I couldn’t stand to hear her soft cries. I head back to the kitchen looking for a snack. The cookie, crackers and fruit loop boxes were all scattered. I shuffle through the messy snack boxes hoping to find something chocolatey.
A cracker slips out of the blue box crumbling into tiny pieces. I bend over to clean up the mess I had made. A large figure shadows over me.
“Ellie what do you think you’re doing going through the cupboards? I already told you

to lay off the snacks. We don’t support unhealthy habits in this household,” Ben says in that annoying parenting voice.
“Sorry... I’ll leave right away. But uh..Do you know what mom is doing? She hasn’t

come out of her room all day,” I asked biting my lip with extreme force keeping the tears from dripping down.
“Does it look like I know Ellie? That lady is the one causing all the problems in the

house. She knows that we don’t allow unhealthy habits, yet she still brings all that junk

food into my house,” Ben continues to yell making sure everyone knows he’s in control.
I don’t even think about saying another word. I was still trying to recover from being

yelled at, for getting food in my own house.
All I knew was it wasn’t mom’s fault for bringing all that junk food. I was the one begging for it and now I felt like I too was apart of making mom miserable. I ran back upstairs to my room, it seemed like all of us lived in our rooms nowadays. We all wanted to avoid being verbally attacked by Ben, I know I did. I was getting real tired of Ben lately he just seemed to be getting worse. I didn’t know what made him so miserable or why he had to take it out on our family. I guess I should be used to the harsh comments or demanding ways he has. Honestly, I haven’t and this has been a recurring situation since...forever.
I wish I could say I wanted this summer to slow down a bit, but that wasn’t the case. The more time I spent at home the worse it got. I much rather be halfway through my senior year. Even school couldn’t fully allow me to escape the horror story in my life. I know Daniel would feel the same way especially since we were so close in age. He kept his focus on soccer, that was his way of releasing the stress and anger. All I had was sitting helplessly in my room...so cleansing.
The most important family member, my poor mother had to deal with Ben the most. I honestly have no idea how she lasted so many years with all this anger. I feel bad for her all she does is try to please everyone. I should’ve known one day she might not want to be apart of this family anymore. We had talked briefly before about other solutions. I just never thought it would be soon, especially since it was my senior year and all. She had being sorta hinting about it all week. She claps my hand and sits me down on her bed, which is covered with a silk comforter.
¨Heyyy Ellie, how are you doing these past couple of days? I hardly ever see you since

you head straight to your room,” mom says with a glow of sadness in her eyes.
“I’m doing alright.Just trying to get through one day at a time,” I say focusing on my chipped blue nail polish.
“I understand sweetie,we’re all going through a tough time right now. That’s actually

what I wanted
to talk to you about,” mom mentions trying to ease the painful words she was about to say.
“You know mom you don’t need to say anything. I know exactly what’s going on here.

Why do you think I’ve been avoiding you so much?” I whimper trying to hold my composure.
“Oh Ellie, I’m so sorry I wish more than anyone that this wasn’t the case. I feel it would
be better for our family. I want to do this for you and Daniel,” mom says balling her eyes out.
“I know it’s not your fault you're just trying to do what’s best for us. For that I am so thankful to have a mother who cares so much. I love you mom and I’m sorry for your pain,” I say with the most appreciation.
Mom sat there hugging me for what seemed like three hours. I didn’t mind, but I just wanted to be alone to process all this. After all, I was the only one that knew about this. How am I suppose to keep my mouth shut? For the next few weeks thing got super quiet. Mom never said a word to Ben or even dared to look his way. She didn’t want to give him a reason to suspect anything. I couldn't hold in my excitement any longer. Ben didn’t have to worry about monitoring us 24 hours out of the day. Mom could live a happy, stress free life and Daniel could focus on finishing up high school. Maybe the one parent thing wouldn’t be all that bad. I pretty much only had one parent from the beginning. Now i’ll have one permanently and I was perfectly okay with that. Even if that meant I had to wait a little longer for happiness. Nothing ever meant so much to me than seeing my mom smile again.