Chapter 5: 911

While things were already on a downwards spiral, like a prop plane with a blown engine. Things, believe it or not, got worse. Everything that happened next revolved around my stepfather and is the reason why I loathe him so much. The Drinking, The smoking, the swearing was okay, I could deal with that. Even though It wasn't good for me as a, then, six-year-old child. Because of all the second-hand smoke, whenever I was with them I'd cough my lungs out. Of course, I wasn't the only one the smoke had an effect on.

One day at the end of September my mother picked me up from daycare after she had gotten off work. Afterward, we'd gone to a corner store to grab something to fix for dinner. As we got back to the apartment we could hear a loud sobbing coming from inside. Mom pushed the door open revealing drunk out of his mind Gaben sitting on the floor. That was the day he found out he had lung cancer.

Back then treatment wasn't as good as treatment someone can get today. So he was almost certain that it was going to kill him. This was where the promises began. Those famous promises people make, and never keep. One like "I promise we'll get through this." "I promise I'll stop smoking" and so on. It's interesting how many promises people make when they think they're going to die.

The very next morning Gaben went to work drunk as a skunk. Obviously this didn't bode over well with his boss who promptly called him a cab and told him to go home and never come back. All he could do was grab his things and oblige, after all, there was no point in him making himself out to be an even bigger idiot than what he already had. Being arrested for drunken and disorderly conduct isn't exactly something anyone wants on their record.

On his way home he asked the cabbie to pick me up from school. I was surprised when I walked out to see him in the back of a taxi. Though I was happy to be able to go home early as school was never really my thing. Weirdly enough he was so friendly as I got in the car he greeted me with a "Hey buddy". Maybe he was trying to hide the fact that he was so distressed. angry and mad at the world for kicking him while he was already down.

To be fair to the dirtbag he did have a lot go wrong in quick succession. He lost what he thought was his kid, found out he had cancer, and lost his job. The problem is that he let those things build up into anger. Gaben wasn't the type to get a membership at a gym and take out his anger on a real punching bag. Rather, he was the type to pick me up early from school, get drunk and beat on me instead. He beat on me while telling me why I was so worthless.

One would think that a mother would see this and immediately put an end to it. That, a mother would never allow a man to beat on her child. But in her mind, the excuse he gave was enough, not to prompt any more questions. "He got into a fight..." he said... "Had to pick him up early from his school." For some reason, she was okay with that. Maybe it was out of fear, knowing that if she said something, he could do the same to her. Whatever her reason, I hated her for it. As long as she didn't question It, she was promoting it.

Once he knew he could beat me like I was some stray dog and get away with it, he'd beat me over and over. Apparently It made him feel better about himself... Some sick kind of way he got off from watching me bleed and cry. And I couldn't do anything about it, seeing as how he threatened to hurt my mother if I said anything. I guess I didn't get back then that If he was in jail, it wasn't like he'd be able to hurt anyone.

I guess that warning served as my parting gift because the very next week, I'd be back at what I really considered home with my Dad and my baby brother. In a way, I kinda forgot what it was like to live in a peaceful home again. My dad didn't smoke, he never swore, and he hardly ever drank. In comparison to Kait and Gaben, he was like an angel. I loved it, I felt like I was living in one of those tv shows where the family is perfect.

My dad wasn't blind though. He asked me about the bruises which I would just lie about. It wasn't like I could tell him the truth. Nor was It like my dad couldn't tell when I was lying. He'd never given up trying to gain full custody over me after the day he saw my bruises. and burns. Burns from where Gaben would put his cigarettes out on my back. But It boiled down to me, who constantly denied any accusations against the guy who had done those things to me. So as July came around, there was nothing my dad could do other than send me back.

After all, there was a chance that Gaben would have changed. That Gaben wouldn't be so angry any more like he was before... But in the end, thinking like that was nothing more than wishful. As I got off of the plane I was greeted by Gaben. When I asked where my mother was, I learned that she was away on a business trip.

She had to translate overseas for an important conference between a ton of different companies. After she found out Gaben lost his job, she went and got a better one to help pay the bills. She started working as the lead translator for some fortune 500 company I always forget about. But she wasn't meant to be back in Washington, DC until the week after I got there.

Gaben was different though. He was nicer, and he seemed more receptive. One of the first days of that first week we'd gone to the park, and he bought me ice cream. Even still though, I feared him. Anytime he'd lift his hand or anything of that sort, My body would freeze up. It was due to my body trying to brace itself for being hit. Regardless of all the nice guy stuff, he was doing my nerves in, and I knew better than to let my guard down again.

Chapter 5 - This chapter contains sensitive content

All it took was three days. After my third day back in DC Gaben found himself at the bottom of the bottle once again. I tried to just hide away in my room. Locked the door and everything, thinking that as long as I stayed away from him nothing would happen. That I'd be safe, and out of harm's way. For a while I was safe, I could just hear him singing loudly along with old cassettes.

He was having so much fun that he came to me, asking If I wanted to sing along with him. I sat up against my bed as I watched the door. My breathing started getting louder as my heart bounced against my ribs. Not answering him quickly took him out of his joyful mood. "ANSWER ME!" He'd scream as he pounded his fist against my door. I jumped and let out a resounding No.

"Oh come on Kaid." He tried pleading with me as his voice slurred. "Just one song." He then started twisting the handle on the door. I guess It took him a moment to realize the door was locked Since he spent a solid minute trying his best to open the door. "Hey Kaid, come open this door." He'd demand. I'd answer back, No.

"NO?" He'd bark through the door. "Open this stupid door or I'll open it for you." there was that voice again. The voice of anger and hate... I wonder what would have happened if I had just gone and sang with the monster. Fact remains that I didn't, I didn't move an inch towards the door. For a moment, I heard his footsteps walking away from my room. It wasn't until the music switched off that I realized he was no longer in a singing mood.

Then I was scared, and rightfully so. I knew that as long as he was keeping busy with something else, he would leave me alone. When he was done, with whatever was sidetracking him, his focus fell on me. I was his focus... That became more apparent as he started to beat on my door again. I watched from my bed as the door would bend in the middle from where he hit from the other side. Objects in my room would shake as the force he exerted vibrated through it.

Then It went quiet... it seemed like for a moment the whole world had shut up. Or maybe I had fallen deaf for a little bit. All I could hear was my pulse echoing in my eardrums. A steady, but rapid throb In anticipation for what was about to come. It's interesting how time and space seems to freeze when you're scared. Good moments can fly by, whereas the scary ones last an eternity.

The silence however was broken by a loud bang as I watched my door burst open, ith Gaben's leg falling back to the ground. "I told you I was gonna open it for you." He'd scream as he rushed over to my bed, I quickly jumped up. As I tried to avoid him, I jumped down to the other side of the bed. It was no use though. I screamed as I felt his hot sweaty hands grab a hold of my wrist. His grip was tight and strong. Being so small, It was easy for him to pull me back up onto the bed.

"What did I tell you about ignoring me?" He'd scream in my ear. The smell of alcohol permeating the air as he pulled my arm behind my back. Even though he was drunk, It seemed as if he knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn't confused or blinded by anger like before. But this time, he was thinking clearly. He wanted to hurt me... and he was going to.

I struggled to answer him, as I groaned from pain, not having responded quickly enough he grabbed me by my hair and slammed my head into the mattress repeatedly where he'd then hold it. Seeing as how I was already hyperventilating for the fear and pain, having my head pressed into the mattress made it harder to breathe. As he pulled my head back up he asked me the same thing.

"What did I tell you about ignoring me, little boy." Though it was even harder to answer now, I still tried my best to. "T-to answer when you're talking to me, sir." I wail through tears. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough, Flipping over onto my back he'd grab my throat, I could feel his nails dig into my skin as he tightened his grip. As I gasped for air, and freedom from the situation, my hand flailed as I searched for his face, where I let my fingers scratch from his eyebrow down into his eye.

He screamed in utter agony as he let go of my neck. While I tried to catch my breath. He took hold of my forearm and snapped it like a stick, I started choking up again but this time because of the pain. As I stared up into his face, I could see... He wanted nothing more than to kill me. I had made his eyelid and cheek bleed with how hard I had scratched him, and his left eye was now completely shut.

He grunted as he worked to get himself back together. both of his hands now gripped around my neck as I struggled to get free. I tried rolling back and forth on the bed, but my arm hurt so much I couldn't even move it. He would then use one of his knees against my stomach to keep me in place as he strangled me.

I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think as time passed my eyes started to close as everything got blurry, and the room started to fade. As my eyes started to close I saw something for the first time, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Just these erratic lines moving and flashing behind my eyelids. They were bright, fast, and glowing like a blue energy, like electricity. I stared at it completely enthralled, I watched quietly as it slowly Started to increase in size and come towards me. As it got closer It sped up, moving faster and faster until it reached me. the floating bundle of energy expanded as if it were about to completely envelope me. The erratic mass of electricity surged into me and then suddenly, I felt no pain, no fear, no despair. Nothing but energy surging within my core, as I opened my eyes the darkroom was filled with a brilliant blue light.

Blue bolts of electricity jumped from me to Gaben with a deafening crackling noise. He screamed out in pain as confusion swept across his face. My face, full of confusion as well. I had no idea as to what was happening. I just watched in literal shock, and awe as Gaben passed out and fell to the floor. I had no idea what had just happened, what was going on, what I had just done. As the darkness returned, so did the panic and fear. Jumping up from the bed I ran out of the room and down the staris. I guess it was the adrenaline, or something like that because I couldn't feel my broken right arm at all. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the house phone before running out of the apartment and into the hallway.

Now the hallways in the building we were in were very long with a good amount of distance between each unit. Our apartment was on the sixth floor. to get away from Gaben I ran into the stairwell on the left side of the building while searching for my dad's phone number.

When I found my dad's number I called him, but he didn't answer, so I called 911 instead. The phone rang and rang for what seemed like forever. My mind and my head were racing so much that when someone finally answered the phone I didn't even hear them at first. "911 what's your emergency..." I believe the lady repeated herself before I responded.

"I-I um... I need help." I got out through my incessant panting as I ran down one flight of stairs and then the next.

"Everything is going to be alright. Can you tell me what you need help with?" She reassured me and asked.

"M-my... He's trying to hurt me!" I tried my best to keep my voice down as I finally slowed down to focus and talk, at this point I had no idea what floor I was on. I was just hoping he couldn't find me. "All right sweetie I'm sending someone to help you right now. Are you somewhere safe?" Before answering I looked up the stairs behind me and didn't see anything so I took a seat on the stone stair landing in-between the floors.

"Um, I think so." I whispered into the phone. The pain of my broken arm finally starting to catch up with me.

"Do you know the address of where you are?" I struggled a bit trying to say, I could only think of my father's home address. Not the address here... It must have taken me a long time to reply because the lady asked if I was still there.

"Le Deux Apartments. Please hurry." I pleaded, still trying to catch my breath. The stairwell was hot mostly because of the large glass pane windows exposing the stairway to those outside. The poorly sealed windows allowed air to easily slip in, preventing the stairway from being well cooled. "Don't worry the police are on their way. Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm... I'm Kaiden"

"Alright, and what happened Kaiden?"

I guess she wanted to keep me on the phone. It definitely helped, at the time it gave me something else to think about. Right around then my arm really started to bother m. It felt so heavy as well as if I couldn't lift it even if I tried, and I did try. "My stepdad... Gaben, he was drinking and got mad. He... he wouldn't let me breathe. And... and he broke my arm, So I scratched him and then he wouldn't let me breathe again."

"How did you get away from him?" She'd ask, what a good question it was. I didn't even know myself. I didn't know better though. That what I said wouldn't make sense to anyone. Frankly, not even myself. "I-I don't know. I saw a bright light, and a loud Buzzing noise... When I opened my eyes, he was shaking on the floor."

There was a pause... I guess she, like me, didn't understand and was working to figure it out. "A light, and a buzzing noise?" she repeated slowly as if trying to understand. "Y-yes ma'am." other than that, I didn't really know what else to add. "And there was this..."

"This what? hello?"

I could hear her voice through the phone. I had to blink hard as I tried to figure out what had just happened. The back of my head, It hurt like crazy. and my face, It felt cold, but also as if it were on fire. Although I was just sitting on the landing above, I was now on the landing below laying face first on the cold stone at the bottom of the stairs.

Looking up I could see the phone. Reaching out, I tried to grab it, but as I did I felt my body get dragged back. My skin Rubbing against the rough ground. My throat closed up feeling like it was being crushed as an arm wrapped around my throat. I gasped for air again, there were sirens in the distance I heard growing closer. They were taking so long though. I knew I didn't have long... Gaben was going to kill me.

My left arm searched for what was on my neck and I tried to pull it off. But it wouldn't come off. He was too strong, Being so much bigger than me no matter how much I tried to pull, nothing happened. I couldn't do anything, and It made me so angry. But I knew I had to do something. Filled with anger and pain, I shut my eyes and would scream letting it all out. As I screamed I felt it again. That raw power sparking with in me. It felt more clear than It was back inside. My eyes closed as my scream was replaced by the sound of my choking. Gaben crushing my windpipe so nothing could escape.

I could hear doors close, followed by shouting which I couldn't understand. I felt this violent surge of power as if I were pulling it to me. The flowing power was followed by a pop and the sound of everything powering down. Then there was this brilliant flash of blue light and another loud crack which echoed through the apartment building and accompanied by an even louder

"BANG"

"BANG"

"BANG"