They’re screaming again, taunting my self-preservation, loud, angry words, piercing the thick, hate-filled air, streams of insults pour from their venom-spewing mouths, my knees buckle with the weight of reality, I thought I could handle it, wrong again Roze, I watch in amazement at what happens next, my world keeps spinning out of control, further down that dark, dank, black hole,

I fix my blue teary eyes on the scene unfolding before me, he raises his hand, I flinch away, I hear it land, but feel no pain, I pry open my disbelieving eyes, stare straight ahead and scream, “My brother, my god, what the F**K are you doing?” time slows down, skids to a stop, as I try to reach his side,

“ What the F**K are you doing?” flies out of my mouth, directed at mom, watching, still, tears blur my vision as I try to wedge myself in between them, pain, sharp, bright, in the back of my head, “You lay a hand on him, I lay a hand on you, but you’re not underage, so you can’t do anything about it,” I’m being dragged away, my brother is screaming, it’s choked off by his hands, around his throat, why can’t I save him?

I yell” Get the F**K off him” through clenched teeth, my jaw aches, my lungs are burning, my heart is pounding, tears are streaming down my face, we’re in shorts, a t-shirt, and I have no shoes, It’s freezing, ice frozen against windows, they shove us outside “Hit the road jack” is slammed against my frost-bitten ears, and you call yourselves Christians? Ha! Hypocrites.