Blog #13

Short Essay #2

Sleeping Beauty

The house was like a war zone. A minefield of clothes in piles on the floor. Food left on the table, gathering flies. The smell is a strong odor that reminds me of when we drive past the town-dump and I have to roll up my windows to stop my eyes from watering.

She takes off my jacket and hangs it over the couch. She tells my brother and I to go play upstairs. I hesitate and I watch her as she pulls up a chair with her friend at the kitchen table. They hold those red and white cans that make her breath smell weird. She smiles and encourages me to join the others. I’d rather stay by her side but I walk to the stairs to join the boys in their bedroom.

The bunk beds are trashed with action figures and video game cases. I sit on the floor in the corner. When the oldest one notices I am there he points to me.

He explains how I would be perfect because I am so small and light. He gestures to me to stand.

I cringe but I stand up and join them. W.W.E is on the TV and they are demonstrating the wrestling moves with a pillow. But now they want to use me.

After what feels like hours of the Chokeslam, The RKO, and the Last Ride, I am sitting on the bed watching the two boys and my little brother play a wrestling video game. My arms are red and raw from being lifted and pulled. I am getting tired and there is nothing for me to play with so I decide to go downstairs.

As I walk downstairs I can hear laughter. I turn the corner into the kitchen and I see her head down on the table. Her eyes are closed and she doesn’t wake when I shake her. I can see the white powder on her nose and the rest is covering the table. I look up and her friend is now laughing with what looks like her boyfriend who just got home from work.

He smiles at me and tells me that she is tired and is taking a nap. I tell them that I want to go home, I want to go to bed. He leads me into the living room and grabs a blanket off of the couch. He tells me to lie down and he covers me with the blanket. The couch smells musty and old, like it was bathed in cigarette smoke.

It is hard to fall asleep at first because of the sounds coming from the kitchen. But I give in to my tired eyes and I drift off to sleep.

When I wake up it is still dark in the house. There is a coldness running down my spine. It is so quiet in the house that it takes me a moment to realize that the cold I feel is from someone’s hand.

He is behind me. Lying with me on the couch, he has his hand up my shirt. He is rubbing my back. My breath quickens, I don’t know what to do. He is now stroking my hair, breathing it in. I decide to stay quiet. This isn’t my home, maybe this is how it is here. He isn’t hurting me, so I let it go. Now he is breathing hard and I feel something pushing up against my back. I feel the tears in my eyes but I hold them back. I just want to go home.

I decide that I will pretend to be sleeping beauty. As one of my favorite Disney movies I have seen it many times. The fair beauty with the yellow hair and red lips sleeps until she is awakened by true love’s kiss. I tell myself that I can sleep like her too. So I ignore the hand that is once again creeping up my back and I try to fall asleep.

Suddenly the lights are on and I hear yelling coming from the kitchen. She runs over to the couch with a knife and tells him to get off of me. She swears that she will kill him if he ever touches me again. She pulls me off of the couch and grabs my jacket. After collecting my sleeping brother we walk out into the cold night and drive home.