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I let the tears fall freely as I opened my photobook, looking at pictures of both of us, with innocent smiles on our faces. I wished she never came into my life, I wished I never met her. That way she would have been safe, nothing would have happened to her. She would have been happy with her family…
Right?
No. Her father would have still found one way or another to hurt her the way he did, he was bad. Fuck, both our fathers were bad. They were literally into dirty businesses, but at least they protected us, or so we thought.
We thought they were cool the first time we found guns in my dad’s closet. We thought they were superheroes, we thought they were our small gods. But what did they do? They turned against us and pushed us into the darkness that we knew nothing about.
FIFTEEN YEARS OLD
“Raphael, how is it?” I asked desperately, staring at Raphael with hopeful eyes. We just got back from Jordan’s room and I just finished puking out my lungs like I always did after coming out of her room.
“Bro, you look like you’ll die anytime soon.” He stared at me with a worried gaze, holding onto my arm as I swayed tiredly.
“It would be better than this,” I muttered more to myself, but he heard anyway. He opened his mouth to say something, but I stopped him. “Just leave me, I’m fine. I’ll survive, but Jordan may not. Are you also happy with everything dad is making us do to her?”
He shook his head. “Of course I’m not, she’s a little sister to me and I can’t believe I’m doing this to her. I will never be able to look her in the eyes anymore.”
“Then help me, help me find her dad so he can come take her away.”
“I’m trying. I’ve done everything I know to do, I’m just waiting for a response from him if he ever sees it.”
“If?” I screamed. “It’s a if? She could die, She could really die, Jordan could die.” I didn’t realize my hands were already shaking until Raphael held me and sat me down to relax.
“She won’t die. You always said she’s a strong girl, right? Your strong girl. If she wanted to die, she would have. It’s been five days with six boys everyday.”
“Yes, she is my strong girl, but she has to leave eventually, right? She will die one day. If she doesn’t leave, dad will kill her mom and her. He is wicked now, don’t you see?” He shook his head and as he opened his mouth to answer me, his computer beeped.
He typed on it before screaming and covering his mouth. I looked at him expectantly, flittering my eyes to him and the computer. ‘Say something,’ I wanted to scream, but he just covered his mouth for about two minutes before smiling and turning the laptop to me.
Chris Vincenzo
Oh my God, who are you? Is my baby okay? When can I come and get my wife and daughter please?
I stared at the email with no humor in my eyes. Was this how you reply to ‘Your daughter and wife are being raped everyday for five days’ from an anonymous person? As if he hadn’t been receiving the videos from my dad.
Raphael Antonio
Please come and get them as soon as possible, tonight? Or tomorrow? Please.
I typed faster than normal, practically begging. After a while, the computer beeped again, and I clicked on it like a maniac.
Chris Vincenzo
Can I come to take her on Monday? I need to get the papers ready.
Monday? No, no that was far, too far. She wouldn’t make it till Monday. She needed to leave today, like tonight, like right now.
“Monday? That’s okay. Today is Friday, I’m sure she can make it till Monday. He’s right, they have to flee. And to flee, he needs to get the papers.” Raphael said after reading the message
“He should have had the papers already, he should have been planning to crash this place and get his daughter. Did Jordan ever mean anything to him?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes at the computer and boiling in anger.
Raphael held my shoulder and shook it to comfort me. “The main point is that it’s happening, she’s leaving,” he said, but instead of feeling relieved, I tensed again.
“She’s leaving?” I whispered and Raphael sighed, understanding me. He sat me down on the bed and kneeled in front.
“Jay, she has to leave. We hurt her too much, the least we can do is let her go.” I cried and he pulled me in his arms, rubbing on my back. He was the best brother I had and I was happy he wasn’t like the others. He was two years older than I was, but he was my twin.
“She’s going to leave me and I probably will never see her again and it wasn’t even my fault that this happened in the first place and now…” I shook my head hysterically as a scoff escaped my lips. Who was I kidding?