Chapter Eight : Joshua

“What happened to you?” I asked as I hovered over Annabelle’s arm with a large bag of half melted ice. She winced as I placed it down onto her hot skin and shot a glare up at me with her ivy eyes.

“That hurts!” She growled through gritted teeth. She looked back down at her swollen bicep as if it wasn’t even part of her body. She tried to push the ice bag away but I had a firm grip on her arm.

“It was him wasn’t? That Darrel kid.” I sat the ice bag down, trying to keep her skin from getting too irritated from the cold. Unfortunately, all these years of us living together, I’ve learned how to be a walking first aid kit. I say unfortunately because I wouldn’t have to remember all of this random information if we had someone else to take care of us or take us to some sort of office.

Annabelle shook her head and stared at her shoes. “First of all, his name Is Darrius, not Darrel, and it was an, accident. “ She said the accident part far more hesitantly then the rest of the statement. I glared my eyes at her. I wasn’t necessarily angry with her, I was just worried. I knew she could handle herself but, she’d have to choose to handle herself first, and she’s too stubborn for that.

“He grabbed your arm like this? On accident?” She ran her small hand over the deep, blue bruise on her bicep and continued to stare at her shoes, which were shuffling slightly on the ground. She whisked a small piece of her blonde mat on the top of her head out of her face and behind her ear.

“He just got angry. He apologized after. He didn’t mean any of it, he just lashed out a little that’s all. He’s been really stressed out with finishing school and trying to stay out of detention so his mom doesn’t decide to homeschool him. I asked him if, if we could date and he grabbed my arm and said I had got the wrong idea from us hanging out. I just assumed things so, it’s not his fault really. It’s �" mine.”

I stared at her with a sad green gaze as she broke down into tears right in front of me. I sighed and dropped my head, letting my long hair hang over my forehead. I sat down next to her on the set of boxes we had set up and stared at her for a moment. My sister always seemed so strong and tough but, she was still a teenage girl. She still had emotions to put up with and times when she just couldn’t take the way we were living. I put my arm around her, letting her lay her head on my shoulder. She sniffled harder, starting to have a short set of hiccups with every cry.

“J..Josh. I never want to see that jerk again.” I nodded slightly and ran my hand down her arm, being light around the bruise.

“Then don’t. Never meet him again and just stay out of trouble.” As I spoke in a hushed, calmed tone down to her, she covered her face with her hands and cried into them. She showed her face through her hands slightly and choked out through tears and sniffles, “I’m sorry.”

I sighed and rubbed her arm again. “There’s nothing to be sorry about Annabelle, this is just one of those things you learn from. Boys are dumb; I promise you almost all of them are.” I looked up at the sky as it darkened above us. I flicked my head to the right, removing some of the fringe from my face.

Annabelle looked up at me slightly before lowering her eyes back to the ground. “You’re not dumb.” She kicked a little pebble that had been sitting at our feet and started to stand up, out of my grasp. I sighed and stood behind her. I shoved my hands in my pocket and stared at the bruise. I couldn’t believe someone would be that violent. Why would you want to hurt someone? I‘ve just never had that mentality I guess. Annabelle turned and looked at me, her green eyes softening as she stared at me.

“You’re right. I don’t want to be in an orphanage. It’s either stay with you or nothing.”

I smiled, hearing the statement I’ve wanted to hear for a long time. She came up and hugged me, wrapping her tiny arms tightly around my waist. I clung to her neck with my arms and could still see above her, being as tall as I was. Everything was so still and quiet but, more importantly, we were together. We always would be.