my mum said to my little sister to take a break from her practice test for the eleven plus and come eat dinner, in the kitchen, with the rest of the family, my gran me and her (dad is upsairs, he’s rarely here for family dinner). my little sister, in a trembling voice said ‘but then dad will say ’
mum sharply says to leave it and come eat dinner. she leaves the living room where my little sister is, goes to the kitchen. my little sister tries to shut off the lights in the living room, when it stutters, beats her little hands onto it in frustration.
mum hears her in the kitchen, goes to the living room and sharply scolds her ‘what will happen if it breaks?? how much will it take to fix it!?’
in the kitchen, in hindi, which my little sister understands just a little bit, my nan lovingly calls my little sister her child, her love, her darling, invites her to sit across from her.
1 minute later, dad comes down. sees my little sister in the kitchen. starting shouting. “HOW DARE YOU LEAVE YOUR WORK”
“THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY”
he yells at my mum in hindi that “YOU LOT (referring to my mum and also to me) HAVE MADE THIS A JOKE”
“HOW MANY QUESTIONS HAVE YOU DONE”
“THIS IS NOT EVEN HALF”
“I LEFT HALF AN HOUR AGO”
“STOP!”
“STOP SHAKING LIKE A FISH!”
my sister is sobbing and crying
“STOP CRYING”
“YOU WILL NOT GET FOOD TODAY”
“NO! YOU! WILL! NOT! GET! FOOD! TODAY!”
he goes back upstairs.
my little sister is sobbing and crying in the living room, minutes later.
mum is in the kitchen. she knows that if she goes to console my little sister in the living room then my dad will come downstairs and shout again but worse.
she yells at my nan to be quiet.
i know that if i go to console my little sister, not only will my dad come downstairs again and shout worse and do worse, he’s likely to use this as the excuse to snap and kick me out of the house. and i’m broke, weak and powerless to do much other than write this and beg, hope that someone or that somehow i can change things. i can stop being broke and get a home, a house, where my little sister can be free.
my mum said to my little sister to take a break from her practice test for the eleven plus and come eat dinner, in the kitchen, with the rest of the family, my gran me and her (dad is upsairs, he’s rarely here for family dinner). my little sister, in a trembling voice said ‘but then dad will say ’
mum sharply says to leave it and come eat dinner. she leaves the living room where my little sister is, goes to the kitchen. my little sister tries to shut off the lights in the living room, when it stutters, beats her little hands onto it in frustration.
mum hears her in the kitchen, goes to the living room and sharply scolds her ‘what will happen if it breaks?? how much will it take to fix it!?’
in the kitchen, in hindi, which my little sister understands just a little bit, my nan lovingly calls my little sister her child, her love, her darling, invites her to sit across from her.
1 minute later, dad comes down. sees my little sister in the kitchen. starting shouting. “HOW DARE YOU LEAVE YOUR WORK”
“THIS IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY”
he yells at my mum in hindi that “YOU LOT (referring to my mum and also to me) HAVE MADE THIS A JOKE”
“HOW MANY QUESTIONS HAVE YOU DONE”
“THIS IS NOT EVEN HALF”
“I LEFT HALF AN HOUR AGO”
“STOP!”
“STOP SHAKING LIKE A FISH!”
my sister is sobbing and crying
“STOP CRYING”
“YOU WILL NOT GET FOOD TODAY”
“NO! YOU! WILL! NOT! GET! FOOD! TODAY!”
he goes back upstairs.
my little sister is sobbing and crying in the living room, minutes later.
mum is in the kitchen. she knows that if she goes to console my little sister in the living room then my dad will come downstairs and shout again but worse.
she yells at my nan to be quiet.
i know that if i go to console my little sister, not only will my dad come downstairs again and shout worse and do worse, he’s likely to use this as the excuse to snap and kick me out of the house. and i’m broke, weak and powerless to do much other than write this and beg, hope that someone or that somehow i can change things. i can stop being broke and get a home, a house, where my little sister can be free.