7
" Then she’d start drinking on the weekends, then at night, then all the time. Over the years, she started doing drugs. A little at first, then that went on just like the drinking. She’d be so wasted she’d lose her job. Since I turned sixteen, I always had to keep a part-time job just to keep us going. Then suddenly she’d decide we needed to move and start over again.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but my voice was cracking. “And it would all start over again. We did that again and again.” I took a deep shuddering breath; Miles was a warm, soothing presence beside me. I don’t know what it was about him, but something about him made me feel calm. “I was sleeping in my bed when she came home drunk and high as hell. She yanked me out of bed, screaming that I was a devil child, that I was a demon. She had found one of my dad’s old belts and had it in her hand.” I looked down at Miles hand in mine as I remembered everything again. “She started swinging and swinging. When the buckle broke off, she used her fists, then her feet. She stomped the hell out of me. I didn’t even realize I was screaming until the cops broke in the door and dragged her out.” I looked back out at the trees. "
― B.L. Brunnemer , Trying to Live With the Dead (The Veil Diaries #1)
