Holding on For Dear Life..

He slammed the door shut on the way out. I curled up in my bed, squeezing the stuffed animal I keep on my bed close to me as tears rolled down my cheeks. Unbelievable. Mom promised that she'll get him to stop. She promised me that she'll get him the help he needed. She promised. My stomach suddenly felt nauseous as I rolled out of bed onto the floor. My body curled up into a small ball as everything flashed before my eyes.

The sneaking into my room thinking I wouldn't notice he was here. The way he took off my blanket and flipped my body onto my back. The way he slowly began to undress me while trying not to wake me. The sound of the bed creaking as he crawled into it so that he was on top of me. My eyes squeezed together ever so tightly. No. Don't replay it inside my head. Stop that, mind. Stop. Tears slowly began to form at my water line. How could mom still be allowing this to happen? Why? What is she getting out of all this?

I sat myself up just enough to lean against the wall, holding a plush zebra I had found close to my chest that had fallen off my bed. I need an out. That's the only way. I need an escape.

**

"Good morning!" Tyler shouted at me as I walked into the kitchen. The smell of bacon and eggs filled the kitchen as I got closer, but the chef suddenly made me lose my appetite.

"Good morning, Tyler." I ruffled his hair, "How'd you sleep?"

"Like a prince!" He raised his fork in the air as if it was a sword.

"Go ahead and eat up," Rudy pointed to the plate he set out on the table for me, "I made you a plate."

"I'm not really hungry." I lied.

"You are going to sit down and eat the lovely breakfast I just made for you." He gestured his finger to the empty seat.

"Rudy-"

"Tabitha," Mom came in behind me, "Rudy was nice enough to cook you some breakfast. It'll be rude not to accept."

"I'll be-" I stopped myself from saying something I'd regret, "Alright. Fine. I'll eat the stupid breakfast." I sat down and began playing with the eggs using my fork. Whenever Rudy cooked, I always felt as if I needed to inspect the food before just shoveling it into my mouth. I had no idea why. It wasn't like he's ever done anything to the food in the past.

"Just eat the damn food, Tabitha." Mom slammed her plate down on the table. Bits of egg flew off the plate and Tyler didn't even hesitate to scoop them up using his fingers before immediately throwing them in his mouth.

"It's really good," Tyler used his fork to scoop up some of my eggs and held it in front of my face, which of course I had to swallow, "See? Rudy's the best."

I held up a thumbs up while wearing my best fake smile, "The best."

Rudy came over and kissed my mother on the top of her head. He shot me a look before sitting down in the seat directly across from me and turning back to my mother, "So, do you have any plans for today?"

"Uh," She pushed her glasses up the stern of her nose before flipping through her personal planner, "yes. I have a couple meetings with potential clients. It'll probably take me a bit of time."

"You can still go to the store today, right? We need some more groceries.. unless you want us all to just starve." Rudy said in a joking matter, although his facial expression seemed as serious as ever.

"I can't today," Mom looked up from her planner, "Tabitha, can you do that today?"

"What?"

"C'mon Tabs. It's an easy task." Rudy smiled.

I hated when he called me Tabs. The only person who's ever called me that name was my father. Nobody else. "Why me?"

"Because we're the adults and we told you to do it." Rudy sounded a bit angrier than before.

Mom placed her hand over his, "Just help us out and do it, Tabitha. I'll give you the credit card. Buy whatever you think you and Tyler will like."

Yeah, because Rudy is about to let me buy whatever I'd like. "I'll take Tyler with me." I said, shoveling another forkful of egg into my mouth.

"Why?" Rudy asked.

I looked up at Tyler, completely avoiding Rudy's eye contact, "That way he can be the one to pick out what he wants." Also, so Rudy couldn't try and blame me for buying foods only I wanted. I wasn't stupid enough to tell him that, though.

"Can I?" Tyler smiled. He started bouncing up and down in his chair and I reached over and tapped his arm to get him to stop. There was no way I was about to let him see the other side to Rudy by allowing him to act crazy. I doubt Rudy ever would reveal that side to Tyler, but I'm not about to risk it.

To Tyler, Rudy is his hero. Rudy was dad's best friend and since dad died when Tyler was only a couple months old, Rudy was the only "dad" he has ever known. When dad died, Rudy slowly inched his way into my mom's heart. My father passed away from suicide seven years ago and mom was a complete wreck afterwards, so I completely understood how Rudy managed to take advantage of the opportunity and became the shoulder for her to cry on. It took a year for my mom to finally accept Rudy's proposal in dating, and it only took a couple months after that for Rudy to start sneaking his way into my bedroom every night. But I would never tell Tyler that. Rudy is the only man that Tyler has really known, so I never want him to see the truth behind his persona.

**

Hello. Thank you for reading my short story. If you like this story, you can find many more over on my profile.

I had written this a while ago and never came back to it, but instead of deleting it I figured I may as well just share it anyway because I don't know.. maybe it's still a masterpiece to at least one person who reads this.

Honestly, if I'm being honest.. I completely forget which way this story was going to go so I am just posting as-is. No part twos. No continuations. Enjoy and Thank You!