How could you?!

“Why didn’t you study more?! 86% isn’t good enough!” Sarah then launched the beer bottle she had grasped in her hand at Elle, but missed by a couple of inches, because she was too drunk to aim the bottle properly. Elle was petrified, but not because of her mom's behavior. She was used to her mom throwing glass at her, it was why she always had an absurd amount of cuts on her arms. It was her father she was afraid of. 

Her parents had always been alcoholics, and nobody had a clue. Her parents had a way of making sure no one knew how much they drank, and it succeeded. Elle’s father had an office job so it wasn’t as hard to hide as it was her mother. Sarah worked at the local grocery store as a cashier, so she interacted with people every day. This always bewildered Elle because it was so evident at home, how could no one have noticed?

As Elle was cooking dinner, she glanced back at the clock. It was a quarter till five, which meant her father would be home soon. It suddenly warmed up in the room, her palms were sweaty, and her legs could barely support her much longer. Elle suddenly heard her mom from the living room, which snapped her back into her senses for a second. “When will dinner be ready?! I’m starving over here!” Elle jumped from how loud her mother was but instantly responded. “Dinner will be done soon.” 

She was hoping her mother would be just drunk enough to forget about her grade because she couldn’t fathom what her father was going to do to her if he found out. Thomas and Sarah had always expected perfection from Elle. They expected Elle to always get a 100% on every test she took. They expected a good fashion sense,

with a bright white smile to complement her pink and white dresses with a big poofy bow in her hair, despite being thirteen. They expected a perfect daughter, and unfortunately for Elle, nobody is perfect. 

As the bulky red front door swung open, Thomas walked in. Elle was horrified. Her eyes had widened and the temperature in the room got so hot she debated to take off her thick black sweater. She decided not to because it would draw too much attention that she didn’t need. 

Suddenly she felt her father’s piercing gray eyes look upon her, and how red she was. As he stood there in silence holding his thin grey coat and briefcase, he took a deep breath. His voice was so scratchy from his bad habit, she could barely make out what he was saying. “What did you get on your test Elle?” She was expecting her mother to answer, but she was out cold on the couch, leaving the show she was watching still playing. 

“It’s not a rhetorical question! Answer me! It’s no wonder you have such horrendous grades.” As she took a step away from the pot of spaghetti she was cooking, she looked up to her father, who was setting his coat and briefcase down. She tried to speak with confidence but cowered at the thought of standing up to her father. She whispered loud enough to where her father could hear, “I got an 86%...” Thomas shot back up and roared, “What, an 86%?! Why can’t you be smarter?! You might as well retake the grade!” From being hungover, he couldn’t think straight. “You know what? Take your things and leave, I don’t want a failure of a daughter in this blessed household.” 

Elle started crying, getting her sweater drenched in tears. “Stop crying, I don’t need a crybaby, having a failure live with you for thirteen years is bad enough.” Thomas walked off to his bedroom to get ready for bed, so after he ate dinner he could drink and go to sleep. 

Elle rushed to her bedroom, grabbed her backpack, and started packing. She grabbed her jackets, her jeans, her school supplies, and even the necklace her parents gave her when she was three years old. 

As soon as Elle finished packing she rushed down to open the door and leave, but as she went to take her first step outside, she was stopped by a shot glass thrown at the wall, and the shards that had scratched her wrist. Her hand was throbbing and blood was flowing down to her black fingerless gloves. All she heard next was, “And stay out!” She ran outside, and all she heard was her mother’s cackle inside her head as she ran as far as she could.

Elle was aghast and she fully processed her situation. She was left terror-stricken and wondering where she was supposed to go. Then it hit her. She knew where to go, to the only person she had left. 

As she walked throughout the town, all she could hear was the cars passing by and the owls hooting in the pitch black of night. Elle looked around her what seemed like every ten seconds to make sure that nobody was following her. All she could think about was what was going to happen. 

It was dawn when she finally arrived at her new home. She walked up to the door and knocked forcefully so she could be heard throughout the house. She was aching from walking all night, and her eyes had bags more visible than ever before. Before Elle knew it, her grandmother answered the door, and she lit up with joy, knowing she would be safe at last. 

“Come in, come in. How have you been Elle, and who dropped you off so early in the morning.” Elle was relieved that someone had cared for her, she hadn’t felt this way since she last saw her grandmother when she was three. “O-Oh, I am fine, thanks. To answer your second question, I walked here, all by myself.” Elle’s grandmother looked at her with complete horror. “Y-You did what! Do your parents know?” “Of course they know Grandma, they were the ones who kicked me out.” “They did not!” “But they did Grandma! Please let me stay!”

Elle’s grandmother looked at Elle with sympathy, knowing what she had been through when she was younger. Anna thought Thomas and Sarah gave up alcohol a long time ago to care for Elle, so she didn’t fully believe Elle’s story, but she still took her in. 

“Elle you said you have been walking all night, correct?” “That’s right grandma, why do you ask?” “Why don’t you go to bed and catch up on sleep, you’ve been awake for so long.” “Alright, thanks!” As Elle went to bed, Anna got ready for work and left, leaving Elle on her own.

That night when Anna got home, Elle was just barely awakening. Anna started dinner and turned on the television, where she turned on the 5:00 pm news. The headliner was, “13-year-old Ella James reported missing by her parents Thomas and Sarah James, if anyone has any information, please contact your local authorities.” Anna was shocked. 

Elle had lied to her, what was she going to do now? She couldn’t just get arrested over someone staying at her house. Anna rushed over to the telephone and dialed the non-emergency number to the Amador police station. Just as Anna started talking, Elle peeked around the corner and listened to the whole conversation.

“Yes officer, she is here. No, I’ve only had her for the last twelve hours. Yes, I’ll keep her here.” Elle was heartbroken. She had been familiar with the feeling of being heartbroken, but this was worse than ever before. Elle suddenly filled with anger, and wailed, “How could you?!”

She ran back to her room and got her things as her grandmother followed and tried to reason with her. “Oh come on Elle! You lied to me, you weren’t kicked out! You ran away because you were spoiled, weren’t you! You need to learn to be grateful!” Elle had enough, she couldn’t take the constant insults anymore. “I’m done! Watch, watch as I go back home, and get put in the foster care system because my parents are alcoholics! Just you wait!” 

Elle rushed out of the house, but it was way too late. The police already arrived, and she was caught. “No! Please stop! I can’t go back there, please!”  Elle begged the police to take her somewhere else, but they didn’t listen. She was taken back “home”. She had tears running down her face, red eyes from crying so much, and her voice was hoarse from yelling so much. 

As she walked inside, she saw her parents grin. They had Elle unpack and walk up to her room, where she again eavesdropped on their conversation. “Mr. and Mrs. James, protocol requires we keep an eye on Elle to make sure she doesn’t run away again.” Thomas and Sarah agreed, despite not fully realizing what they meant by “keeping an eye on Elle”.  Over the course of the next two months, Elle had a whole collection of cuts on her arms and hands, and the police noticed. As soon as they saw Elle with cuts on her face, they immediately investigated her parents.

They searched the entire house and weren’t disappointed. They found hundreds of beer bottles, including receipts for them, and when they tested the parents, they were highly intoxicated. Elle would explain what happened and they had to take her word for it because they couldn’t trust Thomas and Sarah in their condition. 

Elle stayed at her grandmother's until she was going to court to testify against her parents. During that month, she kept getting insults from her grandmother, but she knew she wouldn’t be there much longer, so she didn’t care that much. 

She was visibly happier, and every day she skipped with joy, but she still had a question in the back of her mind. Where would she be staying? But Elle wasn’t focused on that, she was just excited to see the look on her parent's face when she won. 

Then the big day came. She wore a dark gray tank top dress that had a thick black ribbon tied around her waist. She chose this dress in particular so she could show her arms, which could help her case. They debated all afternoon, but her time finally came to testify. “My parents always came home drunk, and would get mad at me for the stupidest things.” She pointed at a mark on her arm and continued. “This mark is from when I got an 86% on a test a couple of months ago when they kicked me out.”  Elle continued recalling when she got almost every mark and scar she got. This surprised everyone, even Thomas and Sarah, even though they knew what they did, they hadn’t realized they hurt Elle this much. Then it came when the decision would be made. 

After a few moments of silence, the judge looked at Elle, then at Thomas and Sarah, and spoke. “I have made my decision. Thomas and Sarah are…” He stopped again, and Elle was shaking uncontrollably. She broke in a cold sweat, and by the time she came back to her senses, the judge started speaking again. 

“Guilty, Thomas and Sarah James are guilty of child abuse, and Elle will go to her aunt, Sabrina James.” Elle shot up, smiled, and clapped along with the jury. Elle was ecstatic with the news, although she had never met her Aunt Sabrina, she had never heard of her. 

After she watched her parents get carried away by the police to get taken to the local jail, she saw the fury in their eyes, and Elle kept smiling. Right after they were taken out of the courtroom, someone came up to Elle. “Hi, Elle! How are you? I am your aunt Sabrina. I am so sorry you had to live in that household for all your life, I would have done something, but your father banned me from seeing you, and I listened. Let’s go you your grandmas and get your stuff, ok?” 

Elle had been quiet, after all, she hadn’t met her aunt before, but she was excited to finally get away from her parents. She was happy she didn’t have to get glass thrown at her anymore. She was happy an 86% on a test would be good enough. She was finally happy.