Page 1 of Acid

Prologue

Acid – Age Sixteen

I grit my teeth as I tighten my grip on the wallet I just stole from the dude after knocking him over, and guilt fills me.

It was either him or the old lady, and fuck, I can't sink that low, not again.

The urge to go to Halliwell's Gym to smack the shit outta the bag overwhelms me, but I know I can't. I need to get this fucking wallet to Aiden, my father, preferably before he kicks the shit out of my little brother, Elijah, who's had enough beatings to last him a lifetime.

He's only a year younger than me, but he's been through so much fucking shit that no kid should go through. I try to shield him as much as I can, but the more I go to the gym, the more bulk I gain, causing Aiden to make Elijah his target instead. Aiden knows I'll fight back now, but he uses Eli against me, so I do his bidding.

I quicken my steps.

I know it's not my fault, fuck, I know it; I just wanted to be stronger than the man who fathered us, but guilt hits me when I think of Eli’s beatings from Aiden.

When Eli was seven, Aiden put him in the hospital, and nearly fucking killed him, all because Eli refused to beat our mother while she was passed out on drugs and hadn't cooked him dinner. When Aiden doesn't get what he wants, he gets angry.

The iron bar he was trying to force Eli to take, Aiden used on him, giving him a concussion, two broken ribs, and a broken arm—then Aiden used the iron bar on our mother.

He told the cops that we were robbed, and he ran into the house to find both Eli and our mom unconscious Aiden even fucking trashed the house further to back up his story—a house we're going to lose if he keeps this shit up.

Mom was in a coma for three weeks before she woke up, and all she wanted was her next hit.

Elijah found her a year later, dead; she'd overdosed in the bathroom. He was fucking eight.

Sirens blare in the background, and I curse. I quickly jump behind the dumpster in the alley, banging my shoulder against the wall, making me wince. But I ignore the pain and peek out around the corner, making sure they're not coming after me.

I don't have a job; most places in Brooklyn know who my father is, knowing he'd want my wage for his drink, so they all refused to help me. They also knew my mother was a druggie, something my father turned her into.

I remember the sweet woman who used to shield me from Aiden's anger, treating me like I was made of glass, until she couldn't take the abuse any longer. I still have the image in my head of her snorting coke off the wooden coffee table for the first time. Aiden hit Elijah, who was four at the time, instead of her, screaming at her to take the hit or he'd go for me next.

I was only five.

I look around the dumpster again and sigh in relief when it's clear. I break into a sprint, the house only a few blocks away.

After all these years, I don't understand how they still managed to keep custody of Eli and me. We go to school with bruises and dirty clothes that hang off our bodies, yet we still live with them.

It's something I will never understand.

A few minutes later, the run-down, brown, two-story house comes into view, but so does my father. I see him through the window, holding onto the torn black couch, looking down as his body moves violently. I curse, picking up speed.

For years, he's had my brother and me steal for him, grabbing anything we can get our hands on so he doesn't have to work.

Fuck, he tried getting Eli to steal a fucking Porsche at one point, only for the alarm to go off. Eli ran, hiding out until he thought I was home, but I wasn't; I was stuck in detention when James Kilt decided he could take me in a fight all because his girlfriend at the time flirted with me.

He lost, and I got the blame.

I got home later that day to find Aiden drowning Eli in the bathtub.

I knocked Aiden out, dragged Eli into our shared room, and barricaded the door.

The next morning, when Eli went to school, Aiden dragged a knife down my back, something Eli doesn’t know.

While Aiden uses his fists with Eli, with me, he uses knives because of how big I've gotten. And don't get me started on everything else I’ve endured over the years—again, something I do not want my brother knowing.

I slam into the house as Eli grunts in pain from the floor, his back to the couch as Aiden leans over him, kicking the shit out of him.

"I fucking told you to fuck her, you little bitch!"Aiden roars.

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