A house never silent

I step through the door

I just got home from school

“Mom can I have a snack?”

No answer

I focus my eyes and finally see the walls

The walls that were waiting for my attention

The blood-stained walls that created the tainted memories that will never escape my mind

I walk to the wall and follow that blood-stained trail

Vulnerability fills my body

“Mom where are you?”

I end at the air vent, where a small pool of blood sits and an untold story lays

My mom walks out of her room with tear-stained cheeks and looks at me with empty eyes

She’s holding her pinky, her body is bruised from his hands

The hands that were supposed to protect her

The hands that were never going to hurt her

“You wanted that snack, baby?” she asks trying to stay strong for me

Trying to protect me

Trying to pretend like blood isn’t on the walls, or the floor, or the back of her head

The back of her head

The air vent

The pool of blood by the air vent where the back of her head was sliced from being thrown across the room

I was not there, but walls told me the story

The walls

They felt her impact and trapped her screams

“please don’t, please stop”

The walls

Watched him grab her by the wrists, anger in his eyes, fear in hers

He shoved her across the floor where her head met the air vent

The air vent that sliced her head like careless knife

The floor is a vibrant red the walls yell for her to get up, they know I’ll be home soon

She lays there, frozen in fear

She can’t get up

The walls

Watch the blood pool around her head, the floor absorbs its crimson

He pulls her up by her wrists so hard that her pinky becomes toothpick snapping

A family now broken

The sound echos, bounces off

The walls

This house will never be silent

She tries to fight back, he is too strong

Her head bounces off the walls as they trap her screams and wear her blood

She finally gets free and dials the phone

The sirens sound as their cars stack up outside the house

He’s taken away, although his traces are still left

Hours later

I walk through the door

I just got home from school

She doesn’t clean the mess, she can’t

She’s still trembling with fear, playing back each piece of the scene

I look at her through the water that’s pooled in my eyes

“Sure, I’ll have that snack now mom.”