Ten

JOJO:

"Mykel, no!" I screamed with all my strength. My tears were beginning to blur my vision; all this was too much for me.

"Yes, JoJo." He bit back, in a husky tone, grabbing the flesh of my thigh. I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed him with all my might, but he was much stronger. I could feel his erection on my stomach and my fear heightened. He slammed his body against mine, placing kisses all over my neck. He paid deaf ears to my pleas, ignored my struggles, he grabbed my ass cheeks from behind and squeezed them hard. I groaned in pain.

My voice was muffled against his shoulder, rendering my scream useless. I heard the sound of fabric being ripped. It took a cold gust of wind against my skin for me to realize that my clothes were being ripped from my body. He pinned me against the counter and clasped his hand against my throat. He started to undo his trousers. Soon, his trousers dropped to his knees and I clawed at his hand on my neck, fear gripping my entire being.

His dick was out and erect and he lifted me from my waist and roughly placed me on the counter, my tears burned my eyes. I scratched and punched his chest, but he hit back harder. In that instant, my mind began to have gory flashbacks of my father beating my mum up. He used...he used to be just like this. I heard her helpless screams and saw her struggling. It felt like she was here at the moment. The voices got louder and louder until I couldn't take it anymore.

"No! No! No, please stop!"

He grabbed my right breast instead, squeezing hard. Anger thrummed in my veins, I had seen, heard, and felt enough already. I was done being the victim!

In a flash, I grabbed a knife from the counter and drove the blade into the skin of his shoulder, I dug the blade deeper and deeper, eliciting a piercing scream from him. I pulled it out and the knife clattered noisily on the ground. All the blood oozing from his shoulder caused my stomach to turn.

My legs moved on their own accord I dashed away from the kitchen. Soon I was slamming our room door close. Valerie sat up on the bed, confusion etched in her young eyes. I leaned against the door in silence as the tears rolled down my cheeks. At that moment, I heard the footsteps, accompanied by my Aunt Elowen's voice.

There was no way out.

I was going to die today. It was finally the end. Valerie got off the bed and hurried towards me. I could tell she was trying to be strong for us both, something she had grown to learn to do.

I moved from the door. I reached out to my sister and drew her close to me. We engulfed each other in a much-needed embrace. She rubbed my back to soothe me. At that moment, I could breathe down, but the comfort was short-lived. The door burst open and my Aunt entered. Her green eyes filled with anger and fury, I had never seen her this furious in all my years.

"Pack your bags."

Three words, icy enough to make my heart stop, the ultimate determiner of my fate.

I expected a lot of things from her this night but, definitely did not expect this. We had nowhere to go and she knew.

She couldn't do this, not to us. I crumbled down to my knees and pressed my palms together as tears rushed from my cheeks.

"Please, I beg you, I'll do anything... If not for anything, for the sake that we are your sisters..."

"I do not like to repeat myself, JoJo. If you don't want to be thrown you out right now, start packing." She threatened and I saw my sister kneel from my periphery.

"Please, auntie. We'll pay you. I'll work too and help my sister so we can pay you, please don't throw us out, we don't have anywhere to go." Valerie joined in my pleas, kneeling beside me. It tore my heart to see her like this, it broke me.

Her promise made my heart bleed. She was so helpless, and there was nothing I could do.

My Aunt scoffed.

"You? What can you possibly do? You're even more useless than your good-for-nothing sister and I'm done putting up with the two of you. And I'm doing this not because of the little change your sister has failed to offer to me, but because I'm not going to stay here and watch this witch kill anyone in my family. You wanted to kill my son, right? And who's next? Me, probably? But I've done nothing wrong. I'm even giving you a roof over your head and this is how you'll repay me?" She threw her hands in the air, dramatizing every word that came out of her mouth. I looked around our tiny cubic room, the air was no longer sufficient, I thought I would suffocate.

"Since you aren't ready to pack up, I'll have to throw you out." She matched towards us and grabbed my little sister first.

"No!"

I yelled. I jumped up to snatch my sister away from her. She drove her elbow into my cheek and I drew back in pain. I could taste my blood in my mouth.

Valerie's high-pitched scream echoed in my ears. But my Aunt did not care, she grabbed my hair and flung me across the room. She moved to go for Valerie, but I jerked up, ignoring all my pains. I shielded her from the angry woman. Elowen's hand hit my face and my blood splattered from my mouth, it stained her dress. Then she grabbed my hand and began to pull me away from the room.

Valerie ran after me. She pushed us out of her front door and sent us into the streets, into the cold, into the uncertainty of the night.

Valerie clutched my palm in a tighter grip, her little sobs filling the night's silence. We began to walk. I did not know where we were going and did not know what we were doing, but we walked. I turned my head to look back at the house.

Was this truly the end of the road for us? I had managed to give Valerie my phone before we left, I took it and dialed Mel's number. She didn't pick up, and after four dials, I let it go.

Soon, I found myself walking toward my mother's hospital. They had closed already, just as I had expected. So, we held each other in our arms, drifting off to sleep at the gate of the building.