Every Day
Every Day
By Julie Berg
There's a girl in 6th grade on her walk home from the bus stop, in fear of what home will be like the rest of the day. With a nervous lip bite, head tilted down and her hands fidgeting with her backpack straps, she enters a “home” of chaos. The year prior, her parents had gotten divorced and she had moved away from a town called Lombard. Now living in Joliet, she was left with her mom and 3 siblings.
Entering the house, she looks around to find things all over the floor. Chairs fallen, table sideways, plants shattered, paintings ruined. It sounded like construction was going on, which puzzled her every time. Her heart dropped in fear of what could happen to her next. Who knows if she would be yelled at, or hurt by something physically again. She slowly walks around the corner, to see her mother surrounded by tall empty bottles, chugging another bottle of alcohol in the kitchen. A sigh and tears in her eyes, she tries to ignore it so she can grab an after school snack.While grabbing some new vegan chips, she walks out of the kitchen to head to her bedroom. She hears stumbling, and more things falling all over. Before she even made it to the stairs with her heavy backpack still on, something was thrown at her. Laying on the ground, she slowly turns her head to see her mom throwing chairs everywhere.
Immediately she goes upstairs to pack her backpack, bolts down and goes out of the front door, slamming it behind her. On her walk to a close friend’s house, she calls her childhood best friend to tell her. Her friend has seen this before, and made sure she was off to safety. After a pit in her stomach, heart racing and anxious to see her close friend, she finally gets there. That hug of relief immediately made her break down.
She made it.