In one angry motion, I pushed the tall metal DVD stand over. Fifty-seven Xbox games scattered to the wooden floor below. I watched his face. I waited for him to charge at me. Instead, he snickered and smiled.
“You’re fuckin psycho.” He said and turned to walk away. I stomped across the DVD pile. The satisfying sound of crackling DVDs coming from beneath each step I took. I grabbed his arm and pulled on him.
” You made me this way!” I screamed in his face. “I was fine until you!”
Trashing his Xbox game collection didn’t get the reaction I had hoped for. There was no winning with him.
He could hurt me, call me names, break my stuff, and I could never find a way to retaliate. Even in destroying his things, he got the attention he wanted. He got a reaction. He got me to chase him.
I fell on my knees, the wooden floor creaked. I buried my face in my hands and cried.
I must’ve cried a good fifteen minutes until I was literally worn out. Then I sat back on my butt. Stretched my legs out in front of me and stared at the crevices in the old wooden planks. I wondered what all those crevices had seen in their lifetime.
The house was built in 1916, so I wondered how many fights had these floors witnessed? How many laughs did they hear? How many piles of cake icing hit these floors during birthday parties? Did flower baskets sit on them after funerals? Did they see more good than bad? I looked up at the crappily spackled walls. You know they say “if walls could talk”.
Desmond finally came to my side and knelt down.
“I’m so sorry, Echo.”
And just like that, looking up into his eyes, I’d already forgot what the fight started over.
LifeZilla 