Chapter Three
Brant sat in a very uncomfortable chair. His arms crossed and slouched. Legs spread wide, right knee bouncing, a nervous tic he'd had his whole life. "Drinking has always been a part of my life. Through good times and bad. My father drank and he was an asshole. My mom drank too. She did it to drown out her shitty existence. I was a twin. I had a sister and she was my best friend. We did everything together. We only had one bedroom and we shared a bed, we were kids. We would protect each other from dad when he and mom fought. We would put a chair against the door and sleep in the closet."
"How old were you then?"
"Young, really young. We were too young. Dad did things to mom and us that was really wrong. When dad lost his job he made mom prostitute herself. Dad would stay home with us. He didn't like it when we played too loud or cried. He would give us a shot of liquor to calm us down. I think as we got older he would slip us something stronger. It would slow us down, make us sluggish.
"Did anyone ever call Social Services to get you out of the situation?"
"I'm sure someone tried, but I think it led to their leg getting broken." Brant chuckled. "Dad was a low-level drug dealer. Any extra money that mom made, dad took to buy more drugs to sell. There wasn't much money for bills or food. Most times, the only food we got was from school. Sometimes mom would hide a few bucks here and there, but if dad found it he would beat her for stealing money from him. Once puberty hit dad realized my sister had tits. Then he realized he could make double the money. But not before he broke her in himself. I tried to stop him many times."
"What did you get for your efforts?"
"A few black eyes, broken nose, a broken arm, and a broken leg. When the school noticed our bruises, dad took us out of school."
"How old were you when your dad took you out of school?"
"I don't remember our age. I just remember we were in the middle of our seventh-grade year. Dad had us called to the office while he filled out the paperwork to take us out of school. When the office lady asked why he told her we were moving. We looked at each other kinda excited. When we got home we were told that we were never going back to school and we now had to earn our keep."
“How did you earn your keep?”
“Dad told me I was pretty enough to work the streets like mom and Chrissy. So, he invited a group of his buddies over for a test run”
“Where is your father now?’
“Dead,” Brant told her with a grin on his face.
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