“Michael, this is your uncle, Aeron. Do you remember him?”
I shook my head and my father seemed annoyed. “All of you, outside, now!”
When I sat on the grass in the back yard, the little girl spoke to me. “Your name is Michael?”
I nodded.
She pointed a finger to her own chest, then to the boy beside her. “My name is Sammy, I am five, and that’s Corbin, he is nearly seven now. He isn’t my brother, though.”
“Shut up, Sammy. You’re not allowed to say that. I’m telling on you when Father comes back.” Corbin walked around the back garden lifting large rocks and throwing stones across the yard. I watched him digging through the dirt to find snails and worms.
Sammy plonked down on the grass beside me. “He’s gonna kill them all,” she said.
“Who?”
Her voice was quiet. “Corbin wants to kill all the little bugs and things.” She scrunched up her nose and picked at a scab on her arm. “Do you kill all the bugs?”
I shook my head and stared at the little girl with brown hair and light blue eyes.
“Wanna be friends?” she asked.
“Okay. I only have two friends. Their names are Autumn and Charlotte and they are at my school.”
Sammy laughed. “Now you have three and they are all girls. My daddy has girlfriends, but sometimes he only likes me to be his girlfriend.”
I didn’t know what she meant. “Do you play games with your dad? My girl friends Autumn and Charlotte play games at school with me. Sometimes we do running races and sometimes we go on the playground or I watch them do fashion shows. That’s when you have to pretend you have beautiful dresses and all the people want to look at you.”
Sammy shook her head and when Corbin came over and sat down in front of her, she pulled her legs up so they were crossed. “Only I play games with my daddy. Corbin isn’t allowed to play. We don’t go to school, do we Corbin.”
Corbin shook his head and held his hand out to us. “Wanna see what I got?”
Sammy shook her head hard and told me to say no, but I was curious. “I want to see.”
She grabbed onto my arm and held it tight. I thought she was scared, so I put my arm over her shoulders like my mum did to me sometimes when she was scared and crying.
When Corbin opened his hand, there was a little grey mouse with blood all around its mouth and eyes. I leaned down closer. “Is it dead?”
His dark eyes were wide. “Yep. I killed it. Here, Sammy, hold it.”
She shook her head and cried. “No. I don’t like it, Corbin. It makes me sad.”
“Hold it,” he shouted.
A strange feeling started in my stomach. It went all the way up to my throat. “She said no, Corbin, you’re making her sad.”
Corbin squinted his eyes into narrow little slits. He got to his knees and pushed the dead mouse into Sammy’s face. She screamed and jumped to her feet before running across the yard.
Corbin laughed and threw the dead mouse at her while she was still screaming. He chased her across the back yard and when he caught her, he put his arms tight around her and pulled her down to the ground where he tried to push the dead mouse into her mouth.
Sammy was screaming and trying to get away.
When I pushed Corbin backwards, he fell onto the grass, but he got back up quickly and forced me down. I tried to get up again, but he was too strong and kept punching me in the face until all I could hear was Sammy screaming, and the smacks on my cheeks.
A loud voice startled Corbin, and he got right off me and went to his knees with his head down. Sammy ran over and did the same thing beside him.
“What the fuck are you doing you little bastard?” The man, my uncle, was furious.
Corbin raised his head. “Sorry, Commander Aeron.”
My uncle didn’t say anything, he smacked Corbin right across the face making him fall onto the grass. He didn’t get back up right away, not until my uncle lifted him up and told him to stop crying like a little girl. It didn’t make sense. My dad always said those words to me too, but Sammy was a little girl, and she wasn’t crying.
My father grabbed my arm and made me kneel beside Sammy. My uncle’s voice was so loud Sammy pushed her hands over her ears.
“Never fight your brother again.” I didn’t know what my uncle was talking about.
His dark eyes scared me. “I don’t have a brother.”
He laughed and grabbed my arm to pull me to my feet then he turned back to my father. “They don’t fight.”
They spoke quietly for a short time before my uncle left with Corbin and said Sammy had to stay here for a few hours.
That night while I was in bed, I looked up to my ceiling where my mum had stuck stars on it that glowed in the dark. When my door creaked open, I pretended I was asleep. I didn’t want my father to be mad at me again.
“Michael?” her quiet voice whispered from my bedroom door.
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Sammy?”
“I’m scared. Daddy isn’t back yet, and I need my medicine.”
Sammy came over to my bed. “Do you want to look at the stars with me?”
She snuggled up beside me and when I felt her hand touch mine, I held it tight hoping she wouldn’t be afraid with me next to her. “Why have you got medicine?”
“To make me sleepy. Daddy says I’m always a good girl when I’m sleepy.”
“My dad never says I’m good.”
“I think only sometimes boys are good,” Sammy said.
I wondered how she knew so much about making dads happy. I wished I made my dad happy, but I never did. He was always angry.
“Do you have a mum?” I asked her.
Sammy giggled. “Everyone has a mummy. But mine is not allowed to see me all the time. Only when Daddy says it’s okay because she always yells at Daddy and calls him bad words, and sometimes she tries to take me away. Where’s your mummy?”
“She went out, but she didn’t come back home yet. She has the same hair as you, and blue eyes too. She’s so pretty.”
Sammy smiled. “My mummy is the same as that too. Michael, can we be friends forever?”
“Yes.”
I lifted my hand up and put my little finger out. I knew about pinky promises; Autumn taught me about them. She made a pinky promise with me that I would be her best friend first before Charlotte. Pinky promises were special, and I wanted to do one with Sammy because she was special too.
“Put your hand up like this,” I told Sammy.
She did it and I linked my pinky finger with hers. “Now we have to say what the pinky promise is.”
Sammy turned her head to me. With my night light on, I could see her eyes shining. “The pinky promise is we are going to be best friends forever.”
There was a little bit of pain in my tummy when I said it because I didn’t want Autumn to be sad, but then I decided to make it a big, big secret like the time my mum dropped all my dad’s white tablets in the toilet and accidently pressed the flush button. She said it was a secret, and we shouldn’t tell my dad.
When I dropped my hand down, Sammy put her arm around me and cuddled me. “Thank you for being my best friend forever, Michael.”
A jolt of electricity courses through my veins as I’m brought back to the room where the angel stands in front of me.