34. Emma

Past

July 2009

The happiest weeks of my life flew by.

I was happy despite the strict schedule we had in the workshop, even though Grandpa watched TV while Luc explained math to me at the other end of the room. He was the most radiant person in the world.

Of course, not everything was perfect, the days I stayed at the family home were heartbreaking. I had suspicions that my father was beating my mother and that he wouldn't stop him, he had started pinching me, pulling my hair or pushing me.

"Just don't make him angry," my mother said when I complained about the pinches that were becoming more and more aggressive.

"It's not right what Mom is doing.”

"Avoid it.”

I took him at his word, in the last week I locked myself in my room, where I did the homework that Luc gave me to practice while remembering the kisses stolen in the workshop. He pined for the boy who wouldn't open up.

I couldn't push him, like that day when he saw me with a sad smile and asked me about Grandpa, so I leaned back