I watched in dismay as my mom sat at her desk,and let Jim anger her.He finally made her mad enough,she was out of her seat in seconds.She was now in his face yelling back.My little brother was by my side shivering in fear and sadness.I didn't know what to do about it.It all happened too fast.

I reached out for the house phone my fingers just barely knocked it off the charger.I gripped it tight in my hand as I dragged it across the desk towards me.Now the two adults were cussing and my brother was holding back his tears.I rested my hand on his shoulder to assure him that it was going to be OK.

He turned his head toward me and noticed the phone."Who are you calling?" he asked.His voice quivered and I saw a small tear roll down his face.A pang of guilt shot through me.A four year old shouldn't have to see such fierceness.I am four years older than him,and as I always tell him I have four more years experience.I was used to the fighting and arguing,so it didn't normally bug me.But his little innocent heart wasn't used to this.And this verbal argument was the worst one I'd seen yet.And it scared me.

I punched in my father's phone number.I felt the cold wet tears of my own roll down my cheeks.As I pressed the talk button I placed it gingerly to my ear.I heard it ring three times and then heard my father's voice.

"Hello?" he asked."Dad?It's me Kiersten." I sobbed."What's wrong?!" his voice filled with worry."Mom and Jim are fighting and this one is worse then their other ones." I quivered." I'm coming." was the last thing he said before hanging up.

As I waited I closed my eyes and blocked out the sounds of fighting.I began to think about the place we lived.It was a horrible neighborhood in Laveen, Arizona.There were a lot of fires at the park at the corner of the block,and stupid,mean,vicious chihuahuas that were loose.Every time my brother and I risked going to the park those evil little dogs would bite our ankles until they bled.The school I went to was horrible.I hated being the only white kid at my school,the other kids would tease me and call me white trash.They also would force me to fight them and throw me into other fights.Even my teacher Mrs.Franklin was racist!She would send me to the office and threaten my parents.She said she could call the Child Protection Agency.

And when it came to the fights I was in,the teachers would watch me take blows from the other kids,yet when I fought back I would be in trouble.Not the kids who beat me senselessly!Even with all that going on I still had A's and I even made Gifted testing.I know it was all my hard work paying off.But when I had done the Gifted Testing I had no idea what I was doing.I mean I was sitting in Mrs.Franklin's class and suddenly another teacher comes in and drags me off.That teacher threw me on a bus and I was taken to the middle of nowhere as long as three other students.We were locked in a small building about the size of a classroom.We all took our seats and that was when the tests were handed out.I refused to take it.But it still sat on my desk waiting to be completed.About fifty minutes later a little timer went off and the lady that had handed out the tests collected them.As she approached me an annoyed expression whipped her face."Why didn't you do your test?" she asked angrily."Because this isn't my school or my classroom!" I retorted angrily.Her piecing blue eyes turned cold.I crossed my arms across my chest.We loaded the bus again and went back to school.By the time we got back it was time to go home.

I stomped to the child pick up and spotted Lakisha waiting for me in her vehicle,my three year old brother in the back seat.She opened the passenger side door and I slid in."How was school today?" she asked politely."What school?" I grumbled angrily."I wasn't even at school.I went on a bus to somewhere in the mountains to take a test." She looked at me,her soft green eyes filled with shock.I turned away and was silent until we got to her house.My best buddy was there waiting for me.He was cute.At least that's what I thought.His name was Derek,he was my age and had blond hair,beautiful blue eyes.His little brother was four and was in kindergarten.He played with my little brother as me and Derek would complete our homework.After our homework was done Derek and I would race each other to the game room where we would play the old fashion games like Paper Boy,Mario,and Donkey Kong.They were all pix-elated games.Yet they were still extremely entertaining.

We would always play two player on Paper Boy.Normally he would win,but I was always close behind his score.

When my mom had come to pick me up,Lakisha explained the mysterious field trip and my mom seemed a bit angry.Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and the vision of the past faded.The hand was rough and familiar.It was my father.

"Hi dad." I whispered."Heather is waiting outside in the car.Go get in." his voice was calm as he instructed me to leave.Jim seemed to be furious.His horrid gaze upon me.I knew he was mad that I had called for help,but I didn't care about his opinion.

I rushed down the stairs as the yelling started again.This time my father was in it too.He was on my mom's side.I tore open the door and scraped my elbow as I half way hit the side of the post in panic.I got into the car trying to escape the sound of yelling.

Heather looked back at me.Her eyes filled with understanding.As if trying to calm me,she asked if we had eaten.I shook my head and she began to drive to the exit of the neighborhood.There was a Sonic beside my mom's neighborhood.So Heather took us there.She asked us what we would like.Phoenix wanted their popcorn chicken.I didn't want something to eat so I asked for my favorite Coconut Cream Slushy.She sighed as she noticed that I wasn't prepared to eat.

I loved watching the waiters come out on skates.It always looked like fun.I looked at Heather."When will Daddy come see us?" I fretted.She looked at me,her eyes filled with sympathy."When everything is OK." she answered.

About two hours past our bedtime dad came to Sonic to meet us.It was about 10:00 P.M.He looked at me,his eyes soft and welcoming. "Dad!" I squealed.He wrapped me up in a bear hug.His bear hugs always hurt.But it was his normal hug.I always laughed at the way he made a silly growl when he hugged me."Hi sweety!" he greeted me.My back made a cracking noise,that was usually when the hug was over because he always thought that it hurt me bad.I was so happy to see him.My brother was next.He was a lot more gentle with him because Phoenix was still small.

We went home and about a few weeks later we were aloud to go back to my mom's.Jim was still there.I wish he would leave.About one year later Jim was gone and we had moved to Goodyear.I had went to D.W. Higgins and then to Palm Valley Elementary.Now I am on my last year of junior high.Next year I will officially be a High School student!Though yesterday I figured out something about that fight between my mom and Jim.If I would have known when he was around I would have hurt him bad.My mom showed me a picture from that night they had fought.It was a picture of my mom.I studied it closely and her left eye was extremely swollen and purple.That horrid man had punched my mom!I still would punch him today if I had the chance.Now my mom is with a man named Scott.He is a little on the depressed side,but on a scale of one to ten compared to how much better he is than Jim,I would give him a ten.At least he hasn't hit my mother like that piece of trash!