Trigger Warning: ABUSE,self harm, blood, periods

***

"Lopez would just be idiotic, and Doc just didn't fit my vibe, you know," she continued, "I've finally decided that until further notice, I shall call you Peach!"

I shared a confused glance with Hollis, who just shook their head before whispering,

"Let her be. Last year she called me orange for an entire year because I drank orange juice in front of her one time. Besides, you'll get used to it."

I shrugged my shoulders and went back to eating. I had in New York for two weeks by now, it was the middle of September, and this was the least weird thing that I've witnessed in this wack city.

And so my two friends and I continued eating in peaceful silence, each pondering on their thoughts.

***

I had come home late that day, sneaking in just after four.

I barely had time to register my surroundings before I was slammed against the wall, the familiar ache in my head back once again.

"Now hun," he started with a sickly smile, "You were 45 minutes late today. And you know the consequences."

He let me down, surprisingly gentle for someone who had just slammed me into a wall moments earlier.

"But because I am such a good father, I will give you a 5-second headstart. Now scurry away, little bunny, because work has really been bugging me."

Fear coursed through my veins as I took in his words. He always put up an act that he was a good father or person, right before he would beat the shit out of me. Me hiding made him angrier, but he would also be mad if I didn't go hide.

I was hiding under my bed now, shivering from fear.

"Emma, are you okay?"

"Come out, come out wherever you are." Gabriel called out in a singsongy voice, "You can't hide forever."

I sat laid perfectly still, barely breathing.

Until I felt a hand wrap around my ankle and jerk me out of my hiding spot.

"Well, well, well," he sneered, "I found the little bunny."

It was just then I saw the object in his hands.

Instinctively I pleaded, "Please not the bat. Please not the bat."

"What bat? Emma, what's going on?"

"Oh shut up," he said, annoyance evident in his tone, "all you do is whine. Besides, none of this would have happened if you hadn't been alive."

He grabbed my wrist and flipped it over, exposing the scars on it, "I can't believe that you're such a retard that you couldn't even kill yourself properly."

He punctuated his sentence with a swing to my ribs, and I heard them crack.

I screamed out in pain, tears streaming down my face,

"HELP!" I yelled.

"EMMA, WAKE UP."

Gabriel squatted down and spat in my face,

"No one is going to save you, little bunny, so you might as well give up now."

He reached down and started shaking my shoulders, and I tried to squirm out of his hold.

I looked up expecting to meet his shit colored eyes but instead saw dark blue eyes, the color of oceans, staring back at me.

And I only knew one person with those eyes.

"Marco?"

"Emma? Emma, can you hear me?" The person said frantically.

I tried to move my body, my eyes, anything, but I couldn't.

I felt myself being dragged back down into the depths of my consciousness where these memories hid.

No. I couldn't go back. With a sudden surge of energy, my eyelids flew open, and my breathing returned to normal.

However, I was not met with a pleasant sight.

Standing around my bed were all five of my brothers.

"What time is it?" I croaked out, my throat unreasonably dry.

Luca passed me a cup of water from my nightstand while saying,

"It's 3:46 in the morning."

I cocked an eyebrow, confused as to why they were here.

"You were screaming, Emma," Marco explained.

Ah, that explains the dry and sorta sore throat.

"Oh, okay"

We sat in silence for about a minute before Marco exploded.

"What the hell was that?!?"

"Er- sorry?" I asked, confused.

"You were just screaming bloody murder at 3 in the morning, and you're not even going to explain?"

"Oh it was just a bad dream." I said, waving my hand in a not caring manner.

"That wasn't just a bad dream, Emma," Marco said, his stupid eyes full of understanding.

"Everyone except Marco, out." Alessandro spoke for the first time that evening.

A myriad of complaints started,

"What?"

"That is not fair."

"You think I'm leaving my twin?"

"Yeah alright." That one came from Antonio, who Luca then threw a pillow at.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Alessandro said, his voice holding an underlying threat.

My brothers, sans Alessandro and Marco, scurried out of the room, leaving me with no defense.

As I shifted uneasily under the covers, I realized another thing.

God, could my stupid period have worse timing? Atleast I thought it was my period. I had it for a year when I was 11 but lost it when I was 12.

My period would periodically pop back in once in a while when Gabriel would be in a good mood for weeks, or even months, but I always lost it when he went back to being him.

I hadn't gotten my period for 2 years at this point and had no idea how to deal with it. Oh, who to call? Diya maybe? Yeah probably. I had only known Diya for 2 weeks, but weirdly enough, I felt comfortable around her.

Oh, and I had no other friends, so...

"Hey Emma. You there?"

"Oh yeah, sorry, what?"

"Care to explain." Alessandro stated, more than asked.

Wait, I had the perfect excuse now.

"Do you have any pads or tampons?"

Both Alessandro and Marco looked like fish out of water, their eyes growing wide.

"Uh, what?" Marco asked.

"I'm like 99% sure I just started my period." I calmly said while raging on the inside. What the actual fuck is wrong with me and the words that come out of my mouth.

Oh, I don't know, Emma, maybe 4 YEARS OF HARSH ABSUE. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT.

Dang, my own mind was so mean to me. Sad.

"Er, no, we don't have any. Well, I don't think so, atleast. I can go get you some?" Marco said, flushing redder and redder with each word that came out of his mouth. (my Indian skin could never)

"Can I just call one of my friends to come over or something?" I said, looking at Alessandro for confirmation.

"Are any of them awake? It is 4 in the morning." He tried to deflect.

Eh, Diya seemed like the type of person to be awake right now.

While he was waiting for my answer, he turned to talk to Marco.

"Ella definitivamente está escondiendo algo" (She's definitely hiding something.)

"Obviamente, pero no quiero quedarme por, ya sabes, las cosa de ella" (Obviously, but I don't want to stick around because of her, you know, thing.)

"Yeah, she will be awake." I said.

"Then you can, I suppose." With that, he gave me a curt nod and practically ran out the room, followed by Marco.

As they left the room, I frowned. Of course, they knew I was hiding something. But on the plus side, all I needed to do was talk about periods, and they would run away.

Oh crap, now I needed to call Diya and quite possibly wake her up.

I grabbed my phone and clicked on Diya's contact.

The phone rang once...

Twice...

and just when I was about to hang up, I heard a quiet

"Peach?"

Uh, that was me, right? I guess so.

"Oh yeah, it's me"

"What's up?"

"What do you mean, can't I just call to check up on a friend?".

What the actual heck was I saying right now. To be fair, how do you ask someone to come over because you don't know how to deal with your period.

Yeah, not that easy.

"Yeah, well, you could if you know it wasn't like 4 am."

"Um, fair enough, sorry for calling I'll just hang up, bye" I rushed out, my finger hovering over the end button.

"Wait. You don't get to wake me up and then hang up on me. I value my sleep too much for that."

"Well, it's kinda stupid, but promise you won't like make fun of me."

"Sure. It can't be that bad."

"I started my period, and I don't know how to deal with it, and none of my brothers know, and there's not a single freaking girl in this household, and I was just calling to ask you how to deal with it because I've actually never gotten my period before which is weird so yeah."

"I'll be over in 10." She said before hanging up.

I stared down at my phone. How did Diya know where I live?

Not even a minute later, my phone screen flashed with an incoming call.

"Um yeah, so I kinda forgot to ask you where you live?"

***

hey y'all

so quick question, how we feeling about Diya?

anyways i decided not to dye my hair because i have "virgin" hair and I wanna donate my hair to Locks for Love (they make wigs out of your hair for cancer patients) and I want those people to have the best quality hair that I can provide.

Wear your mask, eat your meals, drink your water, and stay safe!