SNAP! CRASH! BANG! I hear glass smash and break against some furniture in the living room. I hurry out of my room and see what it is. It's my mother and Sean arguing again. Ugh. My mother is sitting on the brown mid-century sofa while Sean is pacing back and forth grabbing and throwing wine glasses from the cabinets.

She points at Sean angrily, "Why do you always do this?"

"Ya are the one who always starts all this commotion, don’t ya see?," he says, throwing another wine glasses against the picture frame of when I graduated from junior high. 

I step in front of the door, "Guys, s-stop f-f-fighting." I stammered. They both turned their heads and stared my way.

"Why ain’t ya in ya damn room?" said Sean, my stepdad. 

* * * * *

One moment I had a dad, the other I didn’t. It all happened so fast and suddenly.  I was only 12 years old. 

"Let him go!" I screamed at them

 "Get back kid," said the officer standing to the left of my dad.

"Please!" I begged the officer. "My dad didn’t do anything bad at all, why are you taking him away?" My eyes start to get watery. 

I saw it with my own eyes when my father got taken away by ICE. They just drove off as if they were taking a criminal to jail. He was just trying to live his life. It affected both my mother and I. I remember my mom and I crying so much we both fell asleep holding each other that night. My father was her only source of income therefore it meant she had to find a job to provide for herself and for me. She had to find a babysitter for me since she was working 10 hours a day at a factory. I remember my mom coming home very late at night so exhausted from work. A year went by and still no sign of my father. At this point, I was getting really worried about if I was ever going to see him again and it turns out I never did. 

* * * * *

"W-Why are you guys even f-fighting this t-time around?" I say while clutching both my hands out in confusion. 

"Ya mother will explain everything to ya later, ya got it?" he says holding back his voice.

I nod slightly.

"Hey, sweetheart, why don't you just meet me in your room in 15 minutes." My mother said, guiding me to my room. "It is all going to be okay honey, Sean and I are just discussing some important matters, isn't that right Sean?" she asked looking at him with a death stare. 

"Uhum yeah yeah." Sean sniffs, "that’s right Erika."

This fight between my mother and Sean wasn't one of those normal fights where they will make up afterward with an apology. This one felt different, maybe they're finally getting a divorce after being married for only 4 months. Finally, I'm not going to be stuck with Sean.

It's been 15 minutes and my mom isn't back yet. I wonder if she’s doing okay. 

I slowly peek out of the door, hoping to see Sean packing his things and leaving the house. To my surprise, there are a couple of suitcases and bags in the living room. I see my mom sitting on the couch once again, elbows on her knees and hands covering her face. I get closer to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Hey mom, are you okay?"

She looks up, I see her eyes are swollen from crying so much. She continues to sob. Sometimes I feel bad because I don’t like seeing her this weak. I sit next to her and hug her so tight, telling her everything is going to be okay. I ask if Sean is gonna leave this time for real now. 

“Hey mom, do those happen to be dads ba-" I stop. Right as I am about to ask if the bags on the broken wooden table with glass chips around are Sean's. I see Sean walking with 2 more black duffle bags

"Here are ya bags, I want ya out now! I already called my lawyer, he will contact ya in a bit, ya got it?" he says, dropping the black duffles bags along with the suitcases. 

My mom turns my way and tells me to go pack my stuff holding my hands with hers firmly. I start for my room taking little steps. I quietly and rapidly start packing my things and get out of the house. I come out of the house and see my mom waiting in the red 4runner Toyota for me with the suitcases and duffle bags in the backseat. As I hop in the car, I look back at the house. I can see Sean peeking out the window with a blank expression on his face. My mom starts driving. I ask her where we are going. She stays silent. I closed my eyes hoping I could just fall asleep. After a couple of minutes, we arrived at my aunt’s house. My mom finally says something.

"Unload the car." She says firmly. "We're staying at your aunt’s until we can find somewhere to live." 

I don’t question it and start unloading the car. I turn and see my aunt step out of the house. She gives me a big warm hug; I just lower my head down to my chest. She guides me to the living room and tells me that my mom and I are going to stay in the guest bedroom. I see the fireplace behind the blue couch that smells sweet and wood-like. There are marshmallows, chocolate, and crackers on the dark brown wooden table top. I have finally processed what just happened. I feel something inside me as if I’m about to break down. I try to hold it in, but instead, I run to the guest bedroom and start bursting into tears on a bed. I hate myself for not being strong and being so sensitive. I reach out for my stuffed teddy bear and my phone. I started texting my boyfriend. 

I’ve been together with my boyfriend for a little less than a year and a half. He’s athletic, not too smart, acts like a coward, has long dark curly hair, is about 6 feet tall; I'd say pretty tall, (or at least to me he is, considering I’m barely 5 feet tall), dark, handsome, but also an alcoholic. His parents know we're together but my mother doesn’t. Sometimes she has walked through the door when we were on facetime. She screams at me because she wants me to put my school work and academics first. I get it, she wants me to have a bright future and all, but I just want some space. 

Me: "hey…"

Jacob: "Hey you doing alr baby?"

Me: "nah not really"

Jacob: "Aww what happened baby?"

Jacob: "Did your parents get into an argument?"

Me: " yeah"

Me: "Sean was getting so mad" 

Me: "he started throwing wine glasses everywhere" 

Me: "he even ended up ruining my graduation photo from 8th grade" 

Me: "i think they’re gonna get divorced fr this time"

Me: "rn im at my aunts house since he kicked me and my mom out"

Jacob: "Oh that sounds awful"

Me: "can I call you?"

Jacob: "Yeah ofc baby"

I tell him how I wish to be with him. He always finds a way to cheer me up. That’s why I love him so much, but the one thing that sticks out to me when he is trying to comfort me is he tells me it’s all going to be okay. I believe him, but something tells me not to, I think about it, and is it really tho; is it going to be okay this time around? We called for a couple of hours until we were both frazzled and eventually knocked dead asleep together.