“NOT, a CHRISTIAN?” I hear my mother yell from the other room. I can faintly hear the voice of my sister trying to say something, but her small voice is interrupted by my mother’s, infuriated, screams. I walk into the living room to see what’s wrong.

I see my younger sister cowering in a corner, balling her eye’s out. My mother reaches for the closest object to her right. A small overturned end table. She pick’s it up and raises it to the air.

“MOM, STOP,” I scream, feeling myself run and tackle her before I have time to think. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“Your IDIOT sister just told me she’s NOT a CHRISTIAN ANYMORE!” She pushes me off aggressively. I hit the leg of a chair with my back, pain surging through my spine. I let out a small yelp of discomfort.

I look up at my mother, she looks angrier than I’ve ever seen her. “AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE THAT IN MY HOUSE!” Again she reaches for something to throw at her. My sister is now on the floor covering her head with her bare arms.

“MOM, THIS IS AWEFUL! YOU’RE SUCH A HYPOCRITE! LET HER DO WHAT SHE WANT’S! IT’S NOT YOUR LIFE, STOP!”

“AS LONG AS SHE IS UNDER MY ROOF SHE WILL ABIDE BY MY RULES! SHE WILL BOW DOWN TO JESUS CHRIST!”

She lift’s up the small table again. I scramble to my feet as fast as I can, but it’s too late. Hear my sister cry out in pain. I look at her small body, blood trickling down the side of her head.

I run to her and kneel by her side, quickly shoving the table out of the way. My sister has a large gash on forehead. “It’s ok, it will be fine, I promise.” I turn to my mother, “Look what you did!” I scream at her. She looks shocked and scared.

She walks slowly in my direction. “I’m so-“ she start’s but cannot finish. “GET AWAY!” I say through hard tears. I turn back to my sister, hearing a door slam behind me. She’s only 16, I think to myself, she doesn’t deserve this.