From the Top of the Stairs (standard:drama, 2361 words)
Author: Safiyah	Added: Jun 19 2003	Views/Reads: 3323/2243	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A disabled boy watches his family fall apart.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

wisdom of the world is going to tumble right out.”  The light of love 
shining from her eyes warmed his still damp skin and she would kiss 
him. He always slept well. 

He saw Daddy from the top of the stairs. He watched Mama kiss him and
hang up his coat. Daddy sat on the embroidered bench seat, unloaded 
change and keys from his pockets, and patted Mama's bottom whenever she 
turned around. She swatted at him and laughed. Eddie smiled. 

Caroline, his sister, kissed Roger in the parlor, and Eddie saw it from
the top of the stairs. She was the prettiest thing Eddie had ever seen. 
He saw Roger drop his hands from her waist and try to slip them under 
her skirt. He wanted to laugh when Caroline slapped him and made him 
leave, but he saw that they were both smiling. Especially Caroline. 

Eddie saw it all when the men who were building the Kmart down the road
brought his brother, Alan, home one day. Alan wrecked his bicycle and 
the whole front of his body showed his victory over the road with a 
million scrapes and tears. Alan didn't move and under the thin red 
lines of blood, his skin was whiter than anything Eddie could think of. 
Mama cried and Daddy hugged her hard, shushing her and telling her it 
would be all right. And it was. 

There were Christmas trees, Easter eggs, scary Halloween costumes, and a
hundred other wonderful things that Eddie had seen and heard from the 
top of the stairs and he remembered each one in amazing detail. These 
things made Eddie happy and he smiled when he thought of them. 

He saw other things from the top of the stairs too. He watched Alan
stumble in drunk the first of many times. He vomited broccoli casserole 
all over Mama's spotless white carpet. The stain was there for a long 
time. Daddy was angry and Mama afraid. Eddie shrank himself and sucked 
his thumb, but still he watched. 

Pretty Caroline let Roger touch and kiss her more every time he brought
her home until one night Daddy came in late from work. Eddie felt 
Daddy's rage at finding Caroline shirtless, lying on the bench, and 
Roger with his zipper down and his fingers somewhere under her dress. 
That night was a storm and the thunder still vibrated Eddie's bones. 

Uneasiness grew strong in Eddie's heart as he saw his family change
around him. Mama, once so happy and attentive, was sad all the time. 
Alan was always drunk and mad and he frightened Eddie. He saw them come 
and go from the top of the stairs. He sucked his thumb, and rocked back 
and forth, understanding, but not. Helpless to do anything other than 
watch. 

Alan moved out and things seemed easier for a little while. Eddie smiled
again. But bad feelings came to him from Daddy and Caroline. He didn't 
see Mama much anymore. He listened in anguish to Daddy and Caroline 
fight, his thumb tucked in his mouth and steadily rocking. Daddy waited 
for her each night in the parlor, his face tight and angry. She came in 
and headed for the stairs, but Daddy always stopped her, asking a 
million questions. And always, so very angry. 

”Where have you been?” 

“Out!” 

Daddy sneered at her. “Roger again?” 

”Yes Daddy. Can I go to bed now? I'm not late” 

”Letting him put his hands all over you again? Or maybe it's gone a bit
farther now, huh Caroline?” His voice scared Eddie. Maybe it scared 
Caroline too, because she always went straight upstairs. There was 
something funny about Daddy. Something new in his face and it got 
bigger every time he yelled at Caroline. Mama was upset too, but Daddy 
just screamed at her to shut-up, and pretty soon she just stayed in her 
room and cried all the time. 

Caroline tried to comfort Eddie. She sat on his bed sometimes and
brushed his hair, telling him how grown up he was getting. “Someday 
I'll be gone Eddie and it'll be just you, Mama, and Daddy. Maybe things 
will be better then.” Eddie squirmed and whined at her words until she 
put her arms around his waist and coaxed him to lean back against her 
chest. She rubbed his forehead and hummed softly. Eddie relaxed, and 
before she left his room, she always kissed his cheek. “I love you 
Eddie,” she whispered, “Goodnight.” Those nights, he slept well. 

The worst thing he ever saw from the top of the stairs came in the
middle of the night. Eddie woke to loud voices and Caroline's sobs. He 
was afraid, but he crept to his special place and peered through the 
rails. The rails were long and brown, and so straight, so very 
straight. He covered one eye to see better and his heart pounded hard 
in his chest. 

They were fighting again. Caroline was leaving, her suitcase packed and
standing by the door. Daddy had caught her before she could get away. 
He called her names. Daddy said all the real bad words that Alan used 
to say until Mama found out and whipped him for it. He had his hands on 
her arms, way up high, and she looked like she was pinned to the wall 
by the door. He pressed right up against her in his boxer shorts and 
Eddie felt sick. He wanted to shout at Daddy and make him stop, but he 
could only watch from the top of the stairs. 

Caroline was crying hard and struggling to get away, but Daddy wouldn't
let her go. Eddie began to rock, his thumb in his mouth. 

”You slut! Do you think I'm an idiot? You're nothing but a whore
Caroline!  Strutting around in your short dresses and spreading your 
legs for anyone.”  His voice was so hard, so rough. She was scared and 
Daddy didn't even care.  And he was kissing her, but it was strange and 
frightening rather than comforting.  Eddie could see that something was 
wrong.  Something was terrible wrong. 

”Daddy, no,” Caroline whispered. “Please. You're hurting me. Please
stop.” 

”If you want to act like a slut, then by God, I'll treat you like one.”
Daddy said, and he shoved Caroline down onto the pretty flowered bench 
seat. He ripped her shirt and Eddie cried silently, never taking his 
eyes away from them. 

Caroline's voice was muffled and afraid. The sound of it burned into
Eddie's brain so that he could never forget what he heard that night. 
Daddy was calm now, but he didn't stop. 

”Shhh. Hush baby. It'll be okay,” Daddy said, taking her pants off.
“Just be a good girl for Daddy. I won't hurt you baby. I promise. C'mon 
now. Touch it.” 

”Daddy, no please, no.” 

He took her hand and put it inside his underwear. He groaned and closed
his eyes. “Yes! That's it baby. Do it for Daddy.”  Eddie's panic 
reached a new high and he thought the beating in his chest might 
somehow make it down the stairs and into Daddy's ears, but he could not 
run away.  Sobbing, Caroline gave in. Daddy lay on top of her, his 
shorts down around his feet. Eddie watched him move around on her, 
uncertain anymore that anything was wrong, but he still had that awful 
feeling in his belly.  Caroline lay as still as a painting. Daddy 
pressed hard into her skin, moving her body to the end of the bench. 
When she got there, her head fell back and Eddie could finally see her 
face. Her mouth was open like she was trying to scream, only she 
couldn't, and her eyes looked funny. 

Eddie felt her eyes connect to his. She could see him sitting there,
watching!  Eddie was shocked and jerked his head up. Nobody had ever 
seen him at the top of the stairs before. She began to cry again, and 
spoke to him in a ragged whisper. “Eddie... no... go away... please.” 
Daddy had stopped moving. He trembled, frozen in place with his head 
thrown back and his eyes closed. But when Caroline spoke, he jumped up 
quickly, and looked at Eddie. 

Eddie whimpered but made no move to leave. He saw bad things in Daddy's
face and he was very afraid. Daddy pulled up his shorts and left 
Caroline there naked as he came for Eddie. 

He seemed to fly up the stairs and Eddie clenched his eyes tight, hoping
that if he couldn't see Daddy, then Daddy couldn't see him. All at once 
he felt him snatch him up and shake him, and he tasted blood as his 
teeth cut into his useless tongue. “Don't you ever tell Eddie! Never! 
You saw nothing! Do you hear me boy?” 

Caroline was there now. ”Daddy! Stop! He can't even talk... he won't say
anything! Put him down. Please!” She beat on his back with her fists 
until he dropped Eddie, who instantly skittered back against the wall, 
shrinking and hiding. But Daddy was still after him. 

Then Mama was there too, her dead eyes alive again. “You bastard! Leave
my children alone!” Her voice was high and screeching. She cried and 
Eddie wanted to go to her and make her stop. “No more.” She whispered. 
“No more.” 

Then she was on him, scratching, and kicking, and biting, and hitting.
Eddie put his hands over his eyes and rocked against the wall. 

They slammed into the banister, Caroline screamed, and Eddie heard the
creak of wood splitting, so loud in his ears. He looked again and saw, 
from the top of the stairs, the rail give way, splintering into a 
thousand pieces and showering them in tiny, clean-smelling bits of 
wood. 

They fell, Mama and Daddy. They landed together on the glass-topped
occasional table that sat under the stair landing.  Eddie looked 
through the straight brown slats and saw the white carpet covered with 
splashes of startlingly bright crimson. 

That's what Eddie might say, if he could, when people asked him why he
painted what he painted. Caroline knew, he saw it in her face, but she 
pretended she didn't. Eddie just loved her and kept painting the view 
from the top of the stairs. 

~:~:~ 

© 


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