No One's Seen | Teen Ink

No One's Seen

August 31, 2013
By koreankittykait BRONZE, Rowland Heights, California
koreankittykait BRONZE, Rowland Heights, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

No one's seen a more perfect family than that of the Brown family. With a prominent doctor father, an important lawyer mother, a perfect, beautiful daughter, a handsome, athletic son, and two adorable musical twins. Living in a nice suburban home, having routine family dinners every Sunday and a loving family dog. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all people have seen.

No one's seen a more loving father, someone who loves spending time with his kids and wife. Along with having an office filled with fun family photos with lots of colleagues looking for and up to him for his wit, intelligence, and overall amiable personality. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all people have seen.

No one's seen the bruises, not on himself but the one he's inflicted while being flooded with rage and self-pity. The smell of alcohol on his breath is absent to those besides his family. The dark thoughts he keeps to himself, being plagued by them while he takes drink after drink, pushing himself into an even darker hole than he originally began in. Sometimes he doesn't even come home until the really late hours of the night, of course, drunk. Hitting, beating, punching, screaming, the nice suburban home turns into a nightmare.

And no one's seen him come in one day drunk, scheduled to perform a very important surgery in which only a few, including himself, specializes in. Alcohol obscured his senses and in the end, you could guess what happened. The patient didnt make it out alive, and neither did Mr. Brown's career. Everything is not perfect.

No one's seen a more wonderful mother, someone who loves her job and her kids and husband. Spending a lot of time at her law firm, she also balances it out with picking up her kids to and from activities. Being a soccer mom isnt easy but it sure is fun. At home, she's an amazing cook who's kids dont lie to her when they admire her skills. On weekends, she takes breaks with her girl friends and sometimes even colleagues. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all people have seen.

No one's seen the bruises, on herself, not inflicted on others. The dark spots that form along her arms and body, ranging from the latest to the great with purple and yellow. When her husband comes home and the kids are shaking upstairs from the shouting and the sound of their things crashing, just like their lives. She too has the smell of alcohol on her breath, mixed in with the medication she takes to be stay awake and not crumble to pieces.

And no one's seen her driving to the bar to grab more drinks with a few friends. The mix of drugs and alcohol finally decided to take a toll on her. She gets a call her twins, crying about how Dad was going out of control and she drives home. The semi-truck never saw her coming and neither did any of her friends. Ending up in critical condition, Mrs. Brown goes into a coma.

No one's seen a more perfect daughter, someone who truly encompasses the perfect girl complex. Many nights of studying, she gets the best grades and thats something she's proud of.  Being one of the most well-liked girls in her class while also balancing a decent social life, it's great. A perfect family with loving parents, good grades, lots of friends. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all people have seen.

No one's seen the tears she cries on many nights when the frustration and stress just gets too much. Handling a difficult work load requires many hours of studying and to keep up with the lack of sleep, she takes medication to help her. The bruises are covered with makeup along with cleverly picked clothing, masking everything that is at home.

And no one's seen the final straw in which everything just becomes too much. Taking the bottle of pills she hides from her family and everyone else, she takes out a handful, looking at them regretfully, thinking about what people would say, how those who loved her would react: her parents, her siblings, her friends, her teachers.  But then she remembers all that has pushed her to this: it was them exactly and she no longer feels regrets as she swallows and slowly loses consciousness.

No one's seen a more handsome son, someone who loves the sports he plays. Being the best player on the many teams he plays, he's admired by all of those at school and even others. Always having girls around him, he's the envy of many guys at his school. He's still popular among the vast majority of the school. Though he doesnt get the best grades like his sister's, they are quite good. Colleges have already claimed him and scouted for him, guaranteeing a scholarship and some of the best schools in the country. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all people have seen.

No one's seen the doubtful looks his parents give him when he fails to achieve their higher than the Empire State Building expectations though they themselves have no intentions of coming to his games. The screams and bruises he receives on those worse-than-usual days where his dad comes staggering in, drunk, angry, and sad. The parties he uses to wash his worries away, mirroring his father when he staggers in drunk at one in the morning. Constantly taking steroids to please his parents, it starts to affect him in every wrong way.

And no one's seen him partying after bringing his team to states.  Drinking to a bit of an extreme level, he drives home after feeling satisfied with himself. An officer pulls him over, with the already present heavy stench of alcohol, he tries to negotiate. Something just snapped and he went off. Before he knew it, the police officer was on the ground, but not before a sea of blue and red stopped before him. Learn to never mix and drive.

No one's seen a more talented pair of twins, children who are astounding at their instruments and love it. Coming from the ideal house, the boy and girl have a lot of time to practice but also many toys. The girl enjoys reading very much, a level above her grade while the boy enjoys art, drawing, painting, all the like. They each have each other to depend on and I guess thats all they really need. Everything seems perfect right? Wrong, because this is all that people have seen.

No one's seen the looks and sneers the twins received from their peers. Being called gay for drawing and playing instruments rather than sports, being called a loser for reading rather than playing with make-up. Stereotypes surrounded each of them but the boy was weaker, leaving the sister to fend for both of them.

And no one's seen the black eye and bruises the boy got when he got in fight and scratch marks from restraining the girl. Some good Samaritans found them and immediately called the police, leading an investigation and admitting them into the hospital.

No one's seen the masks that this family conceals themselves with, the dark secrets that scar each and everyone one of them.


The author's comments:
I just hope people realize that not everything is perfect, we just all wear masks to protect ourselves. Without them, we're vulnerable to judgment, pain, weakness.

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