As the countdown began I made a summary of what happened so far that night:
"TEN!" the partiers screamed from the TV.
But instead of their faces I see Dad picking up mum and throwing her against the wall. Memories can be so vivid. 'Sienna!' she had called to me.
"NINE!"
I recall my instant feeling of protecting her, my hands grabbing at his singlet attempting to pull him away as he climbs over her.
"EIGHT!"
Now I'm seeing myself desperately grab at his neck, if didn't stop him he would have killed her.
"SEVEN!"
His right arm lifts up and his hand tenses into a fist. His knuckles go white as he is about to release not only his arm, but the bond that his wife holds on his life.
"SIX!"
There's no pulling him away, I remember thinking quickly. Intuitively I swing from the back of him, so that his fist hits my back, pushing me on to mum. At first the pain was subtle and the aftershock came, with throbbing and tenderness. A tinge of pain brings me back to the present.
"FIVE!"
Dad realises his mistake and grabs me, throwing along a line of his beer. A loud crash of glass and body distract me from further pain.
"FOUR!"
I work through the struggle to stand up, coming eye to eye to my father.
'Who are you?' I say in unison with my memory.
"THREE!"
He couldn't say anything. The alcohol must have started taking affect. Instead he retreated to the spare room.
"TWO!"
I tucked in mum after I found no glass in my body and I recall her slowly falling asleep as I stroke the hair from her face. I knew she would be leaving soon.
"ONE!"
And now that's all in the past. A New Year has begun.
The fireworks on TV blast over my quiet tears. It wouldn't be long until school started again. And it wouldn't be long until mum packed her bags, leaving me and my delinquent older brother to look after our alcoholic father. What do they call that?
Hell.
Or perhaps Hope.
YES, 2009 will be a great year, I just know it.