"He can't do that!" I screamed standing up.
"Calm down, baby please." My mother said
"No, I won't!" I said getting angrier at the thought of him having the audacity of thinking that he could he even think to try and take me away. "Why does he think he has the right?"
"He filed a complaint with the court saying that I was forcing you to keep away from him."
"That's bullshit!" I screamed not paying any attention to my mother's glare. "He didn't want me. He said that to you! To me!"
My mother shook her head and wipe her tears from her pretty eyes, "I know, I know, but we can't prove that. It would be a case of our word against his. And sometimes that just not enough. The way it is now it just looks like I was just taking you away.
I looked at my mother incredulously, "It's not just his word against ours. It our scares versus his words! My back is fucked up because of him and you're saying that we don't have evidence!"
"I never filed a report Maya!" My mother screamed standing up as her hazel eyes filled with more tears. "I never called the police, I never went down to the station, I never so much as told your grandmother. If they were to ask anyone all they would be able to say is that I was taking you away!"
"Is that why we moved here?" I questioned a stern tone suddenly taking over my voice causing my mother to look down. "Was he coming when we were back in L.A?"
She nodded her head but didn't meet my eye. "I thought that if we weren't in the sate he would at least give up."
"You should have known better!" I said scolding her. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I should be able to protect you!" She said burying her face in her hands and shaking her head. "Not the other way around. You shouldn't have to worry about me the way that you do or take care of me the way that you do. I'm the mother."
I looked at my mother with sad eyes. We both knew what she said was true, but I had never seen it as a burden to take care of my mother. I knew the reason that she wasn't able to plan things in advance, or scold me the way that a mother should. It wasn't her fault that she couldn't seem to get her head out of the clouds; she was changed into that type of person. In all honesty I was happy about how happy and energetic that she seemed, there was a point when she was void of any emotion at all. When my mother was broken.
"You are my mother." I said walking to her and embracing her. Being the same height it was easy for her to lay her head on my shoulder as she started to sob. "And I love you for the way you are. I don't want you to worry. I'm not going anywhere, no matter how many complaints that he puts in to the courts. I bet you that this is some kind of ploy to get money from the government for me."
I felt my mother sigh and nod her head. She pulled away and wiped her puffy eyes very much like a child wood.
"Don't rub your eyes mom, they'll swell." She nodded her head and dropped her hands to her sides. "Why don't you go in your room and change and take a nap. I'll order us some Pizza or something for dinner okay?"
She nodded again and made her way out of her study. When I was sure that she left the room I turned to look at the papers that were left scattered on the desk. I picked up one of the documents and picked out some key words.
'Michael Ross is suing Jessica Thomas for custody of Maya Jasmine Ross."
I glared at the paper and placed it down on the desk. That sorry excuse for a father had no right to even try to see me let alone have custody over me. He tried to ruin my life before it even began.
Xxx
It had been a couple of hours since I had come home and found my mother in the state that she was in. She hadn't woken up since she lay down. I had gone to check on her since then but it just seemed like she tired herself out with all of her crying. She had probably been bawling before I came home.
The pizza man had come about thirty minutes ago and now I was sitting in the living room with a large pizza sitting on the table watching television as I angrily ate another slice of slightly cold pizza.
"You should probably slow down before you get fat!" A voice hissed from behind me. It was familiar. I had heard that same sentence from a long time ago. I turned my head but saw no one in the room.
"What was that?" I mumble to myself looking around. I stood as I finished off my last slice of pizza and picked up the box. My eyes wondered around the rooms as I placed the box on the stove, wanting to leave it out in case mother came down late in search of food.
"Bitch, are you trying to make my daughter fat!" I looked behind me quickly and I felt my eyes widen in fear my heart rate started to increase and I felt my arms get weak.
"Why is this happening?" I murmured to myself as I suddenly felt at an ache in the back of my head. I sunk down in front of the oven and pulled my knees to my chest.
Xxx
'This shouldn't be happening.' My ten year old self thought as I watched my father glare at me accusingly. I put the slice of pizza down on the plate and looked at him confused. "Dad, this is my second slice of pizza."
"Did I ask you what it was!" It wasn't a question, I knew that. He never asked questions he only screamed and dictated.
I look down; I couldn't stand looking into those scarily clear black eyes. As far as I knew, father never drank, never smoked, and never did drugs. The only reason I could think of him doing this for was because he was crazy.
"I didn't want a daughter no way." He spit at me as he grabbed my arm and yanked me up from the table. He squeezed tight and I winced and felt tears start to cloud my eyes.
"Mom?" I whispered looking at her. Mom was just as beautiful as always, her light skin glowing slightly in her brown dress and her full lips were slightly pouty, but her almond shaped hazel eyes were empty. No emotion, he had already had her tonight.
I screamed when I suddenly felt my body being flung to the ground. I shuddered when I felt the back of my head connect with the tile on the ground. I blinked quickly as my vision seemed to turn gray for a second. I don't remember ever being thrown that hard. My eyes roll for a second before screaming finds its way to my ears. I sit partially up and I am able to get at an angle where I can see my mother's brown hair being grabbed and pulled by my father. She's crying and trying to hit him but he slams her face down onto the table. When he lifts it back up he spits in her face.
"Bitch, are you tryin' to make my daughter fat!" He screams and goes to hit her face on the table again. She wails even louder than before and that is when I start to try and get up. I roll on my side and force myself up on my hands and knees. I scan the room and I spot the fire poker. I crawl as quickly as I can to the fireplace and grab it. I stood up as and faced my father. By this time he had dragged my mother to the floor and was kicking her.
"Let her go!" I scream, but he doesn't hear me. He's too wrapped up in tormenting my mother. I walked behind him as quietly as possible and stabbed him in the leg.
"Ah!" He screamed and I stabbed him in the other leg. In pain he let go of my mother's hair and I grabbed her hand. I tried to pull her away but she had to come most of the way to me. As she crawled toward me he grabbed her leg and started to pull back. My mother took the fire poker and slapped him across the back of the skull he his head fell down and his grip on my mother's leg fell as his body went limp.
As we scrambled away from him we breathed heavily.
I looked at my mother and saw her pretty face already start to bruise. Her nose looked crooked and blood was racing down her face and falling down on to her chin and onto the floor.
She looked at me and like she was asking something. I stared at her not really knowing what it was that she expected of me. She used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her face and went to walk over toward father but I grabbed her hand and stopped her. She looked back at me and I shook my head. She stared at me for a moment before she stopped and walked away. I watched her as she made her way up the stairs, when I heard the door close.
I looked at the man that lay on the floor and I watched as his breathing seemed to become labored. I walked slowly over to him and narrowed my eyes slightly when I saw that he started to twitch slightly. I looked around to make sure that my mother was not near. I kicked him in the back of his skull, around the same area where I hit my head on the tile. I watched as his body returned to its limp state, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when he stopped moving. I walked back into the living room and waited by the bottom of the stairs, my mother would be down the stairs soon.
I leaned against the beige wall and closed my eyes trying to rest. This was too much; it was not supposed to happen. Parents were supposed to love each other and their children. I was not supposed to be dealing with things like this, right?
As I stayed their trying to calm myself from the incident I felt my mind start to cloud with sleepiness. It was sudden when the thoughts stopped swirling around in my head.
When I woke again I was being cradled in my mother's arms. Even though it appeared to be the dead of night I could tell that the room was a warm green with white trim.
I turned my head to the left and saw an alarm clock with bright red numbers glaring back at me, 2:32.
I felt my mother's arm tighten around my waist and I turned to look at her again. He beautiful face was slightly swollen and her nose was packed with tissue. I closed my eyes and turned over on to my right side and moved myself closer to her before I went back to sleep.
"Where is it!" I heard my mother's frantic voice as she was furiously searched through her bags that she had packed for us. I sat up from my bead and looked at the clock on the nightstand 1:43.
"Mom?" I questioned looking at her hunched over form.
"We have to go back." She looking at me and biting her nails. "I was stupid to think that we could make it without him."
I watched as she shook slightly and rubbed the sides of her arms up her and down. I got of the bed and walked over to her and hugged her around her waist. I shook my head into her lower abdomen. She sighed as she squatted down to her knees and embracing me fully.
"I don't want to go back there, mommy." I said looking at her as tears started to fill my eyes. "We have to go away."
"We don't have money, baby." She said looking at me in the eye.
"We have grandpa." I said looking at her intently. Even though I was young I was no fool. Grandpa had money, but father never allowed mother or I to go and see him. We never had a chance to ask for help.
Mother looked broke at eye contact with me and stared at the ground. She nodded her head.
"Alright, baby you're right."
"And it won't be for long." I said still looking at her when she lifted her head to make eye contact with me again.
"What do you mean?"
"When I'm older I'll take care of you!"
Xxx
I looked at the ceiling fan that was spinning slowly in the kitchen. I didn't know how long that I had been sitting in front of the oven, but it felt like hours.
I felt my pocket start to vibrate and I pulled out my phone.
'Come upstairs' -Mom.
I sighed and stood from my seated to position. I stretched my tried legs. When I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. She didn't respond but I walked in anyway. Her lights were out and she was lying on her back staring at the ceiling. She had changed into so gray sweats that looked terribly old and were riddled with tear stains.
"Mom?" I asked.
She didn't say anything but patted the bed next to her. I sighed and lay down next to her. I stared at the ceiling with her in silence.
"I don't want him to take you away." She croaked her voice heavy from the tears that she'd been crying. "You're the only thing that I have done in my life that I can be proud of."
"I'm not going anywhere, mom." I said simply.
"But the courts."
"Fuck'em."
"I'll have to call grandpa." She said solemnly. "We'll have to get a good lawyer."
"Do what you want." I said closing my eyes and breathing deeply. "My solution is much easier, though."
"What is it?"
"Finding him and killing him."
"We'd go to jail."
"Hire someone."
I felt my mother's green eyes bore in to the side of my face, but I didn't care. He deserved it. I can't remember a time in it when we were happy. The memory that I had earlier had not been the worse of the incident that we had, but it was the one where my mother decided to leave. That was one of the most important memories to me.
"I'll still call grandpa." She said sleepiness starting to feel her voice.
"And he'll agree with me." I said feeling my own tiredness starting to take over.
"Probably."
...So I'm not going to even make excuses for why I was away for so long, other than the fact that I was bombarded with work from my finals. On a side note, I'm so excited that my first year of collage is over ! But It seems like it went by to fast... Any way because I'm out I should be updating regularly (at least two or three chapters a month, hopefully). All right, I'll see you next time guys!