Flashback:
"You ever think about our future together? If we do get married and have kids? Or just a bunch of cats and dogs?"
"Whatever happens with us, just remember that I'll always love you and I will never forget you. And I will always protect you."
Me and Tyson had been at the local fair walking alongside each other as we shared cotton candy together, our arms around each other, and continued to enjoy the wonderful scenery around us.
Present:
My eyes slowly opened to bright lights shining down on me which made me close my eyes for a few seconds before opening them up again to see Tyson sitting in the chair next to me. He was deep in thought, his face serious…almost stone like as I saw him look at his wedding ring on his finger while he continued to think to himself. His eyes were puffy and red from crying which meant he hadn't been asleep because his hair was also disheveled all over his head. My poor thing.
"Tyson?" I said quietly.
"Tia!?" Tyson jumped up from his seat to rush by my side. "Tia?"
"I'm okay…"
"Tia…"
Tyson began to break down crying uncontrollably so I just reached out to him as best as I could so I would be able to hold my husband close to me while he hugged me, taking extra precaution about hugging me. The doctors had come in sometime later to tell me that luckily none of my bones were broken but I did fracture my wrist but that would heal in no time because dammit I am strong. I was just happy that I had survived getting hit by that car in the parking lot at the park. It begin to feel strange that I would get hurt which meant it was my husband's turn to take care of me as I healed from my own injury and took it easy on myself. I never thought me and Tyson would both get injured but I was thankful that we were still able to move around and do normal activities but there were times that I felt that Tyson was too overprotective.
One day, I was taking a shower alone and was startled a bit when Tyson pulled back the shower curtain abruptly to see if I was okay. I told him I was but then I received a mini speech about why I should've waited for him to shower with me in case I was hurting so I ended the conversation by inviting him into the shower with me. He felt guilty about the way he treated me which is why he was overprotective of me but I had to tell him that I had forgiven him and all was well.
At least that's what I thought.
My wrist had gotten better which allowed me to pick up heavier objects around the house but it seemed like any time I wanted to do something, Tyson was right there to tell me to sit down or to not move at all. When I offered to go to the doctor's to pick up his medication, he damn near yelled at me because he thought I was trying to get myself hurt again which was an absurd assumption so this meant I had to put my foot down.
"Tyson, you can't keep me cooped up in some damn bubble for the rest of my life," I said.
"Tia, you're not going anywhere. Do you understand me? I don't want you to get hurt again!" Tyson had been putting on his tennis shoes at the front door when he had stopped me from evening going outside.
"Tyson, I won't get hurt."
"I still don't want you to leave this house."
"Tyson-"
"I SAID I DON'T WANT YOU TO LEAVE THE HOUSE!"
"YOU BETTER LOWER YOUR VOICE, TYSON!"
"I'M NOT! STAY HERE, TIA!"
I let out a small breath because I was once again close to smacking the shit out of my husband. Who knows if it was his medication messing with him or what, but I wasn't going to have this man screaming at me like he was crazy or some shit.
"Stop yelling at me, Tyson."
"Sorry, but I don't want you rushing out of the house just to get my medication for me. I can get it my damn self."
"Why are you acting like this, Tyson? I'm going to get your medication for you."
"I said no!"
I had bent down to grab my shoes when Tyson had firmly grabbed my arm but I had snatched away from him because he was going a bit damn too far right now.
"Fine, just go."
"Tia…"
I didn't say another word to him as I walked away from him to only get met by T.J. who was unfortunately woken up by our screaming session.
"Mommy…" T.J. had his teddy bear in one hand as he used his other hand to rub his eye. He then sat down against the wall in the hallway but I picked him up to carry him back to my room so I could rock him to sleep. "Daddy?"
"He'll be back."
Flashback:
"Why are you acting like this, Tyson? I told you that I'm fine. I don't need you telling me where I can or can't go."
"I'm just trying to make sure you're alright, Tia. I don't need any of those knuckleheads messing with you because I swear I'll kill someone today!"
"The light is green!"
Tyson pulled into a parking lot of a burger joint, parked the car, and turned off the ignition but didn't get out of the car.
"Tia, I care about you. When you have your meltdowns, when you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm there for you and I'm protecting you now."
"Tyson, I just got into a shoving match, that I won, with one of my enemies. Calm the hell down."
"No, I won't calm the hell down, Tia!"
"I'm getting out of this car, I'm walking into that joint, and I'm going to eat a damn burger."
"Fine, whatever."
Present:
I was stressed the hell out. Nothing I did seemed to be right with Tyson. I know married couples argue and shit, but damn, why we were at each other's throats all of a sudden? I had managed to calm down so that I wouldn't upset the kids who were now lying down next to me in my room. I had my head propped up on my hand as I watched T.J. and Tyra sleep side by side, rubbing my hand through the strands of their curly hair, and humming a lullaby to them as they counted sheep. The image of T.J. giving Tyra a kiss then held her hand then falling asleep alongside her would forever be etched into my memory of all the sweet interactions between the children. I never wanted the children to see me and their father fighting but it just seemed so hard to try to reason with Tyson about anything because we would always argue, fuss, and fight, and at this point I was mentally drained from all of that so I finally laid my head down to rest and ended up galling asleep.
I was woken up by Tyson easing into his side of the bed and saw him give the children kisses on their forehead then mine before taking my hand in his, lying his head on his pillow, and falling asleep. I kissed Tyson's hand before falling back to sleep myself.
I truly hoped that we would have more peaceful moments like this and less moments spent yelling at each other.