1 Week Later:
New York
Squid's P.O.V
I heard yelling downstairs. It sounded like Bruce and Jodi. Even though I knew I should listen I went downstairs and started eavesdropping.
"I just don't know what to do with him Jodi. Even though I brought him here and I give him food he still hates me and tries to run away!"
"He misses his family and friends, don't you understand that?"
"No, I don't know why he wants to leave her so badly."
"Why do you keep him locked up in this house?"
"What do you mean? I am doing that is best for him! I am his father and he needs to spend time with me!"
"You can not force someone into spending time with you! You don't even spend time with him you just make his life hell! I don't know what has gotten into you! You are not the Bruce I married." I could hear someone get up and start walking around.
"Well Jodi I am sorry if I disappointed you, but you're stuck with me now!" There was silence except for the pacing footsteps. "Even if you don't like me can you help me? What am I doing wrong?"
"You are forcing him into something he does not want to do! He was happy and then you changed all that!"
"Jodi, he was not happy. How could he be happy in a worthless shack of a house and no money?"
"Money isn't everything!"
"It is almost everything." The voices were growing louder.
"You never would have said this ten years ago! What has gotten into you? You are so different and I don't like it!" The footsteps stopped.
"Shut-up bitch and help me!" I could hear someone being struck. Then I heard the sound again and again. I knew Bruce was beating Jodi. I flew down the stairs and pulled Bruce off of her. I could smell the alcohol in Bruce's breath he was clearly drunk.
"What the hell are you doing?" Bruce tried to hit me too but I dodged out of the way. Bruce stumbled around the kitchen and pulled out a knife. He threw it at me and once again I dodged out of the way. I ran over to Jodi and helped her up, I told her to leave and take the kids and I would take care of this but she refused.
"I am not going to let him hurt you!" Jodi pulled me out of the way of another flying object, but it hit her instead. She was knocked out; this left just me and Bruce.
"Why don't you spend time with me? Why are you acting like this? Why in the hell would you choose your mother over me!" Bruce ran towards me and knocked me down. He started to hit me and I tried to fight back, but nothing was working. He pulled a knife out of the wall and was holding it over me, but before he could stab me he fell forward knocked out. I looked around and saw Jodi standing over him with a frying pan.
"I am not stuck with you! You have used me and abused me for the last time!" She grabbed my arm and led me out of the room. She told me to take the kids and met her outside. I did as I was told and grabbed Quincy, Max, and Joey then ran outside. Soon Jodi was there to meet us. She walked over to her children who were all sobbing. They heard all the noise too and they were scared. None of them knew to severity of the situation.
"Mommy, is daddy dead?"
"No sweetie." Three police cars and an ambulance pulled into the drive way. They ran into the house and when they came back they had Bruce in hand-cuffs. Two of the police forced the struggling Bruce into the back of their car, while the other came to talk to me and Jodi.
"Is this your husband?"
"Yes, sir."
"May I please see your injuries?"
"Sure." Jodi showed the officer all of her cuts, bruises, and scars. He took pictures of them and then asked that Jodi comes down to the police station to help clear up this mess. She agreed and left me in charge of the children.
I took Quincy's hand and led her into the house. As soon as I made sure they were all ok I went into the kitchen and started cleaning up the mess. There was broken glass everywhere, and there were chucks of the wall lying around the floor. There were knives sticking out of the wall and the floor. I picked up the large objects, before I started to vacuum up all the glass. Once that was done I started on the blood. There was blood everywhere. It was on the floor, walls, ceiling, and on the counters. I started scrubbing, but I was interrupted by Quincy.
"Why did you leave?" I looked down at her. This was the first thing she had said to me since I ran away a few weeks ago. I sighed and sat down on the floor next to her.
"I missed everyone, and I thought what I really needed was to visit them. Sometimes people do things without thinking about other people first."
"So you were being selfish?"
"Exactly. Your dad was making me really mad and I didn't know what to do about it so I just left. I went back to the place that made me happy and I tried to act like none of this happened." Quincy looked into my eyes.
"Did it work? Are you happy now?"
"No. I am not happy now; actually I am worse then before." Quincy nodded her head like she understood, even though I doubted she did.
"Why did daddy hit mommy?" I was afraid she was going to ask this. I wanted to be the person she looked up to and had all the answers, but this time I didn't have one.
"I don't know why he hit her Quincy, honestly I think he just got mad and didn't know what to do about his anger."
"Will he ever come back?"
"I don't know." Quincy started crying.
"Is this my fault?" I looked at her and pulled her into a hug.
"This is not your fault. You didn't do anything to make this happen. They were fighting over me, not you" She wrapped her arms around me and looked at me through her teary eyes.
"I am really glad you're my brother Alan." My eyes began to water. Kandy was the only person who talked to me like that. I was still not use to being told things like that. One tear fell from my eyes and onto Quincy's blond hair. She looked back up at me and I tried to wipe my eyes, but she knew I was crying.
"Don't cry." For some reason this made me want to cry even more, but I held back the tears.
"Are you going to leave us?" Two weeks ago I would have said yes, but now I thought that I needed to stay. Jodi was going to be left alone, and this was my fault. I didn't know what to say so I stuck with the truth.
"I don't know."
"I want you to stay, but I won't be mad if you leave." She began to cry harder, which made me lose it. For the first time in months I cried.
7 hours later:
The phone rang and I walked over and answered it. It was Jodi; she said that she was not coming home because the next day she had to go to court. She told me to pack up everything and she would explain later. I did what I was told and started packing up everything. I told Quincy, Max and Joey to do the same and they did.
I realized that I was leaving, but I didn't know where I was going. Maybe she was sending me home, but if she was then why would she have everyone pack. Maybe we were moving in with Jodi's family. It took all night, but I got everything packed. I left everything of Bruce's in a big pile and didn't pack it. Where ever we were going it wasn't with Bruce.
1 Day Later:
Jodi finally came home and said that we were leaving. I asked her where and she just smiled home. A moving truck came and picked up all the boxes that were lying around, and drove them away. Jodi took all of us and drove to the airport. We got onto a flight and soon we were taking off. I kept asking her where we were going and she said the same thing every time; home. Once we landed I knew where we were. We were in Missouri. I grabbed my bag and got off the airplane, and followed Jodi. Quincy took my hand and held it until we got into a taxi.
The taxi sped off towards my house, but made an unexpected turn in a different direction. We drove for fifteen more minutes and finally stopped in front of a big house. I got out and looked at Jodi and just motioned for me to come with her. I did and she opened the door and she stepped inside, I saw someone waiting in the house. It was Kandy and my mother. Kandy walked over to me and hugged me then smiled.
"Welcome home Squid!" For the first time in my life I felt like I was home. I had heard this phrase many times in my life, but it was nothing but words. This time it was different, they were not words, but they were a promise, a promise from Kandy to me that we would always be together. I don't know if Kandy meant it that way, but that is how I took it.
"Alan, your mother has agreed to live here with us. We were hoping that you would choose to live here too." Jodi looked at me and waited for an answer, but I didn't even have to think about it.
"Are you kidding? Of course I want to live here!" Jodi beamed and started to cry. She hugged me and thanked me.
"What are you thanking me for?"
"For coming into our life! You showed me how stupid Bruce was, and you made a huge difference in this family!" I smiled and thanked her for everything.
4 days later:
It took a long time for the moving truck to come with all of our stuff, but when it did it took even longer to move everything back into our new house. We spent the first few days in Kandy's house, but I was happy to be back in my own home once our stuff got there. I finally had a home and I was excited to get to be in it. I had my mom, Jodi, Quincy, the twins, and Kandy all with me, at last I was home.