Promises

Chapter 13

-REMI

"You don't even earn any money for us," Mykel screams at my mom.

"I work my ass off for this family, and I do the cleaning and cooking here. I pay for all the food around here," she yelled back.

"Well then why do we not have enough money?"

"Because you spend all of it on drugs and alcohol," she talked back.

I go to the staircase to listen closer. I hear them continue arguing about money. Are we poor? I walk a few steps down the stairs to see what happening. I see a knife in my dad's hand. My mom's face was wet with tears.

"Please Mykel, don't do it," she begged.

"You don't deserve any respect from me or Remi, Remi doesn't even like you," Mykel exclaims.

That's not true. Tears begin running down my cheek. My mom leaned against the wall and sat down to the floor. She puts her head in her hands and cries.

"All you are good for is cooking, cleaning and giving me pleasure, you are lucky you are attractive, otherwise you would have been on the streets before that stupid mistake was made," Mykel called out.

My parents both look at the staircase. My mom's whole face drops and my dad looks down. Am I the mistake? I run up the stairs afraid to let them see I'm hurt. My mom was about to go after me but I heard her scream as my dad grabbed her back.

"Don't," he says assertively.

I listen at my door to see if anything else is happening. I hear my mom cry as he hits her. I hear glass shattering and chairs falling as my dad rummages around the kitchen chasing my mom.

"If you don't stop, I'll call the police," she screamed.

"If you call the police, I'll beat you to dead," my dad replies. I pick up my phone. Should I call them myself? Or would that be worse?

I hear my mom run upstairs. She doesn't come into my room, instead she goes into her room. I can hear her throwing stuff around the room. I run to her room and see her packing a bag.

"Youre leaving," I ask her.

"No time right now," she replies in a hurry.

She zips the suitcase and runs down the stairs. I follow her downstairs to see what she's doing. She opens the door and I try leave with her but she closes the door right in front of me.

"Mom?"

Theres no reply. The house suddenly feels cold. I shiver at the thought of what just happened. Is she gone forever?

"What the fuck are you doing," my dad says right into my ear.

I jump as I hear his voice and realize I was zoned out. I look at him with narrow eyes. I can smell the strong alcohol scent coming from Mykel's breath and clothes.

"It's your fault mom left us," I call out.

"Where is this coming from?" Mykel replies with a stern voice. He puts his hand on his belt buckle.

I hesitate to reply, but soon realize this is what he deserves.

I punch him in the face.

"You asshole, you hit mom until she was forced to leave," I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"You made her cry every day and threatened to kill her," I continued.

My dad grabbed his belt without a word. The belt made a quick whipping sound and he slashed it across my back. I put my hand on my back in agony. I lift my top slightly to look at it. A fresh red mark was on my back, along with a few older bruises.

"Youre a dickhead you know that?" I tell him and storm out the room. I run downstairs and out the door. I stood outside the door. I wonder if my mom stopped here to contemplate whether she should stay or not.