Breathe

Chapter 9

Roman stood at the bottom of the stairs with a scowl on his face. He was irritated. He glanced at his watch again. His parents kept pressuring him to spend more time with the twins. They kept telling him to give Carrie a break, because Sami and Eric weren't her responsibility. All it did was make him angry. He wasn't supposed to be raising his children alone, and even if there was no evidence to prove it, he blamed John Black for that as well. That's why he'd gotten so angry when John showed up in his office. It was easier to blame John when he wasn't around to throw Orpheus in his face.

What was taking the twins so long? He'd allowed Carrie to leave so she could work on a group project for school, and he was regretting it already. "Sami! Eric! You need to get moving, or you're going to be late for school!" he yelled. "And I won't write you a note!"

Sami came running down the stairs, intent on stalling, "Eric's brushing his teeth."

"Why did he wait until the last possible minute to do that?" Roman roared, stepping towards her.

Sami shrank back, remembering the way he'd shaken her a few days earlier. Still she said, "He was talking about school, and he got nervous, and threw up. So, he had to brush his teeth. It wasn't his fault."

"That boy throws up every time he gets upset," Roman said, shoving Sami's coat towards her. "Put your coat on."

"That's not his fault," Sami said defiantly, shrugging into her coat and zipping it up. "He gets upset, and then he gags. He can't make it stop."

"He could if he acted like a man," Roman grumbled, clenching Eric's coat in his fist.

Sami felt herself getting angry, "He's not a man! He's a boy, and boys can cry! My Daddy said—"

Roman reached for her, jerking her small body forward, as he roared, "—John Black is not your father! I am!" He snorted in derision, and then pushed her away from him. "Get your backpack."

Sami started crying, wiping her nose on her sleeve as she slowly lifted her backpack from the floor near the front door. She looked up to see Eric coming down the stairs slowly, watching their father warily. Eric went up to his sister, touching her arm softly, "Why are you crying, Sami?"

"She needs to knock it off, before I give her something to cry about!" Roman threatened. He handed Eric his coat, "Lets go."

Eric hated Roman. He had hated him since he'd come home, and forced their Daddy out of their lives. Reaching for Sami's hand, he pulled her towards the door, and away from their father. He didn't want her near Roman, because Roman wasn't just threatening. If Sami didn't calm down, he would spank her. Sami got spanked a lot, because she would yell at Roman. Eric knew that most often Sami was protecting him, and she took the brunt of Roman's wrath. She never said anything about it. "Sami, come on. Let's go to school," Eric whispered.

"I hate him," she whispered back. "He's not my Daddy. He's no one. No one. I wouldn't even care if he died."

Roman headed past the twins, watching them whisper like mini conspirators out to get him. They were brats. John had raised them, allowing them to do, and say whatever they wanted, and even a year later, he wasn't able to get them to behave. Eric cried all of the time, and seemed frightened of everything. Sami refused to yield to his authority. She was stubborn, she was rude, and her smart mouth got her a spanking more often than not.

"Come on. Get in the car," he said, opening the front door, and watching them scurry out. They may be his children, but Roman felt no connection to them at all. All he felt was the overpowering need to keep them away from John.

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Carrie called John from a pay phone outside of the diner they used to meet at. She'd just finished having breakfast with her friends, although she'd lied to Roman and told him it was a meeting for school. She and her friends had been at the diner so long that it was nearly lunchtime, but Carrie was so desperate for socialization that she felt almost refreshed. Hearing John's voice when he answered the call made her smile, even though she was standing alone on the street. She missed him so much, and having him so far away left her feeling unstable. In a wavering voice she whispered, "Hi, Daddy."