Bird

vii

In two days I had already settled down.I  still had enough money left from selling my stuff but grandmother's medicine will cost a lot and I'll have to look for work. Most of the businesses here are family owned so the owners mostly hire their relatives or children.

I made breakfast for my grandmother and helped her take a bath.

"I'll be back grandmother",I yell as I walk out the door.

Polly's house is next to mine so it doesn't take me long to stand before her doorstep. Before I could knock the door opened and Polly's husband Richard walked out bumping me in the shoulder. He doesn't even apologize and gets in his mustang speeding off.

"What an asshole",I muttered under my breath and let myself in. " Polly?",I called out to her , hearing her answer from the kitchen.

I followed where I heard her voice coming from and walked into the kitchen that was a mess,the breakfast they were having and the plates were on the floor,I saw Polly from the other side of the table struggling to get up.

"What happened? What did he do to you?", I asked as I rushed to help her up " Polly tell me what happened",I asked as I helped her to a chair. I gasped as I saw her bloody nose. "Did that son of bitch do this to you!",I held up her face to take a good look at her.

" No Richard would never hurt me",she said and my heart sank,she is a victim of physical abuse and is covering for him.
"I slipped and grabbed the kitchen table cloth to stop myself from falling but fell and hurt myself", she explained, looking away from me.

" Like I'd believe this type of bullshit! Look at what the moron did to you! I'll teach him a lesson!", I said and stormed off to go and find him.

" No please Bird",she pleaded, holding onto my hand. "He is not always like this,he has been having a rough time lately that's all".

" No way, I'm letting him go after he did this to you!", I said,Caleb who slept on the couch suddenly woke up and started crying,Polly rushed to lift him up but after seeing his mother's bloody and swollen face he cried louder and wanted nothing but to get away from her.

"Can you please hold him?", She asked and handed him to me before going to the bathroom to clean up.

"You know this is not right, right? You can't let him treat you like this",I said as we sat in the kitchen after I helped her clean up the mess.

"I know but it was my fault as well, plus this is the first time in our entire marriage that he hit me ",she said, coaxing Caleb to open his mouth so she could feed him.
"Richard is just having a rough time",she says and smiles at me.

" I still think you need to get your nose checked",I say so after insisting,I help her get Caleb ready and we drive to the clinic.
I waited in the lobby ,while Polly got examined and played with Caleb.

"Why did you come back? What don't you just leave my Dad alone!", A voice yelled at me.
I looked up and standing in front of me was Vicky Bernard's daughter. She and I were the same age,and in the same class even though she dropped out and got married,many said it was to cover a pregnancy. We were just eighteen at that time and immediately after graduating I left.

Her thin hair was held up in a bun,she has put on a lot of weight over the past years or maybe it was because she was very pregnant and she smelled of alcohol.

"Don't you hear me!"She screamed after seeing me looking at her and saying nothing.

"Nobody what's your father",I say get up and grab Caleb's diaper bag and we move to another seat.

"If I see you anywhere near our family, I'll kill you!",she screamed and glared at me viciously before taking her other two twin children with her.

After a short period of time Polly walked with bandages on her nose,he fractured it but it was serious that she needed surgery and she would be fine. I was still upset and vowed to teach him a lesson if he ever touched her again.

After we left the clinic we went to the grocery store and I got some stuff that we needed back at home.

"Since I stopped working at the library you can apply for the position", Polly casually said as we scrolled through the isles.

She stopped working because Richard told her to stay home and take care of Caleb and the house.I learnt another thing about him, that he is a narcissist jerk as well.
Richard is the owner of a famous pub.

After getting what we needed we checked out and went to the car.I noticed many people were looking at me but maybe it was all in my head.
Polly went home to prepare lunch for her husband and I went to make lunch for grandma and I.
After that I spent most of the cooking and clearing the weeds from my grandma's little garden. We sat on the porch and had some tea while we chatted about random stuff while she knitted.

"He hit her didn't he?", My grandmother asked.

"Has he always been treating her this way?", I asked.

" Yes he is a very violent young man but my sweet Polly would always forgive him when he came crying back",she sighed .

As they saw speak of the devil and he shall appear, I watched as Richard came back, he threw away the cigarette in his hand and stepped out of his car, seeing us looking at him he winked and greeted my grandmother and I, because she is polite my grandmother responded but I snorted and glared at him.

He reached to the passenger seat of his car and grabbed a banquet of flowers and smugly walked to the door.

"Hasn't she ever thought of leaving him?",

"She did but her mother told to stay,she didn't want to take care of her and Caleb now that she remarried and has a new family", she sadly said.

"If she asked me I'd take care of the bastard, I'm old I have nothing to lose",my grandmother laughed,but I knew she wasn't joking. My grandmother has a collection of firearms in the basement.

My thoughts went back to the bat in my room I always carried around with me to keep the creeps like Bernard away from me, I'll give it to Polly.