Red-Back Spiders

Red-Back Spiders - Draft

Wednesday 27 May, 2015

The early morning sun light shone through the window, hitting my eyelids. I sighed, opening my eyes and blinking away the night's sleep. It was time to get up. I sat up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. As I made my bed quietly, I looked across at the bed beside mine at my little girl, who was sleeping soundly, and the corners of my lips lifted into a small smile. I stroked the white fabric of my pillow case, erasing any sign of creases from the night before. I made my way to the chest of drawers near the door, pulling on a blue dress after stripping down to my underwear, before putting my old, worn-out brown shoes on and putting my hair in a bun. The sunlight had started to brighten the bedroom, meaning I was behind schedule. I quickly made my way to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

I pulled the fridge door open and look at what was inside, thinking about what to cook. I couldn't cook what we had yesterday again; he doesn't like it when we have the same meals within a day. I moved leftovers around, seeing everything in the fridge, and finally decided on what to make for breakfast.

I was almost finished with breakfast when Lilly walked into the kitchen, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. Her eyes scanned the kitchen, finally landing on me at the stove, and a smile pulled her lips up, brightening up her whole face. I smiled back, not having seen a smile on my daughters face for a while, and I missed it.
"Hello mummy." She said her smile fading.
"Hello sweet heart. How was your sleep?" I replied.
"It was okay." She answered, nodding. She moved to the sink retrieving our plates before placing them on the table in front of our chairs. Next she collected the cutlery, cups and napkins and set them on the table next to our plates, leaving the five-seater table set for the upcoming meal.
"Thank you very much Lilly for setting the table for me." I said, "You did a great job."
Her smile returned, which reached her eyes before she nodded again. I started to turn back to breakfast when Lilly asked, "Mummy why do you have something on your face?"
I frowned, "What do you mean?"
She pointed to her right eye before saying, "Why is your eye blue?"
My hands shook slightly as I reached for my right eye, touching it gently before pain spread across my face. Only then did I realise what she was talking about- my bruise. I gave her a fake smile.
"Oh, silly mummy hit her head last night after you went to sleep on the wall. Silly mummy needs to look where she's going." I explained. She gave me a funny look, like she was telling me she knew I was lying, but wasn't brave enough to say anything. I must have forgotten to put makeup on before in my rush to get breakfast ready, I thought. I placed the scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and sausages on the plates that I had gotten out earlier and placed them in the middle of the table.
"I'll be right back." I said to Lilly, heading for the kitchen door. The light brown hair upon her head bobbed up and down as she nodded her head. I made my way back towards our room quickly and headed to the little desk and mirror beside my bed where my makeup is kept. I kneeled down in front of the mirror as my hands moved to the bottle of makeup. I could now see what my daughter saw before, the sunlight making it easy to see the dark blue patch which covered the portion of my face around my right eye. I sighed. Just as I was finishing straightening out my dress after I had finished applying the makeup to cover my bruise, I heard an audible sigh and movement from outside. My hands froze where they were and my face drained of colour for a moment before I ran to the kitchen, hoping he hadn't come inside yet and seen that I wasn't there to greet him, he hates it when I'm late.

As I entered the kitchen, I was greeted with the smell of my cooking. I could see the heat still coming off of all four dishes, meaning it was still hot, which was good. I stood behind Lilly's chair as John walked in, giving him a smile. He grunted in response, my smile faltering as he sat down at the head of the table without giving me a second glance, before it returned at the sight of my son, Billy, who also took his seat across from Lilly's, and lastly when the new helper, Danny walked through the door. His smile was genuine as he greeted me before sitting down next to Billy on the other side of the table. I took my seat next to Lilly, which was across from Danny's, and he gave me a funny look, similar to Lilly's earlier, as if asking why I wasn't sitting next to my husband. I cleared my throat, looking away from Danny, and advised that breakfast was served. John reached out, grabbing plate after plate, dishing his own breakfast up, before giving a jerk of his head as a nod, allowing us to eat. I dished up my children's first, making sure that they had enough to keep them full and satisfied till noon, while Danny dished up his own, before lastly dishing up my own. My plate showed of the small proportion of food from that was left on the plates, and I knew I wouldn't be full from this meal; it was just too small for an adult women.
"Do you want some of my grub?" Danny inquired, eyeing my plate. I stared, flabbergasted, at the man across from me. How could he suggest such a thing? A guest offering to give me food? I tore my gaze away from Danny to look at my husband who was laughing.
"Don't be so foolish, if you give her anymore food she'll just keep getting fatter and fatter!" John proclaimed. My gaze immediately fell to the plate in front of me. He's right, I thought, if I eat too much then I'll be fat! How could I have ever wanted more food when I knew the consequences? The silence lasted for a while while everybody ate their breakfast. Nothing was over or under cooked, to my relief; serving up food that wasn't right would only cause embarrassment for me.
"Mummy I'm full." A soft voice said from beside me, making my head snap to my daughter. I opened my mouth to answer her when John's palm slammed on the table, creating a loud 'bang'. I held my daughters hand, knowing what was about to happen, and knowing I couldn't stop it otherwise he would turn to me.
"You eat all of your breakfast, Lilly." John said, trying to remain calm.
"But I'm full, dad." She insisted. Before I could even blink, he had rose from his seat and slapped Lilly's face with the palm of his hand, making her head jerk to the side and creating a sickening 'bang'.
"I work so hard to provide for this family, that you don't even know. I have to do all the hard, unwanted jobs around this property and you all just take it for granted!" He roared at the people sitting around the table, "And I'm sick of it!" He continued, slamming his palm on the table again for emphasis. Lilly got up from her chair, her eyes dark with misery and headed towards our bedroom, while John shut the back door with a 'bang'.
I rose quickly from my chair, looking at Danny while I replied, "No, please-it's not his fault..." With one last glance at Danny and Billy, who was abnormally quiet today, I rushed to my own bedroom, wanting to see how my daughter had faired.