A fractured fairytale

69

༻ Rose's POV ༺

My back hit the wall with a painful thud.

"You're fucking pathetic!" I squeezed my eyes close, feeling his saliva spray across my face. One of his hands pinned my arm to the wall and the rest of his body blocked me in, kept me trapped against the wall. "Pathetic!" he yelled again. His breath was on my nose, his fingers pinched my skin. I kept my eyes closed.

His weekend away to 'calm down' hadn't worked. He'd spent the whole weekend drinking with his friends and came staggering back in Sunday evening. The good news was that he passed out pretty much instantly, the bad news was that he was mumbling about the woman he'd slept with the night before. Not that my mom was too bothered, she was just relieved he was too incompetent to hurt us.

But that didn't last long.

Meanwhile, I'd had a blissful weekend with Matt. He stayed as long as he could, leaving only moments before my mother returned. Then we resumed our normal schedule. He picked me up every morning, brought breakfast for me to eat in the car, and then held my hand while I attempted to tutor him. We went for walks after school in the spring sunshine and dinners in the evenings before he dropped me home.

Everything was perfect.

But that didn't last long either.

Dad shifted, I could feel it, and a second later, his hot breath was in my ear. "You listen very carefully-," he squeezed my arm painfully. When he yelled, it was scary, but when he dropped his voice like this and whispered, it made my stomach turn. I swallowed, focusing on not throwing up while he spoke. "-you're nothing. Absolutely nothing, without me. Either of you."

Mom stood across the room, most likely watching this play out, completely helpless, as per usual. "Behave yourself, or I'll throw you out on the streets." He stepped away and I peeled my eyes open, nodding my head as I did. I was lucky that I did, because I barely managed to dart away before his empty beer bottle smashed against the wall where my head had just been. I let out a yelp, hand coming to where my heart was bursting out of my chest.

He twisted towards me, a sneer on his lips. "Pathetic," he spat. He snatched another beer bottle off the kitchen counter, turned, and stalked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Mom asked from just behind me, her voice quivering.

"Out!" A second later, the door slammed and all the tension bled from my body. Every muscle in my body was shaking and I felt nausea rise up in the back of my throat, but he was gone. He wouldn't be back tonight.

"Sweetheart."

I turned, eyes filled with tears, and collapsed into my mom's arms. "You're okay," she whispered, clutching me tightly against her. "You're okay."

"I hate it," I told her, releasing a choked sob, "I hate him."

"I know." She shushed me, stroking a hand over my hair. "It isn't long now before you're away from all of this."

The thought both soothed and terrified me. I'd be away from him, away from his outbursts and his temper. But I'd also be away from my mom, away from Matt, away from everything I'd ever known. And that scared the hell out of me. I'd become so used to Matt's company; I didn't want to go back to a life where he wasn't there.

As if I'd summoned him, my phone started to ring and I tugged it from the pocket of my jeans to see his name flash across the screen. "It's Matt," I told my mom, stomach sinking. He'd asked me to tell him whenever something happened with my dad, but he hadn't physically hurt me. It didn't seem worth mentioning something so trivial and risk him telling his family or trying to get involved.