An Unexpected Love

I hear my mom rush around upstairs, fluffing up the pillows and making the crisp sheets as straight as she can. She closes the blinds on the window across from the bed. Her heels stop clicking and she changes into shoes that aren't as loud, putting her stilettos in the closet.

I'm sitting at the kitchen table with my homework nearly finished. I swing my feet gently under my chair to keep my nervous hands from shaking too much. My legs are too short to reach the floor since I'm not as big as mom is yet. The clock on the wall chimes six times, telling me I have only thirty more minutes before my dad gets home. I panic and hurry through my homework, clear it off of the big wooden table, and shove it in to my book bag. I quickly walk down the hall to my bedroom and put my school bag next to my big girl dresser.

"Amber!" My mom's voice calls. I rush to the bottom of the stairs and look up to her.

"Sweetheart," she says, smiling at me with her nervous, scared smile. "I need you to go straighten up the family room while I finish up dinner. Can you do that for me, baby?"

I smile up at her and nod my little head fast, then skip off into the family room with the big television. I pick up the empty bottles and cans next to dad's big chair. The smell from the bottles always tickle my nose and make my throat feel funny. I put the remote on the little table next to dad's chair and look around for anything that isn't perfect. I do everything I can to help mom before dad comes home.

DING!

My heart does a little drop into my tummy. There's only fifteen more minutes until dad gets home. I nervously walk into the kitchen where my mom is working faster than a race car to get dinner finished up. I set the table before she even asks, while she pulls dinner from the oven. The yummy smells of warm cheese and macaroni noodles blows around my face. Ten minutes to spare, and we have everything ready. I smile at my mom.

"Darling," she says. She stops and sits down. I sit in my chair at the table next to hers. "Sweetie," she starts again, "I need you to remember what mommy always tells you."

I sit on top of my shaky hands and gulp in some air. "I remember mom. No matter what I hear I have to stay in my room and keep the door locked. Right?"

She gives a small smile. "Yes, baby, that's what you have to do. To stay safe, remember? You must go to your room when I tell you to. Don't leave any later than that and stay in your room. Do you understand?"

"Yes, mommy." I touch my tippy toes to the floor, my sock feet brushing the cold tile.

Mom gets from her seat and leans down next to me. I look down at her and smile at my mommy. Her blue eyes sparkled with water and she frowned. Mommy looked pretty, even when she cried. She pulled me against her tightly, cradling my head into her chest.

"I love you so much, my sweet Amber."

I wrapped my arms around her belly tightly. "I love you, too, mommy," I choked out. My throat closed up and my eyes stung. For some reason I felt like something bad would happen today.

We both jumped when the clock's bell rang again. It was the worst time of the day, every day. Keys jingled outside of the door. Mom stood up fast and brushed herself off and wiped her face. I did the same thing. The front door clicked open. Dad walked inside.

**********

We all sat around the kitchen table, eating baked macaroni. I drink milk, but dad drinks his gross stuff in the smelly bottles and mom drinks her fancy red drink. I once tasted it when she wasn't looking, but it was really yucky and burned my throat on the way down. Dad's face is kind of grey and sad looking. Sometimes he looks angry and on really good days he looks a little happy. But only when mom is gone and I'm the only one with him.

"How was work, Steven?" Mom always asks this question during dinner. Just to take away the nervous, scared feelings. I keep my eyes down onto my plate, careful not to make eye contact with my dad.

"Mrughh..." my dad grunts. I guess he doesn't want to talk about work today. "How was school Amber?" He turns his eyes toward me with a bored look.

"It was good, thanks." I speak up so that he doesn't get angry. He doesn't like it when I mumble.

"Her homework is done and her report card came in today, also." My mom said with a quiet happiness. "She made the honor roll this year." She stands quickly and walks to the kitchen, taking the green card from the counter. She walks back over and sits down, handing my report card to dad.

He takes it and reads over it, nodding slowly every now and then. He sets it down when he is done reading it and mumbles a "Good job, Ambs." I smile and reply with a thanks. He nods once in return.

There is a long wait of silence.

"May I be excused?" I ask quietly as my mom studies dad. She looks nervous.

"Go ahead, sweetheart," mom allows me. I get up from the table and go to walk down the hall to my room.

"Amber," my dad says. He sounds mad. I turn around and see that I forgot my plate and cup at the table. I run over to the table and grab the plate and cup with shaky hands. I walk towards the kitchen but forget to look where I'm going and--

SMASH!

"Damnit, Amber!" My dad is really mad. His ears are turning bright red and his eyes look like fire is in his brain.

"I'm sorry, daddy!" I cry, putting my head in my shivery hands.

"Steven, she didn't mean to-"

"I don't care if she meant to do anything or not-"

"Don't take it out on her! She's just a child!" My mother screams at my dad. I gasp... Dad hits mom across the face so hard that she falls into the broken pieces of the plate I had dropped by accident.

My mom screams loudly when dad pulls her hair, making her stand back up.

"Run, Amber!!!!!"

I run into my room and shut the door, locking it behind me. I sit on my bed and pull my knees up to my chest, hugging my teddy bear to my heart tightly. I close my eyes when I hear my mom scream again after another slap to the face.

"SHUT UP!" I hear my dad scream. I cover my ears as tears run down my cheeks and I start humming a song in my head. I sing You Are My Sunshine in my head twice before I hear my mom scream the loudest I have ever heard before. I open my eyes when I hear her scream again, this time though, it's my name.

"AMBER!"

Something smashes into a wall upstairs, then it thumps all the way down the steps quickly. And then, I hear nothing. Only silence.