Waiting For Superman

Not So Different After All

“Johnny? You said you’d be home by 12,” Kara said into the phone worriedly.

“Reelash, I’ll be home shoon,” Johnny slurred and she heard laughter in the background. “Johnny, are you drunk?” she asked in shock. They’d been together for six months, and Kara had never seen him have more than one glass.

“Johnny?” she said anxiously into the receiver, but he’d already hung up. She glanced at her phone anxiously, her sleepiness suddenly gone. Having lost one of her previous boyfriends to drunk driving, she decided to wait up for Johnny. She picked up her copy of Pride and Prejudice and began ploughing through it.

After a few chapters, she heard fumbling at the door and looked up to see Johnny stagger into the house, the smell of alcohol instantly filling the apartment. She scrambled up to help him and shut the door behind him as he attempted to take off his shoes. She sighed and bent down to help him but was stunned when he pushed her away roughly.

“I’m not a baybee,” he grumbled as he fumbled with his shoelaces. She looked at him hurt and said, “You’re drunk. Just let me help you and then you can go to bed, alright?”

“Stop telling me what to do bitch,” he said roughly as he slapped her across the face harshly. She stumbled backwards, shocked beyond words.  She looked into his eyes, and saw that they were black, very much unlike the usual warm brown they were.

“I was just trying to help you,” she whispered softly, tears flowing down her cheeks. He rolled his eyes and pushed past her into the kitchen before stopping in his tracks.

“Where’s dinner?” he growled menacingly as he turned to glare at her. “Y..Y..You said you weren’t coming back so I didn’t cook your share,” Kara said almost inaudibly.

She watched him close the distance between them in two large strides, and before she could register what had happened, he had pushed her into the dining table, and she felt a sharp pain at her shoulder.

“You’re useless,” he spat in her face as he slapped her again. “All I ask for is food and you can’t even give me that? Pathetic.” She felt tears well up in her eyes again as she looked at him and said, “Johnny, just calm down. I can always cook for you now.”

“Why should I have to wait for something as simple as this?” he shouted, pushing her into the table again. She flinched and began to slowly back away, the pain in her shoulder almost unbearable. He saw that she was trying to run and grabbed her by the shirt, dragging her into the living room.

“Johnny, please. Stop,” Kara said, crying uncontrollably now. “Just shut up Kara. Shut up,” Johnny hissed as he punched her across the face before throwing her on the sofa and storming into the room.

The door slammed shut and Kara heard the door being locked as she slowly stumbled to the toilet. Her face was red and bruised and she had a cut on her lip and her eyes were either swollen from crying or the punch. She slowly peeled off her tank top and saw that her shoulder was badly bruised and bleeding a little.

After futilely digging for the first aid kit she always had, she slumped to the floor, a fresh batch of tears flowing down her face. “Come on Kara, breathe,” she said, trying to calm herself down. “He isn’t like the rest.  Not an alcoholic like Sam and not abusive like Alex.” She looked down at the thin scars criss-crossing on her wrists and whispered, “Definitely not like Alex.”