He's mine... she's mine...

He's mine... She's mine... Ch. 11

“The rest is over with ma’am, your husband won’t be around anymore to hurt any of you again, I promise” Officer Clark had his hand over his chest, making it evident that he was going to hold his word. I don’t know where we would be without him.

“Thank you so much Andrew, I owe you everything.” My mom smiled with appreciation and squeezed my shoulder with tenderness; I’m guessing she did the same to Kayla’s hand.

Officer Clark shook his head, “think nothing of it. Neither your family nor you deserve to be put through any kind of abuse; it was my job and pleasure.”

After bidding farewell, he walked to his car, his police badge shining in the sunlight, before he got in he turned back and said, “if you need anything else Martha, you have my number, even if you just want to talk we’ll go for some coffee on me.” With a bright white smile, he waved once more before he got in and drove away.

It was a hell of a morning, one that held both an inevitable end and a bright new beginning.

“Alright girls, let’s head back inside. Maybe we can go to your Aunt Elsie’s and spend some time with your cousins.”

I walked behind them as we entered the home that I can never look at the same again. Too many bad memories are held within these walls. This morning held the worst so far.

We had just gotten done eating breakfast. It was nothing new for us; our Saturday breakfasts were always tense. My father acted like nothing was wrong and Kayla was silent, ignorant of everything, while I did everything to keep calm.

My mother and I both knew what was going to happen in a few moments, what we didn’t expect was his reaction.

At the sight of the cop car through the window in our living room, he laughed dryly and said,” you bitch; you actually called the cops?”

My mother with her eyes wide with panic opened and closed her mouth, unsure how to respond. At the sight of the helplessness, I stood in front of him.

“No dad, it was my idea. We’re done with you.” I looked him in the eye, taking in his appearance. Middle-aged, receding hair line, dirty muscle shirt and a beer gut to top it all off. Could this really be my father? “You’ve hurt us enough. My mom has been through enough and I’m not going to let Kayla grow up being put through what I had to.”

He just sat in the recliner looking more and more pissed off. I was scared but it felt good to stand up to him, to say what I’ve wanted to say for so long.

“So you’re done with me, huh?” He nodded and smiled. “Ok, that’s fine. But don’t think I’ll make it easy for you.”

It happened so fast. I didn’t react when my own father lunged at me. His hands got a tight grip on my throat, instantly cutting off my airways. I could feel my neck already bruising and I could barely make out my mother’s screams and my little sister’s wails.

I tried to fight back but they were just feeble attempts. When my eyes weren’t shut, I looked into the cruel eyes of the man that was supposed to love me. He was supposed to show me what a good love was supposed to be. With those thoughts, I started to lose my consciousness and could barely make out the blurry images of Officer Clark breaking open the door and putting a stop, finally, to this chaos.

“It’s fine, she’s coming back to us,” I heard someone say as I started to get back consciousness. As I opened my eyes, the voice was followed by a bright light that caused me to close them back up.

“Ahhh.” My throat burned as the muscles tried to function properly. My voice came out harsh.

“Oh Sweetheart, Thank Goodness you’re alright!” My mother held me when I sat up. My memories came flooding back and I shed a river of tears. I held on to my mother making sure to not sob too loud. I didn’t want the paramedics to be uncomfortable and I especially didn’t want them to be looking at me with more pity than they already do.