"I'm leaving" she screamed.... "I can't do this anymore...."
Abby ran to her sister's bedside where Titi had already started crying. Awoken once again by the noise of their parents fighting, she grabbed her sister's hand and rushed as quickly as her 4-year-old legs would let her. Abby dragged her sulking 2-year-old sister, Titi, behind her.
"Shush, don't cry, everything will be ok.. hurry."
Abby tried comforting her as she opened the closet door where her other 3 sisters and her brother were huddled. They had a routine. When the screaming starts, they knew what to do.
"What do you mean you are leaving, you aren't going anywhere..."
Abby handed Titi over to Kami who was the oldest of the bunch. Eyes heavy with unfinished sleep, Titi clumsily sank into Kami's lap and placed her thumb in her mouth.
They had all been trying to wean Titi off her thumb sucking habit, but they silently agreed this time was an exception.
Crouched together in the small hallway closet were 10-year-old Kami, 8-year-old Tina, 8-year-old Bolu, 5-year-old Hakeem, 4-year-old Abby and 2-year-old Titi.
"I want Mommy....." Titi cried.
Kami pressed Titi's head against her neck and hugged her tight. She stroked Titi's tight curly hair which was now wet from Kami's tears.
Tina and Bolu sat side by side with their eyes shut tight and their fingers interlocked. Between their legs sat Tina's Teddy Ruxpin doll and Bolu's math robot. Abby sometimes envied their relationship. Although Tina and Bolu had two different mothers, they were inseparable. No one could penetrate the bond that these "twins" shared.
Hakeem had his headphones on and was listening to the latest "Young MC" single. As he mouthed the words to "Bust a Move," he attempted to drown out the unfortunate events that were happening around him.
"This here is a tale for all the young fellas.... Trying to do what those ladies tell us.... "
Yet, each time the voices seeped through his music, his hand squeezed tighter around the transformers action figure he clutched closely to his chest.
As trips to the closet became more and more frequent, Kami suggested creating a special basket. She asked everyone to bring one "special" item that would permanently stay in the closet. It is from this basket that Abby grabbed her "Not the Mama" dinosaur doll and found a place in the already cramped closet close to the wall.
Abby thought to herself,
"This was their sanctuary. As long as they stayed here nothing could harm them."
She placed her head between her father's black suede jacket and her mother's faux mink coat. She reached up above her head and pressed the two items over her ears. She could still smell the slight scent of fried chicken on her father's jacket from his day job working at the KFC. She pressed her palms tighter over the fabric in an attempt to completely cover her ears.
She indulged in the feeling of soft warm fluff rubbing against her skin.
"If we stay here, we are safe."
She tucked her head within the inner lining of the coat and allowed the fur to cover her eyes. For a moment she almost forgot why she had come to the closet in the first place. As she heard Titi take three quick breaths to slow her sobbing, Abby remembered
"Come back here, you are my wife, you cannot leave me."
There it was...
An ear piercing crash of shattered glass vibrated through the air.
The 6 children held their breath as tiny pieces of broken fragments crumbled under the weight of angered footsteps.
Abby quickly grabbed kami's arm as Titi began to whimper....
"Don't you ever turn your back on me Rosy,... This is my house."
"I am leaving Ralph, I am taking my children and we are leaving."
Ralph swung Rosy around and clutched both of her shoulders tightly. His once soft eyes were narrow and burning with anger. Rosy could feel the rage coursing through his body as his fingers dug deeper into her skin. Her head bobbled to back and forth as he violently shook her. Through clenched teeth and pursed lips his words were slow and barely audible.
"Never Rosy, you are my wife, those are my kids, you will never leave."
Trickles of blood began forming were his nails penetrated her skin.
"You are my wife. Mine..."
"Ralph, stop it" Rosy pleaded
"Please stop...."
Smack....
The powerful sound of skin on skin contact echoed through the house.
As Ralph lifted his arm a second time he could feel the stinging pain racing through his palm. He knew what he was doing was wrong but he no longer cared.
She was his... He owned her.
Tears flowed fiercely from Rosy's eyes as she lifted her hand to soothe her burning face.
Smack...
Her head spun violently to the side as pain radiated through her body. Her eyes widened with fear and shock as Ralph lifted his arm again.
Smack.....
Rosy stood still. Frozen in disbelief and pain.
"Never I said......never"
She extended her arms in defense in an effort to protect herself from the blows that were consistently coming.
Suddenly, the voices stopped and the house was silent.
The sound of a large weight hitting the wooden floor disrupted the stillness and shook the house's foundation.
Ralph whirled on his heels and triumphantly walked towards the door. As the door slammed shut behind him his final words lingered through the house.
"You're mine Rosy ....mine"
Abby opened her eyes and tried to peek through the small slits that covered the closet door.
Feelings of dread and apprehension slowly crept through her body as she strained her eyes to make sense of the vision before her.
She could see her mother's body laying motionlessly on the floor.....
"Noooooooo....." Someone screamed.
Kami threw open the closet door and rushed towards her mother...
Titi began screaming in heart wrenching abandon.
All 6 children shook their mother fearfully....
"Mommy wake up, mommy please wake up..... Please.."
Laying next to her you could see the trail of blood from a large bump that had begun forming on the side of her head.
Abby placed her head on her mother's motionless body and wept.
Mommy don't go...
