domesticated; through my eyes.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A bright light burning into my eyes dragged me awake as I tried to stay asleep. After many failed attempts, I reluctantly opened my eyes to see the familiar surroundings of my bedroom. It seemed more dull and empty than before. The sun shone through the window, and into my eyes as I pulled a pillow over my head to fight away the brightness.

Memories from the night before came flooding back as panic arose in my chest. Where was mummy? Was she safe? Where was Daniel and Liam? And Antony? How did I get into bed last night? I instantly sat up right and creeped out of my bed, towards the door, not wanting anyone to hear me. Especially Malcolm. Was he even here? Maybe he wouldn't want to come back after what he did last night.

Fear rose through my body as I clenched the door handle and pulled it towards me. I snuck onto the landing and peered through the open bedroom door that belonged to my brothers across the hall. They were all fast asleep. I sighed. Had they heard any of last night's events? I went over to the top of the stairs and saw nothing but a pile of shoes at the bottom. How I wished I could see my daddy at the bottom of the stairs once again, like I always used to. I missed him. I just wanted him to hold me tight and take me away from the horrific thoughts and images that scolded my mind last night.

I would be seeing him again next weekend, I tried to reassure myself. I closed my eyes and scrunched up my face, tightly. I prayed. I prayed with all of the being that I possibly had. I thought that if I prayed hard enough, my daddy would be there at the bottom of the stairs, when I opened them again.

A pang of disappointment hit me in the chest as I opened my eyes. He wasn't there. Nothing had changed. I sighed to myself, praying that my prayers would soon be heard in the neat future. I began to gently make my way down the steps, being careful to not make any loud noises. I reached the bottom, and stepped onto the cold flooring, a tingling sensation ran through my body as the coldness on my bare feet shocked me. Unsure what to do next I made my way into the kitchen.

I was faced with my the sight of my mums back. She was washing last nights dishes at the sink, deeply lost in her own thoughts and was scrubbing away at an already very clean, shiny white plate, not in focus to either her surroundings or what she was doing.

"Mum?" I asked sheepishly.

A large bang accompanied by a splashing sound filled my ears as I saw her drop the plate into the sink, as she jumped into the air with fright. She turned around suddenly, I noticed her hair was clipped over half of her face, as if she was hiding something. I quickly pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind as I focused on my mum.

"Josie? I didn't know you was there, sorry honey!" A frown fell onto her face as she noticed the fear that was implanted into my deep blue eyes, which mirrored hers. " What's wrong?" She asked in a small whisper.

"M-Malcolm hurt m-mummy!" I managed to stutter. The colour from my mums face instantly drained away as she stared back at me in shock, evidently not expecting me to remember anything that happened.

After what seemed like a life time, my mum took my small hand which instantly gripped onto her fingers tightly for comfort, and led me over to the far corner of the kitchen, kneeling down on the floor to be at my level.

"Josie, I think you've had bad nightmares last night darling! Malcolm never hurt mummy. You don't want Malcolm to get in trouble for something he didn't do, do you? You mustn't say anything like that again, okay?" She looked at me hopefully.

The fear embedded into her eyes, alongside the red circle surrounding them, made it hard to believe that anything other than what I remembered to have happened last night, could be true. The panic beaming off of her, despite her fake smile trying to cover it, made me worried. I was worried to insist it happened, incase he found out and hurt her again, it would be all my fault. Instead I would remain quiet. "Okay mum." An evident sigh of relief came from her lips. I pulled my hand away from her grip, gave her a small smile and hurried off upstairs.

When I reached the top off the stairs, I heard the sound of my brothers voices, alongside Antony's, coming from their bedroom. I wondered to myself if Antony knew. If he knew that his dad was a complete and utter monster who hurt my mum. I let the angry thoughts dissolve to the back of my mind as I walked into the room to see Antony, Liam, and Daniel huddled around on the floor, trying to decide what game they would play on their play station. They all looked up at me as they heard the floorboards creaking.

"What do you want Josie?" Daniel asked. Me and Daniel always fought the most, we were real brother and sister and saw each other the most, I found it normal, but sometimes I felt a little left out, because I had no one to play with.

"I just wanted to join in, can I watch you play?" I asked innocently.

In all honesty I didn't want too watch them play, I couldn't care less, but I didn't want to see Malcolm or mum right now.

"Okay fine, just come and sit on the bed quietly, and don't be annoying!"

I made my way to the bed, and sat down, leaning against a wall. I brought my knees to my chest and cuddled into a pillow for Comfort. I took my teddy out of my dressing gown pocket and held her tightly in my hand so I didn't feel so alone. I named my teddy sandy, I got her for my birthday, the one before last, when I was three. I called her sandy because my favourite film was grease, and I loved the character sandy. Since then, I took her everywhere I went.

After I while I became increasingly bored and agitated. It seemed as though the boys hadn't even noticed me since I sat on the bed. I decided to leave and go back to my own room, while the boys remained concentrated on their play station.

I sat on my bed, and pulled out my coloured pens and paper, and began to draw a picture for my dad that I could give to him when I would see him next week. Just as I finished colouring in the picture of me and my dad, I heard a loud slamming noise from outside. I hurried to the window to investigate what it was.

A moment went by as a stabbing pain shot it's way through my heart, as it began to beat faster and faster. Fear took over my body, as my heart dropped through my feet and out of my body.

The banging noise was his car door.

He was home.

He was walking up the driveway.