Once Upon A Divorce

Prologue

My father was yelling. My mother was screaming. I was hiding upstairs. I was crying.

My parents had been fighting non-stop. I had sobbing and begging them to stop but they wouldn’t listen.

I’d fled to my room, and curled up in a ball in the corner, shaking with the tears.

“You want a divorce?” Dad yelled.

“Yes! I do! How did I ever love you!” Mom screeched.

“Fine!”
“Fine!”
I cried harder.

 

✣✣✣

 

It has been six months since my parents divorced and I am still not over it. Both of them will seethe with anger if I mention the other’s name. It scares me, a lot.

Every week, I go to a different parent’s house. I’m at my mom’s house. She’s cooking dinner downstairs…I am up in my new room, pacing.
My dad got to keep the house. My mom yelled and screamed and then moved out. I begged for her not to leave…but she did.

Now, in this new house, everything is strange. Even after six months.

I plop down on my bed and sigh. My life has changed so much since The Divorce.

And without meaning to, I begin crying. Tears streaming silently down my face.

“Dinner, honey!” My mother calls up the stairs. I quickly wipe the tears from my face and hurry downstairs.

“Hi, Mom.” I say glumly as I sit down.

“Spaghetti for dinner tonight, sweetie.” She says as she slips an enormous plate of sauce-covered spaghetti towards me.

Ever since The Divorce, my mother has been calling me names like honey, sweetie and pumpkin. I think she’s trying to help me feel better. Somehow, it doesn’t help.

I finish off the spaghetti and head back to my room so I can get into my pajamas and sleep. Sleep doesn’t help either. It brings nightmares of the worst arguments from before the divorce.

“Good night, Delila, darling!”
“Night, Mom.”

As I snuggle under the covers, I can’t sleep. I’m too afraid of the nightmares. The screaming that continues in my head. But by midnight, sleep claims me, and I slip into nightmares.

“You want a divorce?”

“Yes!”

I cry and cry and cry. My parents are still fighting. I am still crying. They will never stop fighting.

I sit up straight. Sunlight is streaming through my window and onto my lap. I breathe heavily…the dream, the nightmare, it scares me so much. I can’t tell my parents…They would get angry at the slightest mention of the Divorce.  I wipe away a single tear, then jump out of bed. I’m going to my dad’s house today. I have to meet him a block away from here because he refuses to be too close to my mother. I pack up my bag for later, then head downstairs for breakfast.
There is a bowl, a cereal box, a spoon, and milk set out for me on the table. A note from my mother says she’s out grocery shopping and won’t be back till four. I’m meeting my dad at two.

I suppose I won’t see my mother for a week.

I finish eating my cereal and head back upstairs. I get changed, grab my suitcase, and begin walking to where my dad would meet me. It’s a nice day, so I spend the rest of the time reading.