Waiting For Nothing

Chapter 6: In All Honesty, I Can't Catch A Break

Chapter 6: In All Honesty, I Can't Catch A Break

It was 3 a.m., Saturday night and I sat at a bench in the town park, twiddling my thumbs in my lap. My mom had had another episode, but this time it had been directed at my dad. I hadn't stood for it, so being my stupid self I jumped into the middle of the fray. The good thing was that I didn't get hurt this time.

Leaning forward, I rested my head between my knees, closing my eyes and reliving the events that occurred moments ago.

When I got off of work finally around 10, I rushed home because I was beat. The diner had been slammed by a sudden rush of people. The people were coming from the football game that had just finished and our team had won easily over the opposing team. Everyone at the diner was in high spirits so luckily the tips were very plentiful.

As I made my way home, I opened the house and to my surprise I saw my parents sitting on the stools at the kitchen table drinking coffee. It was so normal for them. Even though it was late, I didn't bother to ask for an explanation due to me being too tired. If they wanted to tell me; they would, but it would have to wait until the morning when I was coherent.

I greeted them as I walked past the doorway, "Hey you two. I'm really tired so I'll be going to bed early." I smiled at both of them and they returned it quickly.

I ran upstairs and immediately threw my stuff onto my bed. Gathering fresh clothes which consisted of a sweatshirt and running shorts, I ran into the bathroom and took a quick shower. The water had felt amazing and welcoming. I left my hair down just because it was Friday night and that meant that I wouldn't have to worry about it in the morning.

Plopping down onto my bed, I turned onto my back and stared at my cieling. Smiling I closed my eyes and didn't bother to pull a blanket over myself. It was warm in the house and the sweatshirt I had on provided the warmth that I needed to be able to fall asleep.

"Maybe things are finally going back to how they were." I murmured to myself in the silent room. My parents could barely stand to sit together, let alone in the same room. It was nice seeing them not fighting. Boy was I wrong about that.

Slowly I felt the darkness pulling at me so I fell asleep.

I woke up to hearing shouts from downstairs.  I hadn't been asleep for long, only 3 hours. For once, I heard my dad yelling for my mom to stop; I was proud of my dad. He was actually speaking out instead of cowering away from my mother and leaving when things got out of hand.

When I heard something fall to the ground I knew my mom was about to start getting violent. My dad did not deserve the violence that she dealt him with. It was unfair.

Shooting out of my bed, I quickly opened my door and rushed down the stairs. The first thing I saw was the glass and the second was the blood that was on my father's hands.

He had tried to block the glass that had been thrown at him when it had shattered on impact with his hands. They both froze when they noticed my presence. I felt my body swoon from the sight of the blood on my father's hands, but quickly shook it off and stood my ground.

"Honey go back to bed-" My mom looked at me with pleading eyes. Who was she kidding? She was the one that started it. There was no way that I was going to just leave and pretend everything was okay.

"No."

"Excuse me?" I saw anger flicker in her eyes.

"I'm tired of this. You are freaking abusing dad and me. You already threw a vase at my face, and now you threw something at dad. What the fuck mom!" She flinched when I began shouting, but I saw it quickly disappear as anger filled her eyes. "I came back to this hell for you two! Not even myself. You guys are ruining each other. At this point it would be better if you guys hurried up and just divorced already. I'm tired of seeing both of you broken down each day from years of having to deal with a marriage that you never even wanted."