Spearmint

11. Muse

October 1997

It was early in the morning that he had heard commotion. His mama and father were fighting again. Mama never listened, that's what his father always told him.

He knew Mama wasn't feeling any pain though, she screamed because she liked the attention and his father's message was becoming clear.

His father always told him that in order to get women to listen you must degrade them and beat your message into them. They may scream but that's how you know it is working. He didn't like the screams, they made his ears hurt. It was hard listening to his mama scream sometimes, her screams were always high pitched.

The sound of flesh hitting bare flesh cut through the house on a regular basis but that morning was different. The sound echoed but there were no more screams that followed, only the sound of a large thud.

He pushed the blankets off his small body and ran to his parents room. He opened the door as fast as he could. What he saw alarmed him, It was mama, she was on the ground her brown hair was coated in blood with her face covered in purple bruises and dry blood.

"Daniel!" his father shouted at him.

"Yes?" he whimpered, he subconsciously crossed his legs as he felt the trickle of urine run down his leg.

"For god sake you pissed yourself!" his father threw his hands up.

"S-sorry," the little boy stuttered out.

"Well don't just stand there, clean it up!" The boy nodded before he uncrossed his legs and ran to the bathroom. He grabbed a towel and ran back to his parents room. The woman he called mama was still on the floor unmoving.

"What's wrong with her?" Daniel asked.

"She is just sleeping."

"Okay," Daniel dropped the towel and wiped up the urine.

"We are going to gran and pa's today," his father told him.

Daniel gasped, "really?" he asked.

"No, I'm fucking lying you little shit, of course we are going!" the man yelled again. Daniel nodded before he picked up the towel from the floor. He threw it in the laundry hamper that was in the bathroom before he removed his clothes and made himself a bubble bath.

His bath was his safe place where he played with the one rubber ducky his parents had bought him. His mama usually helped him wash his hair but sometimes if she was sick or his father had taught mama a lesson he would have to do it himself.

It wasn't long until he had to get out of the bath. He wrapped himself in a towel before he climbed up onto the bathroom vanity. He combed his brown hair that reached just below his ears with a little black comb before he brushed his teeth.

Still wrapped in his towel he made his way back to his bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans and a nice button up t-shirt with a blue and white pattern. He always had to look nice when going to his gran and pa's house.

He didn't get a chance to have breakfast before his father barked at him to pack a couple outfits and pj's in his backpack.

"Make sure you grab your sweaters and coats," his father demanded.

"Yes dad!"

He packed all three best outfits and his favourite pj's. He sometimes got to spend the night at his grandparents house and when he did it was the best. Except for the times when his pa brought home strange girls who screamed like his mama.

"Hurry the fuck up!" his father shouted. He pushed his sneakers on before he flung his backpack filled with clothes on his back. He grabbed his coats and sweaters that didn't fit in his backpack and ran to where his father was. His father was wearing a nice button up shirt and jeans too with a cigarette in his hand. A tarp rolled up at the door caught his attention.