The 5th member~QUEEN *ON HOLD*

1960-"What the hell is happening?"

Domestic abuse :o carry on

December 24, 1960
Christmas Eve. Jackie's favorite day. Now, most kids say Christmas Day is their favorite, but for Jackie it was different. Yes, she liked gifts and the meal she had was amazing, but there was one thing they didn't have on that day. That thing was a party.

The Avril Christmas Eve party was something every friend of the Avrils looked forward to. During the day, Winnie, Claudette, Jacqueline, Clare, Adeline, and Natalie would bake biscuits, while Roger, Raphael, Michael, and Julien would play board games. Once it hit 5:00 o'clock, more people would arrive and the adults would exchange secret Santa gifts and drink eggnog. The kids would dance, talk, play, and decorate the biscuits. That's how it went every year.

Not this year though.

Winnie, Michael, Roger, and Clare were late. They are never late considering where they live. It was around 12:00pm. Claudette kept looking at her watch.

"Their supposed to be here." She said

"Calm down femme. Why don't I go over and see why they are late?" Julien suggested.

"Yeah, alright Jules." Claudette said

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Jacqueline was upstairs in her room. She couldn't wait for the Taylor's to come over. She was so excited to bake biscuits.

She was practicing 'Blue Christmas' on her acoustic guitar when she heard loud screams coming from Roger's room. She got up from her bed and made her way to her window. She slowly opened her curtains and was met with a sight she hadn't wish to see.

Michael was screaming at Roger, then proceeded to slap him hard across the face. Jacqueline watched in horror as her best friend fell back and into Winnie's arms. Michael continued to yell before he was stopped by another figure. That figure belonged to her very own dad, Julien.

___________________________

Julien knocked on the door but no one answered. He waited there for a couple of minutes until he heard a faint scream. He quickly went into action as he opened the door and raced up stairs. He rushed by Clare's room. Clare was sitting on the bed, tears cascading down her face, but the screaming wasn't coming from her room. It was coming from Roger's.

He quickly opened the door and was met with a horrid sight. Michael was standing over Roger and Winfred. Roger in her arms with a bright red hand print on his pale face. The screaming had stopped and the only thing that could be heard were the heart-wrenching sobs Roger was producing.

"What the hell is happening?" Julien's thick French accent made, what he said, sound slurred.

"Fuck this." Michael said then pushed pass Julien and went down the stairs and slammed the door on his way out of the house.

Once he was gone, Winfred started to cry even heavier and Roger's tight grip on her grew even tighter.

"Clare? Can you check on her?" Winfred managed to get out in between sobs.

Julien nodded and walked down the hall. He knocked and then pushed, the already opened door, open a little bit wider so he could slip in.

Clare was crying and hugging herself. She mumbled incoherent words underneath her breathe and looked up when Julien sat down right next to her.

"You ok dear?" He asked the 7 year old.

"Daddy was being very rude to Roggie." She sobbed into Julien's jacket.

He wrapped his arms around her small little body and picked her up.

"Hush now darling, you'll be ok. Everything's going to be alright." Julien made his way back into Roger's room where the pair stayed sitting on the bed wrapped in each other's arms. "Why don't you guys come over?" Julien suggested.

Winfred nodded in response and sat up. Roger held her hand tight as they made their way to the Avril's house.

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Jacqueline sat on her bed. She didn't know what to do. A million thoughts ran through her head.

How long has this been going on? Is that why he always wore long sleeves? Was that the cause of his black eye? Or his broken arm? Or all the bruises?

She should have known. At first Michael was a very nice man. He had a very real smile on his face. Soon she noticed how his smile became more forced. She remembers some nights, seeing the headlights of his car pulling into their driveway at ungodly hours.

Why was it whenever she hurt herself by scraping her knee or tripping over a tennis ball, Roger was always there, but when it came to him being abused, Jacqueline was blind.

No. She's just skipping to a conclusion. Surely the broken bone and bruises were just an accident. Maybe Michael just hit him one time and felt terribly sorry about it.

The whole scene replayed in her head. Michael slapping Roger. Roger falling backwards into his mother's comforting arms. And Roger's face.

He looked so scared and small. So, so small. She never saw Roger that frightened before. It made her want to throw up. How could someone do that to Roger. Her Roggie.

Her thoughts stopped as the door of her room opened and revealed Roger. His eyes were red, puffy, and glistening with tears. One side of his face was red and had a hand print, while the other had tear streaks. His hair was out of control. His bottom lip trembled.

At that moment, Jacqueline's heart broke. She got off her bed and wrapped Roger in a bone-crushing hug. That's when Roger let the tears fall. He sobbed into her neck. She felt the wetness on her shirt but didn't say anything. She wanted to cry. She hated seeing her friend like this. She wanted to protect him. Hold him forever and never let him go.

He told her everything. He told her about the first ever time his father put his hands on him. He told her about the time his father pushed him so hard, his hand hit the side table and broke. He told her the time he was punched in the eye. And he told her about how he protected his mother and his sister.

While he told her, she cried. She felt so guilty. She should have been there. She should have protected him. She felt like the worst friend ever. She didn't deserve Roger, but she loved him. And she promised she will never let a friend of hers down.

"Roger, I promise things will get better. You said he left. That's a good thing right?" She said

"No, he always leaves. He comes back smelling like alcohol and yells. He was drunk today and I forgot to make my bed and he hit me." He said

He was right. Michael did come back. He wasn't drunk though. He was sober and had flowers.

The Avrils canceled the party and just decided to hold a small get together the day after Christmas. Michael showed up at the front door of the Avril's house and asked Julien, who answered the door, to see his wife and kids. It took a few minutes, but he let him in.

Winnie accepted the flowers and they shared a kiss. Then he hugged Roger and Clare and told them how sorry he was.

To this, Jacqueline was confused. Why would they accept this. He didn't deserve their forgiveness, but of course, she was just a kid and she couldn't say anything about it.

She just knew, she would never break her promise.

𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽 1246
The only thing I have to say is that I'm switching between Jacqueline's name and nickname which is Jackie. Bye loves.

;)

Paige

Femme- Wife/woman