Unbreakable

4

He's home.

I heard his car pull into the driveway.

I have no food to make him. Kalene has been screaming for an hour because she's hungry. Because she won't latch and I have no formula.

Because I'm a shitty mom that can't feed her one month old.

I look at my cell phone, seeing that it's 1 am.

I scramble to put Kalene in her crib next to our bed. She's still screaming but it doesn't matter because he's home.

I close our bedroom door and I close the door to Akila's room where she's fast asleep.

They don't need to hear what's about to happen.

I rush into the kitchen and pull out the bread and peanut butter since that's all there is.

I hear him at the door now, struggling with his keys.

"FUCK!" He yells as he drops his keys and kicks the front door.

Fuck. I repeat in my own head. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

My hands tremble as I attempt to spread the peanut butter onto the slice of bread as the front door opens.

I put the best smile I can manage onto my face.

"Why- the fuck- is the baby crying?"
He stumbles as he walks toward the kitchen.

"She's just hungry babe, I was about to feed her but I hea-"

"WHY THE FUCK IS THE BABY CRYING CAIRI?"

I accidentally drop the knife on the floor but I don't dare move.

"I- I don't have any formula left and she wouldn't latch. I tried- I tried calling you to see if you could get some but you didn't answer-" I trail off.

He stands on the other side of the counter now, directly in front of me. I could smell the liquor on him from here.

"So now it's my fucking fault that you're starving the fucking baby?"

I look up at him. My first mistake.

"No, I-"

He slams his fists on the counter making me jump.

"You fucking bitch, everything is my god damn fault all the time!"

He reaches over and snatches the plate with his partially made sandwich on it, hurling it at the wall behind me.

The plate shatters into pieces and I instinctively take a step back. My second mistake.

"No Andre, I wasn't saying that. I'm so sorry that you thought I was blaming you."

I hear the pleading in my own voice. Please don't hurt me tonight. I'm so tired.

He lunges toward me from around the counter and grabs me by the throat, pushing me backwards and against the wall.

My bare feet tear as I step on the broken glass.

He squeezes my throat tight enough that my vision blurs.

"Why can't you fucking do anything right Cairi?"