by Cynthia Tavares

Created on: October 26, 2009

Nothing Unrequited

I looked around at the chaos. My living room. My state of the art stereo system had been torn apart and was morphed into a pile of wires and jagged plastic on the floor. The door was nearly off it's hinges as it hung there pathetically open. I vaguely remembered why the lighting over the dining room table was shattered throughout the kitchen. Ah yes, a baseball bat! Broken shards of glass littered the kitchen counter. My head throbbed and my knuckles ached each time I tightened them.

I went to the bathroom and saw "B*H" scribbled dramatically on the mirror with my burnt sienna lipstick. My side ached and I lifted my shirt to examine myself in the mirror. My right eyebrow split, my knuckles swollen and cut, and the right side of my ribcage......a deep purple. "Definitely a foot" I thought. I carefully drew in a deep breath to see how deep I could go before it hurt too much. I found out that I was okay. Yeah, I looked like hell, but I was okay.

I stopped and took a moment to slide against the bathroom wall. I prayed as I fell..."Thank you Jesus, for my sister coming to get Josh when she did. Thank you, thank you, thank you". Joshua was my 7 year old son.

I didn't know where he went. The car was gone and he kept my truck keys hidden from me. The trouble with living way out in the middle of nowhere, was having nowhere to go.

I don't know what came over me. I started giggling. It was psychotic really. Then I looked down at my knuckles and thought "At least this wasn't a one way trip".

I sat there for several more minutes and then my stomach growled. I pulled myself up, using the toilet, went and put my hair back in a pony tail, and went to find my flip flops.

After I had my flip flops on, I navigated my way through the glass on the floor and began rummaging through our near empty cupboards. I found a box of instant mashed potatoes and made a cup of them. Just as I was about to eat my first bite, I heard the car door slam. I put the cup down........just in time.

"You F*g B*h" he scowled, as he threw the keys at my face. I weaved and it missed and hit the wall behind me.

"Awwww, Poor Stephen didn't get his dope?" I asked, laughing.

"I'm gonna kill you" he screamed. His face was contorted and pure hatred burned through me by his stare.

At this point, I didn't have the energy to fight any more. I just stood there biting my lip with my hand on the table. He ran into the other room and came back with a golf club in his hand. I looked away

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