It is with joy that I finally bring you chapter 3 of the book. I will, likely, only post one or two more chapters on here because I don't want to give the whole thing away now do I? hehe
This chapter is a little darker sadly. It has some abuse of Lee's mum scenes in it. This is the story I'm telling though and the next chapter will bring the abuse story to an end, and it's set the middle of 2019 and not 2017 so two years later.
As I previously said I decided Lee needs to be older than 12 for the things that he sees and does to feel real. Therefore my next step will be to edit these three chapters, a task I hate to no end, so that his age is uniform across the chapters as I keep changing my mind about it.
Just before launching into chapter 3 here is word 20,000... just in case you were interested.
"my". All my milestone words are so boring... Anyway, the next milestone in my head is the 35000th word, which will be half way through :)
Without further ado, chapter 3...
3. Take it Out:
17th
of January 2017
Before
I wasn’t sure if I was one hundred per cent correct about what could be
happening between my mam and dad. Christmas, however, confirmed I was right. They
had an argument about the turkey. Mam told dad to buy it but he forgot. Then
when she asked him where it was on Christmas morning he had a freak out and
verbally attacked her saying it was her job to remember things like buying
turkey and not his.
Mam
stayed calm about it though. She moved the conversation to the kitchen to find
something else to cook, she tried to remove me from the situation. I didn’t go
to my room as she asked; I had to know whether my fears were just that or if
there was fire to the smoke.
There
was nothing else to cook and so dad got really angry. He threw a plate at mam
and then he hit her so hard she fell and knocked herself unconscious by hitting
her head on the corner of the worktop.
She
spent the remainder of the holiday season in hospital. The reason I write all
this isn’t to talk about mam. I’ve tried talking to her about what’s been
happening and I’ve tried to get her to see sense before dad actually kills her
but she won’t listen to me. All she does is defend that useless man. She can’t
see past the person she married, who Joshua’s dad had some dealings with and
said was a nice guy. She can’t see past that nice guy to see the man he has
become. She needs to forget the man he was and see the reality of the situation
before her today. Dad is dangerous. That’s all there is too it.
Anyway,
I wrote because I’m beginning to worry about myself now as well. This is
because I was away with Joshua and his father, Jacob, for New Year’s. We went
to a little cottage near the sea that they own. It was beautiful and went for
nice walks in the crisp weather and some snow. Then we went to a firework show
and I stole some fireworks. I have no idea why I did that. I had learned mam
was out of hospital and back in my dad’s care and I had the need to let off
some steam. But there’s letting off steam and then there’s stealing fireworks.
I really cannot understand my own motivations in the stealing of the fireworks.
I saw them there, and the security around them was negligible and I thought
they would look so beautiful being let off near the coast with the sea
sparkling in their bright colours.
I
wasn’t thinking.
I
wasn’t thinking when I lit them either. One or two fell over and instead of
exploding into the sky they exploded into the house, through Jacob’s window. I
think, considering the circumstances I kept my cool very well. I knew that I
couldn’t let Joshua and Jacob know that the explosion and fire that started
began because of me. I was praying to any god that would listen, I’m not
particularly religious in any sense of the world so I don’t know what you have
to do to pray, I just talked to anyone that might be listening; God, Muhammad,
Ghandi, Homer Simpson, anyone really.
It
turned out I didn’t need any type of god. Jacob wasn’t even in the room. WE
discovered this after I woke Joshua and tried to get into Jacob’s room but had
to leave the house and Jacob appeared behind us.
The
house was destroyed and we had to go to a hotel instead. Jacob brought me home
the next day; he didn’t suspect that the fire had anything to do with me,
fortunately.
So
that’s the first questionable thing I have done recently. The second is since
we started back in school. I know I shouldn’t be doing this but I can’t help it,
I do it absent minded-ly and without thinking about it or even noticing I’m
doing it until I see it the next time I’m in the same place. It’s always in the
school cubicles. While I’m doing my business on the toilet I start drawing with
the pen I constantly have in my pocket, I use it for taking notes in class. The
picture is always the same one and I have been working on it, subconsciously,
in every cubicle in the school for the past ten days now. None of the pictures
are finished as of yet, but I can tell what they are going to be. I’m drawing
my mam. She is looking scared at something in front of her with her arms up
defensively blocking whatever it is she is looking at from reaching her. I seem
to draw this picture whenever I’m not focused. I focus on nothing when I’m in
the bathroom and sometimes I do the same in class, normally French class
because I hate and do not understand that subject, it seems so pointless to me,
who speaks French anyway?
Yesterday
I was in French class and I caught myself drawing my mam’s hair on my desk.
It’s the same picture as the one in four cubicles now but it’s less completed.
I don’t have any control over this drawing of silly pictures. I can’t stop
myself from doing it but I keep on drawing mam looking scared everywhere. For
the first time in my life I am thankful that I can’t draw very well because if
I could people might recognise the woman in the picture as my mam but as it
stands no one, except myself, will know what that picture means. Not even
Joshua would see those drawings and be able to see my mam in them. That’s more
because he has never seen her than that the drawings are so bad.
I’ve
tried talking to my mam a couple of times now but she keeps shooting me down. I
got her friend, Sarah’s, number from her phone yesterday and I sent her a text
from mine. Sarah and I are meeting up at eleven in the morning, which means
that I’m doing some mitching from school. The wellbeing of my mam is more
important than a day in school though. I have to work on a way of making it
look as if I am going to school, dad sometimes brings me to school these days
and I feel as if the morning might be one of those days.
Sarah and Lee had arranged to
meet in a little café in town called ‘Chillaxo’s’ they were so called because
they were renowned for a chilled coffee that was meant to help you relax and
chill at the same time; you could also get it hot. Lee wasn’t a big coffee
drinker but Sarah enjoyed the warm version of the Chillaxo. Sarah was the
mother of two children: the eldest was about eight and the other five. She was
a kind woman and had a very approachable demeanour.
“What brings us here?” Sarah
asked Lee after the small talk was over and done with.
“It’s my mam,” Lee admitted.
“Oh, I haven’t seen her in an
age. How is she doing the old dear?” Sarah asked.
“That’s why we’re here,” Lee
said, “did you hear about what happened to her at Christmas?”
“No, I didn’t. What happened?”
Sarah asked looking worried.
“She ended up in hospital
after being hit and hitting her head on the work top surface.”
“How did that happen?” Sarah
asked sounding incredulous.
“Okay,” Lee said, “this might
shock you, and I hope it doesn’t and I hope that you will remain open minded.”
“Of course,” Sarah said, she
was becoming even more concerned as Lee rapidly begged her to listen to him.
“It was my dad,” Lee said and
almost sounded ashamed.
“Michael?” replied Sarah
sounded incredulous.
“The same,” Lee said, he was
evidently nervous Sarah wouldn’t believe him.
“It’s hard to believe,” Sarah
admitted.
Lee was prepared for this
outcome and began a spiel he had prepared, knowing this could be the outcome;
“I thought there was a possibility you wouldn’t believe me and so I prepared as
if you wouldn’t. I was there Sarah and I saw it happen. I know people don’t
want to believe bad about my dad, I didn’t want to either, but his actions
resulted in my mother being hospitalised on Christmas Day. If he can hurt her
enough to send her into the hospital on Christmas Day I’m scared about what he
would be capable of any other day of the year. Now I know you and my mam
haven’t spoken in a long time. I also know that that breakdown of your
friendship came at the hands of mam and not you, she may even have wronged you.
I don’t know. Please just think about it, why would mam stop seeing you unless
there was something going on at home with dad that she was ashamed of? Apart
from that…”
“Lee, honey,” Sarah
interrupted, “I am not saying I don’t believe you. All I was saying is that it
is hard to believe that your dad would do something like that to your mum and
that your mum would sit down and take it. That is not the Maeve I know. That’s
not saying that you are lying either it is expressing surprise at the fact that
your dad has twisted and warped her mind to result in her ending friendships in
order that she doesn’t have to live up to her own shame.”
“She shouldn’t be ashamed,”
Lee said in an accusatory tone.
“I know she shouldn’t, my dear
boy, but I am trying to understand things from her perspective. Thinking that
she should be ashamed is part of how what has been happening to her has twisted
and warped her mind.”
“Okay,” Lee said and calmed
down, even visibly, “I’m sorry I got so angry,” he said. “It is hard to be
living with this. She knows that I know but still isn’t doing anything about it
and you are the first adult I have told about it; well at least the first adult
that could say anything about it, and has some connection to mam and dad and
the family and not just me.”
“Who else have you told?”
Sarah asked.
“I have this friend called
Joshua, I told his dad, looking for advice. They brought me away for a New
Year’s trip. He was the one that suggested I try talking to mam about it and
get her to admit what’s happening to me and then try and get her to talk to you
about it if she wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Sounds like he was a wise
choice to go and talk to about it first,” Sarah noted, “how long has all of
this been going on?”
“I’m not sure,” Lee admitted,
“Christmas was the event that cemented it as real in my head when I saw dad
throw a plate at mam and hit her, knocking her over. There was another couple
of incidents where I thought something might be happening.”
“Tell me about those,” Sarah
said.
“I came in from school, maybe
in mid October,” Lee informed Sarah, “mam tried to stop me coming into the
kitchen and when I did dad was holding a knife and mam had a knife slash across
her face. They told me it was an accident but I knew better, but there wasn’t
much I could do.”
“It’s okay Lee,” Sarah said,
“you have done the best thing you can do,” she comforted it, “you sought the
advice of a wise and trusted adult, you attempted to talk to your mum yourself
and you came to one of her good friends. You’re doing really well and your mum
is lucky to have you.”
“Thanks Sarah,” Lee said.
“Now tell me,” Sarah said,
“what do you want me to do next?”
“It would be great if you
could try and get her to meet up with you?” Lee suggested.
“I have a better idea,” Sarah
said, “why don’t I bake a cake sometime your dad is out and ‘randomly’ call
over.”
“That’s not a bad plan,” Lee
realised as he thought it through, “he’s definitely out Friday from six,” Lee
said, “if you came then that should be perfect. He has a table quiz thing he is
helping run, it is at six thirty so he should be gone from six until around nine,
or longer if he stays out for a drink or two afterwards; which, with my dad, is
very likely.”
“Right,” Sarah smiled as she
downed the end of her Chillazo, “Friday it is, you had better get back to
school. You wouldn’t want them to miss you and you have to explain where you
were, would you?”
“Definitely not to either mam
or dad anyway,” Lee said as he stood, “can I give you the money for my tea?”
Lee asked as he stood.
“Ah here,” Sarah said smiling
kindly, “don’t you go worrying about paying for a cup of tea now, d’you hear
me?” she asked.
“Are you sure?” Lee asked,
wallet in hand.
“I’ll not have it,” Sarah
said, “you paying for tea and you only sixteen? You’re grand, I can afford a
tea,” she said and winked.
“Thanks,” Lee said and left as
she motioned with her hand for him to get on.
“Oh Maeve,” Sarah sighed to
herself as she gathered the crockery she and Lee had been using onto a tray to
bring it to the counter, “what are you doing to yourself?”
“So if you have two points on
a line, let’s call them (X1, Y1) and (X2, Y2) then to find the slope, called m,
m would be equal to Y2-Y1 over X2-X1. Ok, Jimmy can you come up to the board
please?” The math teacher was saying in class. Lee was only half listening to
what was going on, they had coordinate geometry before so he knew all this
stuff anyway.
“If you have the points (-5,
-2) and (6, 4) what will the slope of the line be equal to?”
Jimmy began writing on the
board, he wrote down the two points and the equation for finding the slope. As
he did so Lee began to draw on his desk. This math was easy for him and so he
didn’t have to worry about it too much.
“Six over eleven,” Jimmy said.
“Good,” the teacher said,
“now, Mary, could you, using those two points and the slope find the equation
of the line?”
“Well you would use the
equation Y-Y1=m(X-X1),” Mary said as Lee drew his mother’s face on his desktop
masterpiece.
“That’s right,” the Math
teacher encouraged an unsure Mary, “so fill it in.”
“I’ll use the (6,4) point,”
Mary said, “so it would be Y-4=6/11(X-6)
“That’s equal to
11(Y-4)=6(X-6). So they 11Y-44=6X-36 and then 11y-44+36=6x and so 11y-8=6x.
This means that the equation is 6x-11y+8=0,” Mary concluded.
“What are you doing?” Joshua
asked Lee so suddenly that he nearly jumped out of his seat in fright.
“Everything okay there Lee?”
the teacher asked.
“Yeah sir, fine, just got a
bit of a shock there from the metal of the desk leg,” Lee lied. Once the
teacher had gone back to teaching Lee looked to Joshua and said, “you scared me
half to death. I didn’t… I’m pretty sure you weren’t in this room since the
start of class,” Lee stumbled.
“I arrived here exactly when I
was meant to,” Joshua argued, “you were too busy with your desk art to notice
me though.”
“My desk art?” Lee asked
looking at his friend without a notion of what he was talking about.
“Look,” Joshua said and
pointed to the desk where a woman’s face, looking terrified, looked at a knife
that a hand was moving towards her, a speech bubble above the woman’s head read
‘Help me!’
“Oh,” Lee said on seeing what
he had been drawing, “I didn’t realise that I drew that,” Lee admitted.
“That’s slightly worrying,”
Joshua admitted, “it means that you have such pent up feelings about what’s
going on between your parents that the way you are dealing with them is to randomly
draw on desks.”
“That’s not the only place I
have been drawing them,” Lee disclosed, “they are on bathroom walls, doors,
toilet roll holders, other desks in other classrooms.”
“I assume this is your mum?”
Joshua asked, “and your dad is the hand with the knife?”
“I have never drawn the hand
with the knife before,” Lee said, “that’s new.”
“You really don’t realise that
you’re doing this do you?” Joshua asked.
“Not really,” Lee admitted, “I
just seem to, you know, do it.”
“When does it happen most?” Joshua
asked.
“Bathrooms, French class and
now here,” Lee summarised the places he had noticed himself drawing the
picture.
“It seems to me that when your
mind is bored and not focused that it slips, perhaps subconsciously to the
thing you are most worried about, and that is your mother and how your father
is treating her. I understand that is a worry but the fact that you are doing
things without even realising that you are doing them is a worry as well. Might
I suggest something for you to do to take your subconscious mind off of all
that’s happening at home and then hopefully the desk thing will go away?”
Joshua asked.
“Go ahead,” Lee said, “I’ll
take all the help I can get.”
“Well,” Joshua began, “it
seems to me that you need to keep your mind focused.”
“Okay,” Lee said, “but when
I’m in a class doing things like this, things I did before years ago and was
good at years ago, then how do I keep my mind focused?”
“I was thinking about that and
you could try writing what is being said in class? Or you could write how you
are feeling about all the things going on with your parents,” Joshua suggested.
“I’ve started keeping a
diary,” Lee confided, “it helps me when I can see how I feel written down on
paper, it helps me to put down those issues and move past them for a time, at
least in order to sleep for the night.”
“That’s a good start,” Joshua
encouraged, “clearly it isn’t working one hundred per cent as well as we would
like it to,” he noted, “I think it would be really good if you and I met up
regularly to talk about what is going on outside of maths class. What do you
think of that?” Joshua asked.
“That sounds like a good
idea,” Lee said, “if I continue to write my feelings about this whole situation
and I talk it out with you, and maybe your dad if he was willing to listen, on
a regular basis perhaps then I can focus on school properly and not just on all
the things going on with mam and dad and the worries I have for mam’s safety.”
“It is, of course, important
that you are concerned about your mother,” Joshua said, “it wouldn’t be right
if you completely forgot all of this because that would mean you are feeling
apathy towards your mum and her situation. At the same time, though, it is good
to be able to sometimes ‘leave those issues at the door’, as it were, and focus
on your schoolwork. After all, worrying about things outside of school all the
time can result in poor academic performance and poor academic performance
could negatively affect your entire future.”
“I know, and obviously I want
to go to college and things in a couple of years,” Lee said.
“Of course you do,” Joshua
agreed, “so will you agree to try writing more and meeting up with me, and
maybe my father, on Saturdays?”
“That sounds like a good
idea,” Lee agreed, “thanks Joshua,” he added, “you’re a great friend and I
don’t know how I would get through any of this without you.”
“Do you mind?” the teacher
asked looking in the direction of Lee and Joshua, “I am trying to teach a class
here you know? Coordinate Geometry will be on the final exam in May so I
suggest you pay attention and listen up or you might find yourself failing and
ending up doing a lower level for your state exams, which will get you lots
less points.”
“Sorry sir,” Lee said and
began to write down what was on the board in order to keep his mind focused on
school and off problems at home, as Joshua had suggested.
* *
* * *
28th of
January-2017
Friday
couldn’t have come faster for me and yet, at the same time, it came very
quickly. I had been really looking forward to dad going out that night all week
long and had arranged, as soon as Sarah arrived at 6:30pm, to go to visit Jacob
and Joshua for dinner.
Sarah
was a little late that day. That slightly freaked me out. I was scared that she
might have, over the last week and a half, thought about the situation and
decided it was too much for her to get herself involved in. She did come though
and Sarah arrived at the house at 6:43pm, according to my digital watch.
I
made sure it was me who answered the door. I did it in a way that appeared as
if I was on my way out, so that mam wouldn’t be suspicious. I was scared that
if I allowed mam to answer the door that she wouldn’t even allow Sarah into the
house because of how strained mam’s relationships with her friends have become
since she began being abused by my dad. You see, if I opened the door there was
no way that mam could escape having to talk to her at some point, especially if
I just pointed towards where mam was and left. That’s exactly what I did. I
just left and left them to it.
I
went to Jacob and Joshua’s house. It’s a beautiful house, quite like the one
they have near the coast in Kerry but bigger. The decoration is simple, the
colour scheme is quite neutral, or maybe nature-based, there are a lot of light
greens and pale greens, and the outside is inside. It has a large open plan
living-kitchen and dinning room with a two-storey window out onto the garden
filled with flowers and trees, birdhouses and a fish pond, all visible from the
kitchen and the dinning table. There are potted plants on the inside of that
window that keep the house smelling fresh and wonderful. It looks as if it
could be a cold house but Jacob and Joshua assured me that it wasn’t.
Jacob
prepared a wonderful meal of chicken and nice ‘seasonal vegetables’ as he put
it. Being in their house made me feel so posh. They are such lovely people.
When
I got home Sarah was still with my mam, which was nice to see. It meant that
mam hadn’t thrown her out straight away at least. I don’t know what they chatted
about but they did chat a bit. Sarah told me she would see me on Wednesday,
same time, same café, before I headed to my room to allow their conversations
continue.
It
was about midnight when dad came home. I had already fallen asleep somehow and
his shouting woke me up. I can’t be sure if Sarah had left before he returned
or if she was still there when he got back. The words he was shouting were
unintelligible to me from where I was upstairs. Dad was shouting about
something anyway, and if it was Sarah being over, and the possibility that mam
had talked to Sarah about what has been going on, then dad would be very angry.
I was scared for mam but I didn’t feel as if I could go downstairs and confront
the issue. I wasn’t to know Sarah was coming, what she and mam talked about, or
what time she left. Therefore it was best for me to stay out of it. I did make
a little noise to allow my dad to know that I was awake upstairs and that it
would be a good idea to stop arguing and let me sleep.
I
really hope he didn’t walk in on mam and Sarah chatting, especially if they
were chatting about him at the time of his arrival. It would be better if Sarah
had left before he came back. I guess there’s no point in sitting around and
worrying about whether dad saw Sarah in the house or not when he returned from
his table quiz. What does matter is mam and Sarah helping her. I’ll have to
check with Sarah on Wednesday how the conversations went and if anything
worthwhile came up. I’m kind of hoping that, when dad’s out tomorrow, that mam
will open up to me about what happened with Sarah to cause the end to their
friendship; or something about what happened last night during their
conversations.
Anyway,
early day in school tomorrow because we are going on a field study trip. I
better stop writing and get some shuteye. Hopefully things will look brighter
in the morning.
*
* * *
*
The
following Wednesday Lee met with Sarah in the same café as he had before, so
she could buy the same coffee as she got last time.
Lee
wanted to jump right to the point, no small talk, no chitchat, he wanted to
know how his mother was and whether she had admitted anything to Sarah.
“Yes,”
Sarah said in answer to the all-important question.
“She
actually admitted to dad abusing her?” Lee asked incredulous, “I don’t believe
it.”
“Well,”
Sarah derailed his train of thought, “she didn’t exactly admit to it.”
“What
did she say?” Lee asked, not sounding one bit surprised.
“She
told me things between the two of them haven’t been good for almost a year now.
She said he took to the drink and as a result lost his job and has been more
angry since then and harder to please,” Sarah summarized.
“Okay,
that’s good, that’s something,” Lee said, “did you encourage her to divulge
more information?”
“I
went as far as to ask if she was being harmed by Michael,” Sarah confessed.
“How
did she react to that?” Lee questioned.
“She
didn’t out rightly deny it but she did say that she wasn’t being abused by
him,” Sarah told Lee, “I asked her if Michael ever hit her,” Sarah continued.
“And?”
“She
told me that he had once or twice,” Sarah said, “but she stressed that it
wasn’t your father’s fault that he hit her, that it was her own fault because
of what she had done herself, how she had annoyed him and not done the things
she had promised him she would do, or thinks she should have done without being
asked.”
“Did
she tell you about Christmas?” Lee asked.
“No,”
Sarah said sadly, “I asked was she in hospital because of anything your father
did, she told me about being in hospital, but she said she was rooting through
the freezer and must have slipped on some ice.”
Lee
sighed a sigh of deep sadness.
“Can
we use any of this?” Lee eventually asked.
“Use?”
Sarah asked, “what do you mean?”
“I
mean could we go to the police and report any of this or do we still have
nothing?” Lee asked.
“Would
you go to the police?” Sarah asked.
“I
think that if I don’t, well mam never will, will she? So if I, and you, don’t
dad might kill her…”
“You
don’t think that, do you?” Sarah exclaimed.
“I
don’t think he’d do it on purpose,” Lee admitted, “but I think he could hit her
again, and she could fall again and hit her head again; but this time not be so
lucky.”
“The
way the law is in this country means that she would have to report it herself,
we couldn’t do it for her I’m afraid,” Sarah said, “plus, if she isn’t ready to
testify herself it would be my word against her word and against your dad’s
word. I don’t think I would be comfortable with testifying unless your mom was
on board anyway,” Sarah said, “I’m sorry to say that but it could cause so much
tension between the two of us and that would not be nice for me, or for her. If
she believed I was against her there is no way I could get her to open up any
little bit more.”
“I
understand,” Lee said, “you feel like you going to the police might cause more
problems than it would solve,” he surmised.
“Exactly,”
Sarah said, “I will call around on your mom a couple more times and hopefully
she will open up a little more each time, I might take her into Cork some night
and give her an evening off.”
“That
sounds great Sarah, thanks,” Lee said, “I better get off to school though, my
free class is long over.”
“Alright
Lee,” Sarah stood and gave him a hug, “we’ll be seeing you soon I’m sure; stay
strong.”
“Thanks
Sarah, and, I know you and mam are friends for longer than my sixteen year long
life but thanks for all you are doing for her.”
“No
problem Lee,” Sarah said as she took out her purse to pay for her ‘Chillaxo’.
Lee
headed out the door of the café to walk back to school.
* *
* * *
Lee
arrived home from school that Friday to a terrible racket in the house. He
heard a bang before he opened the front door and something smash as he was
closing it behind him.
He
shook his head to himself but decided it would be best to stay quiet and see
what was going on instead of making noise and interrupting the argument. Lee
took out his phone and set the camera to record as he made his way to the
kitchen.
“Do
you think I’m stupid,” Michael was saying as he smashed another plate on the
ground, it didn’t look like this was only the second thing he had smashed
either, there were bits of broken glass and crockery everywhere.
“Why
would I think you’re stupid?” Maeve asked, backing slowly away from him,
clearly hoping he wouldn’t notice.
“I
saw her here last night, and you are standing there, bold as brass, pretending
no one was here,” Michael shouted.
“I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maeve cried, “why are you so angry?”
“Sarah,”
Michael said, “Sarah whatshername, I saw her here last night with you.”
“So
what?” Maeve asked confused, “my friend came to visit, and…?”
“She’s
a trouble maker Maeve and you know it,” Michael said a little calmer than he
had been before.
“All
she was doing was seeing how I am,” Maeve said, “there’s nothing wrong with her
doing that now, is there Michael?”
“I
told you about six months ago that I didn’t want you talking to her anymore,”
Michael countered, “she was sniffing around in our business a little too much
and now that she’s back she will be again I’m sure.”
“She’s
a nice woman,” Maeve argued, “even if she gets a little too involved in other
people’s lives, if she had the opportunity to go to college as a teenager she
would have gone to counseling college, so she likes to be involved in people’s
lives.”
“Why
does she think you need counseling?” Michael asked, his anger rising again.
“Oh…”
Maeve realized what she had done, “she doesn’t think I do, I just mean that’s
her mentality.”
“What
have you been telling her?” Michael growled.
“Nothing,”
Maeve promised her husband.
“Lies,”
Michael shouted as he smashed another glass off the ground, “what have you been
telling her?”
“Nothing
Michael, I promise,” Maeve pleaded.
“You
told her about Christmas, didn’t you?” Michael shouted.
“No,
I promise and swear to you that I didn’t mention anything about why I was in
hospital at Christmas,” Maeve cried.
“You
liar,” Michael screamed, “you told her exactly why you were there, didn’t you?”
“I’m
telling you, I didn’t,” Maeve said.
“Why
did she look at me like she knows?” he asked.
“I
don’t know, maybe she put two and two together,” Maeve suggested through her
tears.
“Christmas
is private, you shouldn’t be telling other people about it,” Michael said.
“It’s
not just Christmas though, was it?” Maeve asked defiantly.
“What
do you mean?” Michael asked, Lee could see he was taken aback for the first
time in this whole conversation.
“All
this,” Maeve said, “you have been horrible to me for ages now, a little over a
year. I am not your property Michael I am your wife. You don’t get to treat me
however you like you have to treat me with some respect. I am a person not an
object.”
“Go
mam,” Lee muttered under his breath.
“How
dare you,” Michael roared and picked up a glass, he looked like he was
restraining himself from hitting Maeve in the head with it, “you are my wife
and you are to treat me with respect.”
“You
have to give respect to earn it,” Maeve retorted, “I should just tell Sarah
everything, you would get what’s coming to you.”
“I
knew you told her,” Michael said and gripped the glass tighter, “you can’t be
trusted. Anyway, what do you mean ‘what’s coming to me’?”
“You
have been abusing me for months and I am sick of it,” Maeve said.
“Abusing
you? Abusing you?” Michael sounded outraged, “I have never done such a thing.”
“Fine,
whatever,” Maeve said and turned away from him.
“All
that I do I do because I love you,” Michael said, “you bring the need for
punishment upon yourself when you do stupid things that make me angry. How
would you learn if I didn’t discipline you.”
“Discipline
me?” Maeve screamed back, “who are you and what right do you have to discipline
me?”
Michael
raised the glass above his head. Maeve had her back to him and would never see
it coming. Lee decided it was time to step out of the shadows: he had filmed
enough anyway.
“Drop
the glass dad,” Lee said as he made himself known.
“Lee,
honey,” Maeve said on seeing him, “we were just talking,” she said as she came
to hug her son.
“What
are you doing home?” Michael asked his son.
“Look
at the time dad,” Lee said with spite.
Michael
did so and realization dawned on him, “how long have you been standing there?”
“Long
enough to film this entire conversation,” Lee admitted smugly.
“On
what?” Michael roared.
“Never
you mind on what, you’re done for Michael,” Lee promised, using his dad’s first
name instead of title.
“Lee,”
Maeve pleaded, “stop all this now, your father is a good man, we don’t need to
get him into trouble.”
“Mam,”
Lee said turning to her, “I’ve known for ages that all this has been going on.
I talked to you about it before, remember?”
“You
two talked about this before?” Michael shouted, “look what you’ve done now you
cow,” he said to Maeve, “you have somehow turned my only son against me.”
“That
wasn’t mam, dad,” Lee said, “you did that by hitting her and speaking to her
like she’s dirt, all by yourself.”
“How
dare you,” Michael said and swung his fist at his son.
He
hit Lee square in the face and knocked him off his balance, which caused Lee to
bang into the kitchen door and slide down it to it the floor. In other
situations the way in which Lee feel would have been comical but right now it
was shocking.
“Michael,”
Maeve chastised and ran to help Lee up, “don’t hit our son.”
“It’s
alright,” Lee said, with a little blood coming from his nose, “dad’s just
showing us his true colours, aren’t you dad?”
“What
did you just say to me?” Michael asked and balled his fist again.
“You
heard me,” Lee said.
“Lee,”
Michael begin pontificating, “I didn’t want to hit you but you just made me so
angry with the things you were saying that I felt like you had to be
disciplined and as your father it falls to me to discipline you. In the real
world you can’t go around doing and saying the things you have been doing and
saying. If you called someone out there,” he said pointing in the direction of
the front door, “an abuser you could bet your last cent it would be worse than
a bloodied nose you’d have.”
“You
know what else doesn’t fly in the real world?” Lee said to Michael drawing his
attention back as Michael was beginning to walk away.
“What?”
Michael asked sarcastically.
“Abuse
of your spouse,” Lee said, “in fact you can go to jail for that in this
country.”
“Are
you being smart with me?” Michael asked threateningly.
“Oh,
no, definitely not dad,” Lee said, “how could I be smart with you when you are a complete idiot who abuses his own wife? I
am being smart but not with you.”
“Get
him out of here Maeve or I won’t be held responsible,” Michael said.
“Actually
you will be held responsible,” Lee said, “for all you’ve done. When mam and me
head to the police station later they’ll be coming to get you not long after.”
“I’m
warning you Lee,” Michael said as he smashed his fist against the counter.
“Go
on Michael,” Lee said, “hit me, all it will do is add to the case against you
and get you a couple more months inside.”
Michael
swung his fist in Lee’s direction but Lee was ready for it this time and ducked
out of the way.
“Okay
Lee,” Maeve said, “I think it would be best if you went now, let the grown ups
talk this out.”
“I
am most definitely not leaving this room unless you come with me,” Lee said to
his mother, “and I don’t believe it should be either of us that leaves it
should be him,” he added motioning to Michael, who was still like a bull.
“I
will most certainly not leave my own house,” Michael responded.
“You
most certainly will,” Lee replied mimicking his father’s voice.
“Make
me,” Michael said like a defiant child.
Lee
walked up to him and batted an un-aimed fist out of his way. He then pushed his
father towards the kitchen door.
“What
are you doing?” Michael protested.
“Just
go to the pub dad and get obliterated on some form of alcohol,” Lee said as he
began pushing his father along the hall.
“Stop
this instant,” Michael protested but his son was stronger than he had realised
and could continue to push him toward the front door.
Lee
somehow even managed to open it, probably via adrenaline, and push his dad out
it. Before he closed the door he gave his father a final speech.
“Like
I said, go to the pub and get bungalowed on some alcohol and then, hopefully,
you won’t remember who you are or where you’re from and will toddle off
somewhere by yourself into the sunset and leave mam and me alone. Better yet dad, drink yourself into oblivion and
give yourself liver failure so that you die. And, in case you were wondering, I
would be sad if you died but it’s better than standing around and allowing you
to kill mam.”
“You
can’t do this to me,” Michael protested in vain.
Lee
reached out and took his keys from his hand, as he had gotten them out of his
pocket.
“Here’s
a twenty for a taxi,” he said and handed his dad a twenty Euro note, “don’t
come back unless you are ready and willing to apologise,” Lee added before
closing the door in Michael’s face.
“Lee?”
Maeve asked when he turned from the closed door, “what was that about?” she
added as she moved to let Michael back in.
Lee
saw what she was doing and moved to stand in her way, “someone has to defend
you,” he said as he blocked her way to the door, “you need to let him go and
cool down and I meant what I said, he is only coming back in if he apologises
to you for what he has done to you.”
“Your
father isn’t some animal Lee,” Maeve protested, “he is just a man who has been
having a hard time for…”
“Over
a year now,” Lee interrupted.
“What?”
Maeve asked confused.
“That’s
what you said to him earlier,” Lee explained, “he has been abusing you for over
a year now.”
“Oh
Lee, hunny, I didn’t mean that,” Maeve said, “you know what it’s like in the
heat of an argument, you say things you don’t mean.”
“There’s
no need to lie for him anymore,” Lee said, “I know what he is really like now
and I’m standing with you in this,” Lee promised.
“I
don’t need you to stand with me,” Maeve said softly, “your dad is a good man.
You don’t need to protect me from him.”
“Someone
does mam, someone does,” Lee protested, “if not me, and you won’t protect
yourself, then who will?”
He
didn’t wait for an answer but walked past her to his room, “don’t let him back
in or I will call the police,” he promised.
