When With You

20

I didn't think this through.

Where did I expect us to live? Who packs a week worth of clothes without thinking about where they would stay for that said week?

I tap my finger on my steering wheel at a red light. We could go to a hotel, I do have more than enough money for one week but what if something happens during the week and I run out of cash.

Michael growls. He's upset that I didn't give him consent on this decision. I couldn't just leave without him! She might have killed him, so I threw him over my shoulder and shoved him into the car. He is more pissed that Doggie and Kittie couldn't come with us ( now that I think about it, mom might kill them too...or they'll starve to death).

A car honks behind me and I realize that the light had turned green, I look over at Michael, slightly questioning why he didn't notify me that the light had changed, but he is also dazed out.

I sigh, "I'll go back for them when I figure out where we are going to stay. Don't worry, much." I ruffle his hair, he doesn't stop me but turns his face away. I get it, but I'm doing this for his safety. I'll never let her touch him again.

Michael growls again, this time he holds his stomach. Oh, he's hungry. He didn't eat before we left. Luckily, I notice Heavenly Sundae is up ahead and drive towards it.

Before I could bring the car to a stop and park Michael, recklessly, opens the door and walks into the restaurant with a minor shake from his legs. That must have taken him a lot of courage to do.

I quickly park and follow him inside, catching up to him I place a finger on his hoodie-- making sure everyone knew he was protected. Luckily for me, the cafe wasn't packed, so finding an entire table wasn't hard.

"What do you want, Mickey?" I ask as we stare at the menu that I grabbed from the front door. He stares at the menu with blank eyes; his hands are strictly on his lap and that worries me.

I sigh and ruffle my hair, he is being unreasonable right now. I understand why he is upset and it's unfair for me to ask for his cooperation, but I thought he was mature enough to understand why I'm doing this.

"Are you going to tell me why we left?" Oh, that's it. He doesn't like not knowing shit.

"I need a break from her, buddy, and I couldn't leave you there with her cause she'll hurt you-"

"It was a one-time thing! It was an incident!" He yells,

I laugh softly, "I thought the same thing when she hit me for the first time. Not even three months after Madison's disappearance she slapped me. The next day she apologized and... a week later she used a belt to-" I sighed with a strain in my voice, he needs to know that she's never been stable. I need to know she's never been stable, "and it continued, difference is she never apologized ever again. I could see the shame and remorse in her eyes, but I fucking know she made an excuse in her head that justified my hurt; justified her forgetting me in the most painful manner."

I look at him and he has tears in his eyes, Michael and I never talked about this. He'd hear the screams from both me and my mother-- at some point, I stopped yelling and just took it-- but he'd never come down, I've warned him to never interfere. He knew not to ask me about anything, cause I'd never answer.

"I took everything so you would never have to, I want you to live a pain-free life where you wouldn't have reminders on your body of how dark your past is. But when she touched," I groan and shut my eyes, imagining whatever hell he had gone through last, "-when she fucking touched you, Mickey, I swear I've never felt more like a failure. Suddenly all the pain I've been taking was for nothing."