New Reality✖

II-The boss

Frank's friends left at around eight pm. I could hear my mom and him talking in the kitchen as I watched Izzy color a picture from her colouring book, trying extra hard to stay between the lines.

"CODI!" Frank's voice filled the whole house and made the walls tremble.

"WHAT?" I yelled back as I opened the bedroom door.

"COME MAKE DINNER! MAKE YOURSELF ACTUALLY USEFUL FOR ONCE."

I sighed and walked into the kitchen closing the bedroom door behind me.
Frank's eyes followed me as I took out a pan and placed it on the stove.

"Stop staring at me.." I muttered.

He walked up to be slowly, his heavy boots stomping against the wooden floor, he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth then stubbed it into the ash tray. He turned his head around and stared at me with his evil, sunken in eyes.

"What?!" I said as I leant against the kitchen counter.

Suddenly his big hand hit me hard right on the cheek.

I closed my eyes trying not to let the pain get to me as a small lump formed in my throat.

"THAT'S FOR EARLIER YOU LITTLE BITCH!" he yelled in my face as he grabbed my wrists and held me against the wall.

"HOW DARE YOU!" he continued, "HOW DARE YOU EMBARRASS ME INFRONT OF MY FRIENDS!"

My mom sipped on her coffee and pretended once again that she was oblivious to the situation.

"Frank. Please. My wrists, it hurts."

"I hope it hurts. You stupid piece of shit." He said as he pushed tighter on my wrists with his big grubby fingers.

"I'm... Sorry." I gasped, "I won't do it again Frank."

He moved one of his hands away from my wrists and held onto my throat instead.

"Quite honestly, I've had enough of you Codi." He glanced over to my mom, "and that useless piece of shit over there."

He continued pushing harder onto my throat as I struggled to catch a breath "You are women. You are made to obey. IS THAT CLEAR? I've had enough of you strutting about here thinking that you can be a little smartass. I'm the boss. GOT IT?"

He glanced over to my mom waiting for an answer. She nodded and then quickly looked down at the dining table. He turned to me as I managed to push out a small "yes". He let go of my throat and spat on me then walked away into his room and slammed the door.

I thought that he was going to do worse.
Believe it or not, that was a mild punishment, I have dealt with worse, much worse. I remember one day, I must have been around nine years old. He was in an extremely bad mood that day, he started arguing with my mom and he slammed her against the wall, she hit her head and started wincing in pain. I remember running into the room and begging him to stop as I watched him punch my mom over and over. I remember Sasha yelling as the stood on the sofa,

"DADDY, STOP HITTING MOMMY!!" She screamed as tears ran down her face, "DADDY STOP"

I grabbed Sasha, who was only four years old at the time and brought her into the bedroom to keep her safe. The sounds of her screaming in the bedroom and banging on the door still haunt me today.
I remember running back into the room and tugging on Frank's arm as a tear rolled down my cheek. He was in a trance, a state of complete anger and nothing was going to stop him.
He swung round and pushed me out of the way. I ran back and continued to tug on his arm.

Smack.

He punched me hard on the face and I fell to the ground in complete agony. I remember that he turned his whole body around to me and stared at me from above, towering over me, his eyes filled with anger and his face looking completely evil.
He kicked me hard in the stomach once.
Twice.
Three times.
And finally a fourth as I silently cried in pain.

.
.

Things definitely hadn't improved since then.

I pulled some strips of chicken out of the fridge and started to fry them up on the pan. My mother sat there silently at the dining table as I cooked.
She lifted her head up and looked at me. 'I'm sorry' she mouthed as her eyes began to water up. I nodded my head at her and continued to cook.

She had no strength left, I could see it, all the weight that she had put on was completely lost and she was starting to resemble a skeleton, she was dead on the inside.

We had dinner in silence that night, no one dared say a word. I looked down at my wrists that were completely red and even bleeding at one part from his nails digging into my skin.
After dinner I quickly ran into my room and opened the window. Our room was at the back of the house, we had a large window looking out onto our tiny, overgrown garden that was towered over by the horrible old factory. I often snuck out at night to walk around and look at the stars.
There was a perfect spot just behind the factory, with a small bridge that sat over a noisy little stream. I liked to go there, it was my escape.

Sasha and Izzy followed me into the room shortly after.

"You ok Codi?.." said Sasha as she touched my shoulder.

"I can't do this anymore Sash..." I said as I showed her my wrists.

She looked visibily upset, "What are you gonna do?" She whispered as we both sat down on my bed. Izzy scrambled up onto my knee and kissed me on the cheek.

I ran my fingers through Izzy's soft hair, "I want to leave.. I want to find somewhere better for us."

"I want to come with you." Said Sasha.

"No, it'll be too risky, it's already risky enough with me leaving. If you two come Frank will come searching for us but if I leave myself, he won't care as much. Plus, it would be far too tiring for Izzy and far too dangerous. It's a very scary move that I'm making but I feel like it's necessary, I'm going to have to hitchhike." I said trying to plan it out in my head.

"I'm going to find someplace better for us. Then I'll come back for you two when I'm completely sure. I'm going to try to go to Seattle."

Sasha's eyes widened, "Seattle? That's miles away!"

"I know, but there is a big music scene there. I want to find a place where I can sing and make money to support us, just us three."
Singing was my secret passion.
My plan was to find a band in Seattle that wanted me.

That night I tucked Izzy into bed and kissed her forehead, she was so beautiful and innocent. I turned off the lights and scrambled into my bed. I didn't sleep much that night, I was too busy trying to fit the pieces together, trying to plan everything out the best I could, little did I know that nothing could prepare me for the journey I was about to embark on.