THE NEXT DAY CAME AND JODIE felt a bit lost because Colin took the whole day off which canceled her plans to see Casper and have breakfast also lunch with him. It was weird because Colin has been awfully to nice to her and the kids. He took them out to eat and even went to the store, got them some new toys and things. Colin even bought Jodie some dresses but they weren't really her style but he wanted her to wear them anyway.
Colin was now sitting in the living room with the children and he was playing the classic uno card game with them. Jodie hated it, how he pretended to be nice so it could level off the suspicion to make him seem like a good father when in reality he never was. He always did this act where he would make sweet love to her the next day, he would leave and turn back into an asshole. Jodie hated Colin because he controlled everything about her and sometimes her own thoughts.
Sometimes, Jodie wondered if the kids noticed this odd behavior and worried about their father but she never asked because she didn't want to scare them at all, she spent most of her life scared and she wants them to be fearless as possible. "Jodie, why don't you go in the kitchen and fetch us some ice cream?" Colin deep southern voice erupted from the living room, she was reading some Poems by Langston Hughes. Her favorite poet and activist in the world, he wrote about the struggles of Black Men. Jodie wished that she could find some written by Black Women but the library she went to didn't have any that she knew of.
Jodie went and got them some bowls of ice cream and she walked into the living room. Sawyer and Lana said thank you, she was about to leave until she felt Colin grab her wrist and force her into his lap, Jodie felt like her heart was gonna rip out of her chest of fear, she stirred uncomfortably in his lap because she didn't want to show such uncomfortable affection in front of the kids and she didn't want to be in his lap.
"Colin— I was reading." Jodie says snatching away from him and she got up from his lap then she quickly walked back into the dining room, Colin watched her and he chewed on his toothpick that he was something he always had in his mouth. She sat down and she went back to reading her book.
"Daddy, it's your turn." Lana says and Colin retracted his attention toward the game including his kids who were enjoying their small bowls of ice cream waiting for him to go, she plays a card. It was a span of ten minutes later, Jodie was in complete peace, she licked her lips as she flipped the page. Jodie always tried so hard to remember every line of a poem and so she could memorize it, cite to someone who loves him as much as she did.
"I was a good boy,
Never done no wrong,
Yes, I was a good boy,
Never done no wrong,
But this world is weary,
An' de road is hard and long."
Suddenly she hears a loud whap! and Jodie flinched because that sound was familiar, sounded like the sound when Colin would smack her around. Then seconds later she hears Sawyer and Lana crying, she gets up and she sits her book down. Jodie never played around about her kids and she would defend them with every bone in her body, she will not go down without a fight because she knew they weren't bad so whatever he hit them for must have been something so stupid.
Jodie walked into the living room and she sees Sawyer laying on the floor, in front of him was spilled vanilla ice cream on the carpet. Lana was sitting in the couch biting her nails as tears ran down her face. "What the hell Colin?!" She exclaimed and she picked Sawyer up. "I know you didn't just slap my baby down because he spilled ice cream on a carpet that we can wash!" Jodie yelled and Colin eyes were dark and also demon like.
"Who the fuck are you talking to like that woman?" Colin growled and he grabbed her by her hair, she yelped and Sawyer slipped out of her arms. He has never beat her or hurt in front of the kids. Colin dragged her upstairs to the room and the whole way she was hitting him, screaming until her voice sounded like a frogs croak. He threw her into the room, she fell on the floor with a thud and he slammed the door behind him. Jodie got up and she began to beat on the door, repeatedly.
Colin lost his mind, he always has loses his mind and Jodie felt herself crumble because not only she was letting this man do whatever he wanted to the kids but she had to sit here in this room when they were getting punished for something so small and so stupid. Jodie began to cry and she pushed her hair back, she looked around and she felt herself hyperventilate, seconds from having a panic attack.
Commotion came from downstairs and she hears Lana cries echo the room and Jodie began to beat on the door again but her frail, petite body was doing any harm to that wooden door. Jodie could hear them calling for her, screaming and crying.
Jodie pulled at her hair and then she hears her Sadie crying, she totally forgot about the baby room that was connected to their room and she ran in there. She went through the door and she looked around the hall, it became awfully quiet. She ran to the twins room and she opened the door to not see them at all.
Jodie felt her heartache and her mind was racing all over the place, she ran downstairs and she looked all around the house until she hears screaming coming from in front of the House. She bolted through the hall and out the screen door.
The sight made her stomach churn and her Body suddenly felt this anger wash over her. Colin held a wire switch and she sees Sawyer and Lana bent over with their pants down on the bench on the front of their houses. Jodie ran towards him and right when she got to him, she felt the switch struck her across the chest and she fell the floor instantly. "These kids need to be punished." Colin says and Jodie was moaning and sobbing in the grass, she felt blood trickle on her dress and then she hears the sound of a thwap! Sawyer screamed in agony then another, Lana didn't react but instead, she bites her lip and she took it.
"They-They didn't do anything wrong, it-it was an-an accident. . Colin." Jodie sobbed as she pulled at his pants leg and just as he was about to struck Sawyer again, something clicked and he looked around. . As if he didn't know what was happening or what just happened and he looked down at Jodie, his eyes were frozen on her and they were wide.
Colin dropped the switch and he looked over at his children, he covered his mouth and Colin lets out a shakey sob. He never laid hands on his kids ever like that and he did to Jodie but he just didn't like the thought of beating his children, which was undeniably dumb because he beats on his wife who he was supposed to love.
He backed away from them and Jodie gets up, she pulled the pants up on the twins, Sawyer was sobbing and he had a handprint going across his rosy cheeks, tears were heavily running down them and she never has seen him cry this much before in her life. She picked the twins up and she rushed into the house, Jodie heard the car start up and she surely didn't give a damn to watch that horrible Man leave.
Jodie and her children sat in the bathtub, that was filled with Epsom salt to take away the soreness and Sadie was in her crib sleep. She ran her hands through her Sons hair who's arms wrapped around her neck, he hasn't let her go ever since she picked him up.
Jodie ran water through Sawyer's hair and she kissed his cheek where it bruised, he laid his head in his mother's heel and she ran her hands through his hair. Lana was laying against her mother's chest as well but she wrapped herself under her Mother's arm and around her waist. The clung to her like this ever since they were little, it melted her heart but this time it made her sore because it wasn't out of love it was out of pain.
Jodie looked at Lana and she kissed her precious daughters forehead, her amber brown skin was a tinted red because of her crying and her body warming up. Her green eyes were very glossy. "I promise that we will never have to go through this again, I will never let your father touch you like that especially if you didn't deserve it." Jodie says to them and Sawyer was quiet but Lana was whispering something in Spanish, she was praying.
"Que Dios nos asista."
✷ ✷ ✷
translation:
'God help us.'
oh and if you haven't noticed Colin has PTSD. It's someone who goes through very harsh mental abuse, a war veteran, or they had been sexually assaulted. Certain things trigger them like if a war veteran hears a gun go off they instantly snap back into a another reality and they're back in Vietnam.
I just wanted to explain to people who didn't know.
