Page 80 of The Moment Promised

I have no idea how I was allowed in here, and why no one has called social services immediately at the sight of our clusterfuck family.

I’ve seen my dad drunk plenty of times, but as my mother stumbles her way through the Saturday night crowd back to her seat at the bar, her eyes are nearly shut, and she trips over her own two feet. She hardly drinks, but recently I’ve seen her drunk more times than I can count on my hand.

I perk up as the bartender hands her a fruity drink. “Can I have some?” I ask, smiling at the idea.

“The fuck is wrong with you, kid?” Jason smacks the back of my head. But with every sip, his sense of surrounding mustdisappear because my mom slowly pushes the drink my way and watches the bouncer while I take sips.

I don’t feel that different, only slightly dizzy. And more at ease with my fucked-up life. Maybe that’s how people become addicted to this stuff.

The night continues with my mom and dad taking turns going to the bathroom, telling me their horrible perspective of the other while we’re alone. It’s so incredibly fucked, I almost laugh.

The night continues with the same chaos, until I’m safe and sound in my bed, whisked away in a slumber.

Until something deep down urges me to keep my eyes shut, to stay asleep while the world around me erupts with noise. I battle with the louder voices telling me to open my eyes.

I resist as long as I can but finally my eyes shoot open and I’m suddenly trying to catch up to what’s happening in my room.

Jason holds my mom by the throat up against my wall. “A-ask her,” she chokes out, clawing against his face in one swift motion, causing him to drop her.

“You fucking bitch!” he spits, his voice shakes the walls and rattles my bones.

I gasp at the blood dripping from his face as he moves toward me. “Look what that monster did to your fucking father!” he screams at me, as if I’m the one who caused him to bleed.

I try to find my voice, but it’s hidden away in my throat, like a terrified prey hiding from its predator.

“He was choking me!” my mom defends.

Rage bubbles up inside of me. I shouldn’t be in the middle of this. I’m fifteen years old, I shouldn’t be a part of their mess. Why are they even in my room?

“After we dropped you home, your father insisted we go to a club.” My mom is frantic, shaking, and angry. “While he was throwing up in the bathroom, his little friend Erin introducedherself.” The liquid courage helps her stand up to him, looking him in the eyes as he violently shakes like a rabid beast.

“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, Marsha! She’s fucking crazy and obsessed with me. I can’t help that she told you some fucking story.” He boils at my mom’s audacity to accuse him of cheating.

But I know the truth, I know where he goes when he doesn’t come home. I know the way that woman feels entitled to Jason, how she tried to break me for standing in her way all those years ago. I can only imagine the things she said to my mother, the woman Jason is married to. The person that makes Erin the other woman.

“Get your shit, we’re leaving.” Jason directs his angered voice at me, but I stay unmoving.

“Adeline, you are not going anywhere with him, do you hear me?” my mom says in rebuttal.

“Shut the fuck up!” he shouts.

I shake and sweat and think this might be how I die, but I would rather die than leave with him tonight.

“Take a fucking picture of my face, Adeline. Your mother’s going to jail, and I need some fucking evidence.” He points to the blood drips red down his cheeks and onto my floor.

I don’t move.

“Can you believe her?” He tries to gain my sympathy, trying to obtain a disciple to stand with him, but I will never side with the devil.

I am so enraged by his audacity to involve me, to strangle my mom, that after all these years, everything I wished I’d said in the past barges through my lips like soldiers ready to fight.

“Howdareyou? I amfifteen years old. I shouldn’t be subjected to this! No person should have to watch their dad hurt their mom! No mom should have to be hurt by someone like you. And you want me to be onyourside?”

His eyes burn like hell fire, he moves so quickly toward me, I clench up and shout in a high-pitched voice, “Don’t fucking touch me!” Angry tears burn their way down my cheeks.

“I’m your father, do you hear me?” he yells, it feels as if a dragon has spewed fire in my face. “Fuck you!” he curses me out, frantically shoving his middle finger in my face.

“No,fuckyou!” I scream at the top of my lungs with everything in me, salty tears filling my mouth.

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