Chapter 1 The Day Mommy Stopped Waking Up
530 Words
I ran too fast, stumbled, and fell flat in front of him.
Daddy was right there, close enough to touch. But he didn't even look at me. He stepped around me and walked straight to Mommy.
The toe of his Allen Edmonds Oxford caught the hem of my dress, leaving a black scuff.
I looked at that dirty mark and felt wronged, all the way down in my tummy.
Mommy rushed over, scooped me up, asked if I was hurt.
I saw her eyes go red again, and I wanted to cry.
What's hurt?
I guess hurt is when the tears won't stop coming out.
Mommy and I were both hurt, but Daddy probably wasn't hurt, because right now his face was flat as a wall.
I reached my little hand up to Mommy's face, wiped the tear at the corner of her eye. "Mommy, Emma's not hurt. Don't cry."
Mommy looked at me for a long moment, her misty eyes full of softness and a love she didn't want to let go of.
Then she turned around, grabbed the edge of Daddy's jacket, begging. "Please. Please don't divorce me right now."
Daddy's face went dark. "Vivienne, are you going to tell me again that you'll disappear if I divorce you? How many times are you going to tell that lie?"
I was four years old, and something started to make sense.
The bad man called the Whisper Man had told Mommy that if Daddy divorced her, he'd take her away.
Looking at Mommy's face — so sad, so broken — I felt awful.
I liked Mommy when she was happy every day.
When Mommy wasn't happy, I wasn't happy either.
"Mommy..."
I stepped forward, not wanting Mommy to keep begging.
But she kept holding Daddy's jacket, stubborn. My little arms and legs couldn't pull her away.
That's when a woman came in through the open door.
She wore a white Oscar de la Renta dress, her long hair loose over her shoulders. She was pretty.
Was this "the one that got away"?
I didn't like her, but the way Daddy looked at her was soft.
I stared at the two of them. Daddy used to look at Mommy that way too.
The woman looked at Mommy, a little smile on her lips.
"I see the resemblance. But it's time to give back what was never yours."
"Vivienne, take your divorce settlement and stop fantasizing about things that aren't yours."
Her words made Mommy's face go pale, inch by inch. My heart twisted into a knot.
I didn't want to see Mommy hurt.
The woman kept right on talking, baiting Mommy, flaunting it. I ran up and shoved her, hard.
"Bad woman, stop talking!"
But the second I got close, Daddy swatted me away.
Thud.
I landed on my butt again.
My palm was already red and swollen, and now there were new scrapes from the fall.
It burned like fire.
Daddy glared down at me. "Where are your manners? Apologize."
I couldn't think about the pain. I yelled back, "She's the one bullying Mommy!"
Daddy got angrier. His hand came up like he was going to slap my face.
- Writer
