Mafia and his Angel

Credit

Kelly

“What do you want, John?” I take off my coat and hung it up. I change my shoes for my slippers and walk further into my flat. John follows me but doesn’t take his coat or shoes off. Typical. Just trailing dirt through my house. No regard for anyone else. I grab a bottle of water from my fridge and lean against the kitchen counter, I do not want to make him comfortable. 

I stare at him waiting for an answer, he looks around my flat. Probably looking for things to steal or an easier way to get in when he knows I'm at work. He doesn’t make eye contact with me which usually means he wants something from me, probably money. 

“How much do you need this time?” i ask taking another drink of water

“It's not bad this time.” he replies

“How much?” I grind my teeth trying not to yell at him, getting angry at him does nothing to help this situation.

“Just 3 grand. Just to get the loan sharks off my back.”

“Jesus Christ John. 3 grand.” I turn away from him and stare at the tiles on my wall. “Where do you think I'm going to get the money from?” I turn around and glare at him. 

“Come on cupcake, i know you're good for it” he takes a step towards me, i put my hand up in front to stop him from coming any closer. He can not be serious. I do not have that kind of money just laying around for him, does he have any idea how much money i’ve given him over the years and it's always just 1 more time or this will be the last time. He only goes away for so many months then he's right back. This is the longest he's been away, 10 months. Clearly he was just getting himself into more debt than he could handle. 

“What did you use the money for this time?” i sigh

“I need it, my car broke down and i can’t get to work without my car so i needed the money.” he tries to explain but i don't buy it

“How much did you use on drugs?” i ask

“I didn’t” i glare at him and fold my arms “Ok, it was only a couple hundred” I don't believe him “thousand” and there it is. It’s the same conversation we have every time. 

“John i don't have any money”  

“What do you mean?” he takes another step towards me

“Exactly what i said, i don’t have any money to give you” i walk past him but he grabs my arm and squeezes it

“What do you mean?” he spits in my face “you have to give me the money” i pull my arm out of his grip and move away from him. This is just typical John. he tries the sweet act, then he tries the intimidation act next will be the threats. Always a pleasure seeing my dad. 

“I don't have to do anything John, i don't have the money” i say again

“You always have money” 

“Not this time” i reply

“You better give me the money Kelly” his tone changes dramatically

“I don’t have the money John” i shout at him “there is no money John. None. It's gone” he lunges for me and grabs me by the throat. He pushes me up against the wall.

“You will give me the money Kelly.” he pushes harder on my throat, he's making it harder to breath and a grasp at his hands and try to drag them off my neck. He doesn't move, he only grips me tighter “Get me the money Kelly. Or else.” I look him straight in the face and lift my knee straight into his groin. He doubles over in pain and lets go of my neck.

“Get out.” I rasp and cough “GET OUT!” I yell at him again. He comes at me and I grab my phone and press 999 “get out or I'll call the police.” I shake my phone at him. He raises his arms and backs off. 

“You better get me that money” he threatens me before he leaves my flat. He leaves the door open, I give him 20 seconds to leave, then run and shut my door and lock it up. Damn him and his stupid habit. I can't believe him, that's the first time he's gotten violent with me but I made sure I took self defence classes just on the off chance that something would happen. 

I take a moment on the couch to rationalise my thoughts. I have the money in my savings, it's why I never go out. I try to save as much as possible because he always comes back for more money. 3 grand is the most he's asked for. I have more than that but i don't want to give it to him, he won't go away unless i cut him off. I have to cut him off. 

I feel my phone vibrate, i didnt realise i still had it in my hand, i answer the call without registering whos on the call

“Hello”

“Thank god”

“Katy?” i ask “what's up” 

“You didn't reply to my texts. I was worried about your dad being there. Didn't look like you were expecting him” she does sound concerned and i feel awful for worrying her but i can’t let her know the extent of my daddy issues. 

“No i wasn't expecting him but its fine, he just left now” it's not an outright lie, she doesn't need to know all the details of my dad being here. 

“Are you sure your ok, you sound raspy” 

“Yeah I'm fine. Just tired.” i lie “you don’t need to worry”

“You know that's not going to happen. So what did you dad want?”

“Just a catch up that's all.”

“Are you sure, you don't sound like you?”

“Katy, i’m fine” i snap at her, damn it. Johns rattled me so much I need to chill out and calm down. “Sorry Katy, I didn't mean to snap. I’m just tired. I’m going to go to bed. I'll call you sometime this weekend”

“Are we having brunch on sunday?” she asks but i know i have to decline. The bruises on my neck will still be noticeable and I know she’ll ask about them if we are alone. 

“Can we do it next week?” i ask

“Sure. I’ll see you on monday. Get some rest Kelly. Night” 

“Night Katy” I hang up the phone. I stare at the blank screen and see my reflection on the screen. I can see the outline of finger marks on my neck, they're definitely going to bruise. I’ll have to wear a scarf to work on Monday and use make up to cover them up. I’ll have to avoid Katy for a few days as well. She’ll definitely know something is wrong. 

I grab my phone and put it on charge in my bedroom, I lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. How can this be my life? A dead mum, a drug addict dad, no siblings, no other family. I have a nice job but I have to save every penny just in case my father gets in too deep and I need to bail him out. I shouldn't be bailing out my father, he's supposed to look after me. I don’t even know what that's like, someone looking after me.

Ever since my mum died when I was 8 I've been looking after myself and my dad. I taught myself how to cook, how to clean, and I was in charge of my dad's finances. I made sure we paid the rent, we had food in the fridge and the heating stayed on in winter. No one has looked after me for a long time and no one is going to look after me now. 

I get up out of bed and make my way to the bathroom. I strip out of my clothes and turn the shower on. I brush my teeth while I wait for the water to get warm. I get in the shower once the room starts to fill with steam and I let the hot water take away my troubles from the evening. I wash my body and then grab my shampoo. I massage my hair with my shampoo. I rinse off the shampoo and do the same with the conditioner. 

I climb out of the shower and towel off, I leave my hair in my towel wrap and put my pyjamas on. I climb into bed and scroll through my phone. I don’t know what I'm going to do about my dad but I know I'm not going to give him the money. I have to stick to my guns. He can not have the money and maybe he will leave me alone for good. Bank of Kelly is closed for business.