Unforgiven Past

Chapter Seven

Within weeks Cameron had moved in with us. I wasn’t happy about it, I hated his guts. Admittedly mum and him had been getting along pretty good. He would ‘fake’ being nice to me when Mum was around, and as soon as she was gone he would turn into a prick. He liked to boss me around and tell me what to do. So most of my afternoons were spent hiding in my room away from him.

Sometimes he would hit me, with the kettle cord, with his belt; or his favourite was to smack me over the back of the head. I hated him so much! He liked to threatening me, how tough he must of felt- to threatened a kid.

“If you tell your mum about this boy- I’ll squeeze your throat and watch the life drain from your eyes” He would say after hurting me, I knew he meant every word. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction to see me cry, I would hold it in until I went into my room.

The next few months flew passed, Cameron and I had gotten used to seeing each other, but I still hated his guts. I would try extra hard to make sure he didn’t have a reason to pick at me. I would wash up without being asked, get the washing off the line without anyone asking me too or take the bins out to the curb without being told to. It just made things easier if he had nothing to pick at me about.

Cameron had brought himself a barbecue for his birthday, because he had planed to have some friends over to celebrate, and drink. I really wasn’t looking forward to it- Cam and alcohol didn’t mix. I didn’t want to be around them, so I decided to stay in my room and keep Harry safe with me. We could watch movies and play games, and stay away from everyone.

There was something about that night that had made my stomach churn. I don’t know why; but I was worried about something, I don’t know what it was. It was a ‘bad feeling’ in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t seem to turn it off. Something was going to happen tonight- I just didn’t know what.

Eleven o’clock came around, and Harry was sound asleep on a mattress beside my bed cuddling his teddy bear. I couldn’t sleep the weather was humid, we had the ceiling fan on and the window was open to let some fresh air in. Everything had been going good -so far.

I was still wide awake, staring at the roof, listening to the people out side talking loud, and laughing and joking around. I didn’t know how much longer I could keep my eyes open, they were getting heavy so I closed the for a minute to rest them.

My eyes jolted open when I felt the house shake a few times. I could hear yelling outside my bedroom window. I quickly jumped to my feet looked down at Harry to make sure he didn’t wake up, he was sound asleep. I stepped over Harry’s mattress and snuck over to my window and slowly peered out of it.

There was a guy laying on the floor, while three other guys were kicking the crap out of him. I felt sick in the stomach, but I kept watching it. It took me a minute to realise it was Cameron laying on the ground getting kicked. His so called ‘friends’ had turned on him. I found myself smiling, while I watched him getting flogged- as bad as it sounded, I liked watching every kick Cameron got.

I seen Mum running over towards all the men fighting. She was holding her hand on her chin and crying. She was hurt, I bet Cam hit her again- I thought to myself. I felt sick in the stomach, I knew something bad was going to happen tonight. That’s why I couldn’t sleep.

“Stop please! Please just stop!” Mum was yelling as she tried to push the guys off Cameron. He was now laying on the floor curled up like a baby, rolling back and forward and moaning in pain.

I heard one of them, and I recognised the voice- his name was ‘Ben’ he seemed like a nice guy. I had met him a few times, he didn’t drink alcohol anymore. He had bragged to me before, about how he had been sober for two years. He had told me that he come home from work one day, and his wife had taken the kids and left. She was sick of him drinking, so he decided it was time to change. I liked him, he was always really nice to me and Harry.

I could hear Ben talking to Mum,

“You deserve better then him Lara. Your kids deserve better then him! He hit you AGAIN- His an abusive, violent, alcoholic prick. With small-man syndrome!” He sound calm, but he said it firmly,

“I know Ben, Thank you for defending me.” Mum said sobbing, giving him a hug

She walked towards Cameron, who was still on the gravel road whimpering in pain,

“When your able to move, your s**t will be on the lawn. You can get the f**k off my property and out of our lives! I warned you if you ever touched me again, that you would be out!” Mum yelled at him,

Even though he was clearly in pain, he still managed to talk,

“They wont be here forever to protect you Lara” – he grunted through the pain. He always had to be a smart mouth,

“I’m not going anywhere- If its okay with you Lara, I might spend the night on your lounge” Ben said with a smirk, I couldn’t help by smile when I heard him say that.

“If you don’t mind Ben that would be appreciated” Mum answered him,