Sapphire

Either way, I was in for a hellish night

When I got home the house was empty. I quickly went to the kitchen to make myself something quick to eat. I settled on peanut butter and jelly. I never know when they're going to be home or what mood they'll be in. It's even worse when they don't come home at the same time. When I finished my sandwiches, I heard the car pull into the garage. My stomach sank as I scrambled to clean up my mess before they could walk in. After a few seconds of my deafening panicking, I hear them yelling at each other.

"I told you to pick up the damn hose, Charles! I twisted my ankle"

"Mhmm" I hear him say carelessly. This only sets her off more.

"f**k you, you low life piece of s**t! You're not a man!"

Just then the door opens and my father walks in. I stop, paralyzed with fear. Before my mother can walk in and see me he signals for me to leave. I don't waste a second. I head straight to my room and close the door quietly. As I stood there with my back against the door, listening to them argue, I knew this was going to be a bad night for me. Whenever they fight like this they like to take it out on me. It starts with my mom getting so worked up and angry that she breaks something. This is usually followed by her angrily making her way to my room for me to clean up the mess she made. The severity of beating that occurs both during and after me cleaning her mess depends on how much she's had to drink. The more she drank the less coordinated she was and would therefore tire herself out easily.

Later in the night as I try to recover from the beating my mother has just given me, my father will come to my room. This too will either go one of two ways, he'll either come in angry with her and take it out on me or he'll come in feeling sorry for me and wanting to "make it up to me". Either way, I was in for a hellish night.