It happened today. I knew it was going to happen at some point, but I didn't know it would have to happen... like this.
I shouldn't skip to conclusions just yet. I still don't quite know yet... if they've actually... divorced.
It was 21:53. Kaito and I were in bed. I'm pretty sure Kaito was fast asleep. I was half asleep, haunted by visualisations of the future in which I would have to choose which parent to live with.
I heard a sudden, warrior-like cry. I shot up out of bed and down the stairs.
Mother was holding a cane - a wooden one, the one she used to use to beat us when we were very, very, very naughty.
Dad was clutching his shoulder, wincing.
Jacob was by the sidelines, eyes wide, terrified.
Mother and Dad argued. They argued about us.
I knew it. They hated eachother. They were going to divorce.
"THEY ARE MY SONS! I GAME BIRTH TO THEM! ME! YOU, YOU ARE A TERRIBLE FATHER-"
She cursed in Japanese and brought the cane down.
CRACK!
I almost stopped breathing.
Dad doubled over, his shoulder a deep, deep red. The work shirt he had been wearing had torn, leaving this bare skin, red with blood.
I couldn't breathe. I forced myself to take a quiet breath, to calm down, that this was all a dream.
Mother was really mad now, her face scarlet, almost as bright as Father's blood.
"YOU BASTARD!"
CRACK! - CRACK! - CRACK!
Dad didn't respond. He breathed heavily.
"Yes... just... it's... all my... my fault..."
She swore again, bringing down a storm of blows upon my now defenceless father, this time to his abdomen.
It was so red. There was so much blood. I knew I had to stop watching this carnage, but I couldn't.
I couldn't.
He was on the floor now. Barely breathing.
Mother took a deep breath, bringing the cane up.
When she beat us, it was never this hard. There were no scars. It wasn't like this.
Dad wouldn't argue. He would stand and let her.
But they didn't really hurt that much. It was just the fear... and there was never any blood.
Just a long but not very painful bruise that disappeared a couple of days later.
Perhaps she wasn't holding back because he was an adult. Perhaps she really hated him. But...
"Stop... Haruka..."
Jacob had stepped in now in Dad's defence.
"He is a good man. Sure, he's selfish - who isn't? He's stubborn - who isn't? He's depressed - but that's not his fault. You know he's a good man. Leave him alone."
Jacob and Mother were dating. I though she would leave Dad. Perhaps, I just had this little morsel of hate for Jacob because of that, but he just... stood up for my father.
Mother broke down. Her eyes went wide.
"Oh, no... dammit... what... have I..."
She was down on her knees in front of father's limp body in an instant, sobbing, cursing, praying - then begging for Jacob to call an ambulance.
But by I'd already got the phone out and dialled 999.
ns 15.158.61.46da2
