Breaking

The crack reverberated in the air. Echos of disbelief. Kate cowered in pain and shock. She looked up at him, vacant and searching. But her countenance quickly turned to one of revulsion. How could he?

How could I? he thought. He stared right back at her. Panting and seething. Trembling with fear and anxious energy. It happened again. Everything was red. And then it was black. He was slipping. He just hit his child. His baby.

"Scott!" Celeste shrieked as she ran across the room and took hold of his shoulders. "What are you doing?!"she shouted as hot tears formed in the crinkles of her eyes. Her fists beat on his chest. She screamed with every thump, "I. CAN'T. TAKE. THIS."

"Mom stop!" said Kate as she tried to pry her mother from her father. She could tell he wasn't going to take the abuse much longer. His fists clenched and released. His jaw gave way to a slight spasm. She knew that as a warning.

Celeste gave into Kate and broke away. She dropped to her knees and looked up at her husband. The man she had shared a bed with…a house with... three kids with…. a life with…for 22 years. She glared  with her stinging eyes through her fallen hair. The big man with his wide neck and unforgiving eyes.

Disgust and hatred erupted like a volcano in heart and the lava hardened. She spoke quietly but purposefully. Her voice shook with desperation. "You are a monster. You are a monster and I want you out." She rose from her feet and silently quitted the room. Her veins buzzed with anxiety and rage. She walked to the bathroom and locked the door. She slid down the back of the door and collapsed into soundless hysterics.

__________________

As she ran up the street away from the battlefield, Kate felt the cool night air slightly relieve the pain of her swelling eye. She had stormed out of the house in stubborn indignation. Despite what had just past, she wasn't frightened. She was just angry. Angry that her brother stayed in his room and didn't intervene.  Angry at her mother for leaving her in the room with him. Angry at him for losing control. Angry that he dared touch her like that. She told him something he didn't want to hear. And he reacted. Like always.

She wasn't frightened because she had become immune to fear. But the pain was still there. Raw and ferociously tearing at her heart.  She wasn't worried about Celeste; she had undoubtedly locked herself in the bathroom with a bottle of wine, and would stay there all night until the storm passed. It always did. And by morning, the dust had settled in a way that she questioned whether the previous night's battle had even happened at all. And Kate was sick of it. Night after night was spent in foreboding agony. No one knew when Scott's fits of rage would occur, but they always did eventually. And that's how they lived. Quiet discontent turned to all-consuming fire, to white-washed calmness. It was exhausting to live. It was excruciating to live.

She slowed down to brisk walk and wished she would have grabbed her coat. December was not a great time for t-shirts. She rubbed her arms and cursed Kevin under her breath for living so far away. Well, it wasn't exactly far, a mile at most, but on a night like tonight, it felt like the Oregon Trail.
She rounded the corner at the end of the street and jogged the rest of the way. She couldn't be alone anymore.