Footsteps Date Wednesday, April 24, 2024 - 12:04 PM PST Topic Entertainment Jane woke to the sound of footsteps passing by her door, they where heavy and random, and she knew what it meant. It was not an unusual occurrence in her household; it was her farther coming home drunk. Jane curled up in her bed and closed her eyes, all she had to do was wait soon it would come, even tho Jane was young she was wise. She heard her farther open the door of her parent’s bedroom, it creaked slowly echoing through the house, she heard him stumble round, waking Janes mother. Her mother was still drowsy and disorientated from the pills the doctor gave her, and did not have time to get a good look at her husband, the husband she had loved faithfully for 9 years, no matter what. For the rest of her life Jane would wonder why her mother had never just left, just packed up and left, why had her mother let things get so bad, go so wrong. Her mother shot of some remark and immediately regretted it, after some mumbling, and some yelling the first blow was given to Jane’s mother, it was the first, but not the last. For years Jane had listened to her farther beat her mother over the littlest things, a burnt dinner, a high bill and even tho it was Jane farther at fault, her mother always took the punishment for it. Jane knew that tonight would be long and loud, and that eventually he would come for her, Janes never really knew why, why her daddy would hurt her, but he did. It seamed like forever that the sounds kept coming, the screams of fear from her mother that would follow Jane for the rest of her life, the occasional thud of her farther throwing something, of glass breaking, the sobbing and begging of her mother and her farther yelling, his voice cut Jane up inside, it filled her with anger and pain. It seamed to go on forever, and then it stopped, for that one second of silence Jane was frozen, she was paralysed with fear and then she panicked, tears sprang from her eyes, he was coming she could feel it, she felt the floor boards shake as he thundered towards her room, she could hear the yelling get louder. Her bedroom door burst open and light from the hall flooded her floor, blinding her. Jane closed her eyes tight and tried to go to another place, memories flashed across her mind, of her mother and farther hugging, of Jane falling asleep in her daddy’s lap, of her farther saying sorry again and again, of her daddy hitting her for the first time. A huge hand reached under the bed to get her, she tried to avoid it but her fathers hand grabbed her shoulder none the less. Jane screamed in pain as she was ripped out from under the bed, she closed her eyes and cried, for help, for somebody, for anything. She was silenced by a slap across the face but still sobbed quietly to her self, as her farther dragged her down the hall the tears streamed down her cheeks, because her mother had promised her that this would never happen again. Just as Jane and her farther reached her parents bedroom Jane realized her tears where red, her fathers weading ring had left a gash across her face. As her farther burst into the bedroom Janes blood ran cold, it had never been this bad, the room was a mess, everything as a mess and it scared Jane to her core. Everything in the room was on the floor or broken, there was blood on the bed and on the floor, it was dim because her farther had broken one of lights. Jane let out a sob as she saw her mother in the corner, she almost did not recognize her, she had blood on her hands and her cloths had been ripped, they to where covered in blood. But it was her mother face that would haunt her dreams, it was purple and red from the bruises and blood, her eyes where closed and Jane feared that her mother was dead. But when she opened her eyes Jane saw pain and sadness, it was like she was peering into her mother soul, there was no happiness only anger, and then Jane saw a glimmer of hope. There was more yelling, Jane could only catch some off the words, then her mother pulled out a gun. She pointed it at Janes farther and in a quivering voice said five words Jane would never forget ‘I told you never again’ then there was the loudest bang Jane had ever heard, but it was the silence that followed that really shock Jane up. The first thing Jane felt was a shudder pass all through her fathers body, then he lost all of his strength, she could feel him begin to fall to his knees, he dropped her and she landed on her feet, he landed flat on the ground. Jane just stood there wondering what to do, she knew deep down that her daddy was dying, and she wanted him to leave, but in a way she wanted him to stay. Jane took a step forward and laid a shacking hand on her farther back and she felt the most amazing thing, life, and then it was gone, something changed about him he looked the same but was different. In his eyes, she saw the anger melt away and she saw, for just a split second the love that he had for her. He reached out for her, but she stepped away, it was a reflex reaction, but she wanted to run to him, for that last hug, for the last goodbye. ‘Come here darling’, her mother voice pulled her out of her trance and she walked over to her mother. Jane at age 7 watched her farther die by her mother’s hand, and for the rest of the night she stayed curled up in her mothers lap, falling asleep to the smell of blood and gunpowder. 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