Fan Fiction ❯ Finding Forever ❯ Part II ( Chapter 2 )

I was ten. Our family had been relocated so it wouldn't raise suspicion. I knew it was because of the people my dad had killed and him outrunning the law, but he told my mother it was because he was the man of the house and dammit he'd do what he wanted to, with or without her. She agreed to go with him. Now we lived in a two-room apartment, including a bathroom. I got to sleep in the kitchen area on a blanket in a corner next to the fridge. I remembered that night it was stormy. I was awoken by loud arguing between my parents. It sounded like something crashed, then muffled scuffling, a dash for the door into the kitchen. My mother was running, but Father was too fast. He blocked the only exit. We were three stories up. She'd be killed is she tried to jump through the window.

 

“Stupid fucking liar! You bastard!” Mother growled, but I could tell she was desperate, like a cornered animal. But cornered animals are the most dangerous. Dad advanced upon her, a long hunting knife I had seen time and time again held in his left hand. His one eye was shaded with his black hair, his black shirt and pants obscuring all but what flesh that showed.

 

“What? You think you meant something to me?” he said gruffly, a smug look on his face, his eyes wild with bloodlust.

 

“You told me you'd protect me dammit!” she retorted, backing up against the wall. She was scared. I watched, not too surprised to see this. It wasn't anything new. Dad had threatened Mom with a knife before but those times—

 

“You've always told me you'd scream, that you'd call the cops. Guess what Lilian. There's no one in this God forsaken place but us, a damn hobo and a fucking Mexican who's drunk.” Father was only a leap away from her now. I watched, curled up, the blanket drawn up to my nose. Rain battered against the window, the near by streetlamp giving me an ample view of their silhouettes.

 

He was on her in a flash.

 

“This for all the fucking pain I had to go through to keep you fucking safe and quiet with your Goddamn mother fucking mouth!” Dad was saying, his voice rising as he stabbed her. He slashed her throat before she could scream. Slick with the crimson rose color of Mother's blood, my father let her drop to the ground with a heavy thud and a splat of blood, the lightening outside setting the night on fire, short-circuiting the flow of electric current. I could smell Mother's blood, but by now I was pretty much used to the scent of people's liquid life essence. Seeing it as Mother had little effect on me.

 

“Koji?” Father whispered, reaching a hand out, finding my blanket and scooping me up in it. “Come on.” His voice seemed gentle; tired. We fled the scene. Father quickly changed clothes, pulling a different pair of shoes on once we were outside in the rainy streets. We found our car in a near by parking lot. It was different, not the same one I remembered six years ago. It was white instead of red, and it had no trunk, though it did have space in the back.

 

I climbed in the back seat, lying down and listening to the sound of rain; the blanket I had was partially soaked, but it dried as the air conditioner was turned on. I dozed as we drove for hours, pulling into a hotel parking lot as the rain turned to a slow and steady rhythm. Silently we checked into a room under a different person's ID. Dad had been doing that nowadays. He said it was to avoid suspicion. Still wrapped in my blanket, I crawled onto the neatly made bed, resting below the pillow. Dad showered before joining me, turning his back to me and soon falling peacefully to sleep. The next thing I knew, it was morning.