The Perfect Family

Choked

Vincent:

Hope stumbled backwards on to the couch, holding her baby closer as he began crying. I stared at the child for a moment, pondering how in the hell we were supposed to feed the little shit, then I could feel my face soften as jealousy washed over me.

I looked over at my daughters.  Both of them were well past infancy when I met them.  I have never known the feeling of changing a diaper, or watching with pride when they took their first steps. Those joys were stolen from me. 

I wasn't there when Cora got her first hair cut, nor when Matilda rode a bike for the first time. 

I missed all of their firsts. But that wasn't the case for little Jacob. He was still so young, and though he was not my child by a long shot, I could easily raise him like he was my only son.

I closed my eyes as I imagined it.  Emily would quit her job and stay home with the children, while I went to work to make enough money to give them a comfortable life.  Dinner would be set on the table for me every night at six o'clock sharp.  The girls would gather around me and beg me to tell them all about my day as a successful psychologist, and I would give them the thrill of sharing every detail.

My God.  With enough work, I could bring make this family work perfectly.  I just had to work out a few problem areas first-rebellion and fear, for example,-then everyone would be happy.

There was only one thing standing in the way, and she was sitting on the couch.  None of this would work if Hope stayed in the picture.  She was about as submissive as the ruler of North Korea.  I had to get rid of her as soon as possible, but I had to do it in a way that would not frighten my sweet girls.  For some reason, they actually cared for that bitch.

"Vincent..." Her voice pierced my ears like a damn saw blade.  "Why have you come back here?"

I opened my eyes and answered her calmly, "I came back for my family, of course, my dear. Why else?"

My eyes shifted to her hand, and I couldn't help but cringe when I saw that her index finger and her middle finger were nothing but nubs.

I'd completely forgotten that I cut her fingers off all those years ago. The stupid bitch deserved it.

She noticed I was staring and covered them with her other hand. "The doctors thought they would have to take off my entire hand because of the terrible infection my fingers had. No thanks to you, you evil prick, they were able to salvage it."

"Watch how you talk to me, bitch."  I warned, raising the pistol yet again.  "I wouldn't have a problem cutting off the other eight fingers."

"Vincent!!"  Emily shouted, "Please, don't let this escalate into something ugly.  We were all having a nice morning so far."

"Yeah, before she showed up."

"We can still have a nice day."  She insisted, "If we all stay calm and learn to get along, I know that we can work this out.  We just have to be nice."

"Jesus, Emily.  You sound like Mister Rogers."

She laughed. "I'm serious. We have to treat each other nicely so we don't bite each other's heads off."

"Alright, alright." I looked back over at Hope. "I can be nice if you can."

"Sure. Whatever you say..."

"Good."

I lowered the pistol and stuck it back into my pants.

Suddenly, one of the bedroom doors flung open, and Matilda came running out. "Oh, wow! You're back!" She hopped on the couch next to Hope and wrapped her arms around her neck. "I knew that he would change his mind and let you be my new momma!"