Puzzle Pieces

{Puzzle Piece 35} - A Trip to the Past

Mommy was in the bathroom now. Her and Papa had gotten into an argument again. She had purple and blue skin know and it was all bumpy and broken. I had seen her walking funny earlier today and she wore long pants when she went outside to water the flowers and plant a new tree. I tried to help her clean her pants when I came down to eat but she just swatted me away.

I was sitting in the kitchen eating dinner when Papa came home from work. I could tell that he was angry because he smelt funny. He had that weird icy look in his eyes again. His eyes seemed lighter but super cold at the same time and I knew that that was why Mommy was scared.

"Sweetie I want you to go upstairs to your room" Mommy said to me really quickly.

"But Mommy! I want to finish my fish fingers!" I whined in reply.

"Sweetie go to your room now" She said in her mean teacher voice.

"Hannah leave her alone" Papas' voice thundered through the room.

"John I just want her to start getting ready for bed, please calm down" Mommy said as if she was walking on super duper sharp glass.

It just took that one sentence for the lightening to strike. And then just like that all chose broke loose. It was like an elephant was stomping around the kitchen breaking everything in its' sight. I went up to my room to start getting ready for bed. Mommy passed by my room shortly afterwards but just walked straight into the bathroom instead of tucking me in.

"Mommy, mommy come outside please" I said into the closed bathroom door.

"Mommy can you please tuck me in and kiss me goodnight?" I tried again, softly trying to gain her attention.

I pushed the bathroom door and fell into the tiled bathroom. Mommy was sleeping on the floor in the middle of the bath tub with any empty bottle next to her head.

"Silly mommy, bathroom floors aren't meant for sleeping. You should know that. Remember that time when you got angry at me for falling asleep in the bathroom after I came back from Molly's house?" I said trying to stifle a giggle that was about to escape.

"Wake up mommy, I want you to tuck me in" I said starting to get impatient but then realizing that she was asleep and wouldn't tuck me in tonight I said "Ok mommy I'll let you sleep but I may have peed all over the floor before dinner" I said holding back fits of giggles before going to my room to sleep.

Sirens were all that I could hear making me toss and turn in my unicorn bedsheets.

I could see mommy in front of me now a bottle in her hand and her other hand full of like white medicines was reaching up to put them all in her mouth.

Except they never reached their destination.

****

She woke up gasping for breath before she turned around holding onto Alex's too and looking into the open bathroom. She could still picture it clear as day. Mommy 'asleep' in the middle of the tiled floor and an 8 year old version of herself trying to do the impossible and wake her mommy up.

But little did she know that she never would wake up.

And that she would lie dead on the floor for hours before anyone realized that something was wrong. That in those hours her husband would come back home drunk out of his mind and beat her black and blue one last time before she could truly escape this house.