Hoping for the best

Brutal

Madison shook her head. "It's honestly nothing. Can we just eat?" She asked. I sighed and called everyone in to eat. They all walked in staring at the food. We sat down and said a prayer. Then we dug in. We made small talk. It was obvious that Madison was upset. She stared at her plate and ate slowly. She ate a lot though. And so did Chris. They both had seconds. "Mommy can I have another donut?" Estella asked. I shook my head. "No. You've had four already." She sighs and fills her mouth with French toast. I pour her syrup over her eggs just how she likes them. Santo looks over at me. "Baby we should hurry up and get into the presents." I nodded and took one last sip  of my Orange juice. Then Santo and I began to clear the table. "Y'all go wash you're hands." I said to the kids. The three of them ran off to the bathroom.
We circled around the Christmas tree and began to open the gifts. Estella got an easybake oven, a baby alive, a bike, a hover board, a makeup set and some money from my mom. I felt bad as the other kids watched her open present after present. I went downstairs to the basement and looked for the box of presents that my uncle's had sent on Monday for Estella. She already had enough. I go upstairs with them. "Look we have more presents. For you guys." I said plopping the box down in front of Nicholas and Chris. Estella looked at me. "Heeeyyy.." She said crossing her arms. "Shh. Estella sit down." Santo said grabbing her. Nicholas and Chris looked at each other before digging into the box. My uncle's don't know a single thing about girls so all the presents that they brought were mainly boy toys. There was a box of legos, power ranger action figures, race cars, a Spongebob pillow pet, and a lot of candy which they shared amongst themselves. I looked at Madison who was smiling at Chris. I felt good. I was in the Christmas spirit. Later while the kids played with their new toys, we all split up. Santo and Reginae's husband, (sorry I forgot his name) went to the game room to watch football. Reginae, Madison and I went into the kitchen and began to cook dinner. Reginae began on the macaroni, and Madison started on the stuffing. I began to wash the turkey. We were preparing for dinner when Madison broke down and began to cry. I turned to her and put my arm around her. "Madison. What's up? What's going on?" She wiped her tears. Reginae grabbed her some tissues. She wiped her face. She sat down and bawled her eyes out. "It's Cash." Her boyfriends name is Cash. "He took the home we were living in and he won't meet up with Chris anymore. He even stopped paying child support.." she put her head in her hands. "So now we're living in some home shelter for people without a home and no jobs." She wiped her tears. I sit and stare at Madison. I would have never thought this would have happened to her. Not out of all of us. She was the smartest. The boldest and the loudest. She spoke up. I honestly don't know what went wrong. I look at Reginae. She had tears in her eyes. Madison sniffed. "But that's not why I'm even upset... Last night Cash invited us to spend the night at his house. He told me that he had a surprise for us. I thought that he wanted to tell me that he changed and that he wanted to be back in our lives, but I knew it was stupid to think. I.. I.. was in the living room with Chris. Cash went back to his room. Then the lights went out and three of his friends came in with masks on. But I knew who they were. It was Marcus, Xavier and Ryan. They took Chris from me and locked him in a room..." Madison began to cry some more. Reginae rubs her back. It's okay Madison... go on..." Madison wipes her tears with her tissue. She swallowed. "I-I could hear him crying on the other side of the door. The grabbed me and held me down to the couch. Cash came in and he had a belt... He just... kept hitting me and hitting me... over and over again..... I couldn't stop him... After ten minutes he grabbed Chris out of the room and threw us out back on the streets..." Tears slid down my cheeks. How... could this... how could anyone do this. To another person?? Reginae angrily stood up. "I'm calling the cops." Madison leapt up and grabbed Reginae's arm. "No!! You can't!!! He won't get locked up!! He'll just find me and Chris is and hurt us again. Please don't help me Reginae. I appreciate it.. but I can do this on my own." Reginae shook her head. "Are you fucking kidding me?!" She yelled. I flinch. Madison does the same. Reginae bent close to Reginae. "When I was eight years old, my stepfather was beating my mom. For three fucking years!! And I was dumb enough to keep my mouth shut!! I sat around and watched as he beat my mom's ass. I knew what was going on but I couldn't say anything because I knew that he could kill me. He could kill her!! Thirteen years later... and my mom is nowhere to be found!! She's dead!!! Because of me!!! I should have said something!!!" Reginae wiped angry tears away. "You know this Madison. So I will not be another fool and let that bitch hit you. I will not sit here and be a witness!! I'm going to help you. Because you are my best fucking friend!!!" Madison stared at Reginae. Santo and Reginae's husband came in. (I'm just going to call him Greg) "Hey what's going on in here? They saw us crying. "Baby what's wrong?" Greg said grabbing Reginae and pulling her into his arms. Santo looked at me and I looked away. I swallowed the bile that was built up in my throat. Madison wiped her tears again. "Ok..."