Tainted: Origins of a Psycho

The Lesson

"Vincent!"  Daddy growled, kneeling down to help his precious princess off of the floor.  He took the belt from me.  "What are you doing!?"

"I was correcting Violet!"  I answered, "She has no right to hurt Mommy and neither do you!"

Daddy gaped at me in disbelief.  "What did you say, boy!?"

"I don't want you hurting Mommy!"  I said, throwing my arms around her defensively. 

He looked down at the floor and shook his head, disappointed.  "Damn, I thought you were becoming a man, but I guess I was wrong."

"Who cares!?"  I screamed.  Mommy's legs and lower back were black and blue from he was hitting her.  "She needs to go to the hospital!"

Daddy rolled his eyes.  "Stop overreacting."

"Yeah!"  Violet chimed in, "You better shut up before you get your ass beat too!"

I ignored her and stood from the floor, pushing my little body against Daddy's with a newfound boldness I never knew was in me.  "If you don't take her to the hospital right now I'm gonna call the police!!"

Daddy was visibly stunned by my words. His mouth hung open in silence for several seconds before he snapped out of it.  "Are you fucking serious, kid?  I have every cop in this town in the palm of my hand.  None of them would dare do anything to me."  He wrapped his hand around my throat and shoved me against the wall, his grip so tight that I could hardly breathe.  "And I don't like being threatened by my own son.  You'll keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you."

His grasp tightened even more and my vision became blurry.  I kicked my legs and clawed at his hand, which only made him laugh.  He held me like that for what felt like an eternity, then released me and shook his head.  "I should've killed you when I had the chance."

"Yeah, maybe you should've..." I choked, holding my throat as breath slowly returned to  my lungs.

Daddy's glare deepened and he grabbed me by the arms, pushing me against the wall again.  "I better not hear another word from you, boy, or so help me God I'm gonna-"

His threat was cut short when there was a hard knock on the front door.  "Open the door, Vic!"  A voice said from the other side.

It was Jordan! 

My chest fell with relief.  Jordan may have been a home wrecker, but she was a really good cop who hated violence of any kind.  If she knew what Daddy was doing she would arrest him in a heartbeat and make sure Mommy got to the hospital!  I had to get her attention!

"Jorda....mmmph!!"  I tried to scream her name, but Daddy clamped his hand over my mouth before I had the chance.  Sweat began pouring down his head as he held me there, hoping his partner would leave.

She banged on the door again.  "Everything okay in there?  I thought I heard screaming."

Daddy turned to Violet.  "Go grab two more dish towels from the kitchen."  He whispered, shaking his head at Jordan's persistence. 

Violet dashed into the kitchen and quickly returned with the towels, tying one around my mouth while Daddy used the other to tie my hands behind my back.  "I'll be there in a sec, Jordan!"  He called as he pulled me towards the back of the house.  "Vincent is puking!"

"Should I come back!?"  Jordan asked.

"No, hang on!  I'll be right out!"

Daddy shoved me into his bedroom and ran back to the living room to grab Mommy.  He threw her on the floor next to me and gave us a warning that terrified me.  "If either one of you makes a sound I'll slit your throats and use your body parts to feed our patrol dogs." 

Violet stood behind him and looked at me with a smug smile.  She was loving every bit of this.

Daddy pulled a small knife from his pocket and handed it to her.  "I'm gonna try to get rid of Jordan.  Make sure they don't move, okay."

"Yes, sir."  She said, examining the knife proudly.   He kissed her on the forehead and walked out of the room to catch his partner.

Mommy and I glanced at each other with faces full of worry, both of us wondering if we were going to make it through this day alive.  I scoot closer to her and laid my head on her chest, my eyes filling with tears. 

Why was this happening to us? 

Why couldn't we just be a normal family?