CHAPTER SIX - IS HE DEAD?

KALEO

Beep. Beep. 

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO 

Finally noticing my closing eyes, she gently packed up the book she was reading. 

"The end" Her frail whisper fell upon my very much awake ears. 

She balled up the covers in her fists as she stood, pulling them over my shoulders. 

"Goodnight, Kaleo" She whispered into my ears before her soft lips pressed against my forehead. 

Managing not to make a sound, she turned off the lights before creeping through the door.

I did open my eyes slightly to realize she didn't close the door fully.

She never did. 

"Is she asleep?" The deep voice croaked as his shadow swiped by underneath the door. 

His once calm voice had raised. 

"Is she?" He repeated above the quivering voice of my mother. 

"Yes Albert" She said as her back remained close to the wall, her hands folded, pleading in fear. 

It was when she screamed at first, I heard the loud thud as if she fell. 

Every night, I heard noises.

Her shrill, tender screams. 

He always seemed to punish mum and once he started yelling, it commenced the beating. 

Her voice became distant as he yelled over hers. 

"Why?" He yelled, her plea being tossed aside by mere anger.

By now, I found myself creeping behind the door, my bare feet against the cold ground. 

"Why did it take you so long, to take the key and walk over to the door?" He yelled before something fell over. 

At the first shatter, my heart skipped as my eyes shut in fear. 

Then it wasn't long before I felt a cold liquid run down my pale cheeks. 

I found myself shaking in fear as I reached for the knob of the door in the quietest way possible. 

"Where you busy? With another man?" He yelled before I sighted them across the room. 

The door creaked as I stepped out. 

I knew I was making the worst decision and what I needed was someone to pull me back. 

But I was sick, of the noise and screams. 

"You fucking slut" He said before he pushed her to the ground. 

"No-" She immediately yelled as she sighted me by the corridor that led to the stairs. 

"Albert" She had called a little too nicely, a plea for sympathy in her voice. 

A part of me wanted to burst, seeing her embrace the ground with sore red eyes. 

Why did she beg? Perhaps the only apology he needed was for the mistake of marrying him. 

I lifted my palms to my face as I watched in horror how he held her towards the ground. 

Her mouth gasped open as he held tight to her neck.

"And then you serve me this salty food. You trying to poison me now?" He asked, hitting her across the face. 

"You're trying to get rid of me?" He asked. 

All she did was apologize, continually. 

"Do you like me doing this to you?" He yelled again before my moist eyes fell on his phone. 

She still managed to nod in his grip as I slowly approached the cell on the center table. 

I ran through his phone as I inputted a bunch of possible passwords, that ultimately led to nothing.

Then a rather impulsive thought dashed through my head as my trembling fingers dialed the emergency number. 

I held the phone to my chest as I staggered back into my room. 

I had watched him beat her each night. 

But tonight was worse, and she knew. 

"Do. You. Like. This?" He yelled, consecutively throwing punches at her face. 

A younger me had asked him once why he treated her in such manner, and he did a pretty good job convincing both of us she had done something really bad. 

And all she ever tried to be was the perfect wife. 

All he did during those times was to smile and tick me into bed, repeating his favorite line. 

"You won't understand" 

But as I grew, what he didn't know was I did understand. 

"911, what's your emergency?" A feminine voice fluently asked over the phone. 

I took in a deep breath before exhaling as I held the phone in my hands.

Was this a bad decision? 

"Is anyone on the line?" She asked patiently before I could bring the phone to my pale lips. 

"Hello" I nervously said. 

"Hello, you sound young-" 

"-can you tell me your name?" She asked. 

"I need help" I brought myself to say after a deep exhale. 

"It's my dad. She needs help" I whispered as I leaned behind the wall. 

"Can you tell me your name?" She asked. 

"Kaleo. Kaleo Smith" I whispered. 

"Can you speak louder please?" She asked. 

"No, he'll hear me" I said after which all of a sudden, the yelling died down. 

"No. You need to send help. I think he heard me" I said, already in a state of panic. 

"Who heard you?" She asked. 

"Kaleo, can you tell me your address?" She asked again, as I peeked through the door. 

"I can't send help if you do not tell me where you live. You said something about your dad" She said. 

"Kaleo, please stay on the line" She pleaded as I gently entered the closet before closing the doors.

"Hello" I answered, placing the phone back to my ears.

"Can you tell me where you l-" 

It was immediately I sighted the shadow of his hands that i screamed. 

Then the closet door burst open as he stood right above me. 

It was in the way he shook his head that showed how displeased he was to see me. 

Grabbing the phone from my hands, he lifted me by my arm before tossing me to the ground. 

"You fucking said she was asleep" He said as he hit off my crying mother. 

She wailed on the ground, her fingers groped at the hem of his trouser. 

"What have you done to her?" I yelled as I held me to the ground. 

"Shit" He cursed as he threw the phone into the wall, shattering the screen and any hope that all of this might end soon. 

"You fucking cunt" He marched towards me with a fierce glare. 

"No, Albert-" She softly called from beneath him. 

"Not our daughter" She said with such frailty as if with the last ounce of strength in her. 

Her eyes with gloomy and scored by tears. 

I looked from his fierce grip into his void dark eyes and I couldn't recognize this man. 

This man, I called my father. 

But when he did look into mine, he let go. 

"Shit" He cursed, his fists still in a tight clench. 

As he paced around the room, he roared as he threw punches into the wall. 

"Kaleo" My mother called from where she laid and as soon as we made eye contact, she started crying. 

"I failed" She whispered, mostly to herself as neither of us bothered to move. 

Then he reached for her quivering hands as he cried.

"I'm sorry" He whispered. 

"I'm sorry I touched her" 

****

THE PRESENT 

I felt each time I unknowingly caressed my rather flat stomach that there was nothing in there. 

I was torn between emotions as to how I'd feel. 

"Kaleo" He gently called my attention to the screen. 

And he realized for a while I had zoned off from the video call yet again. 

"You're the one that nodded to me making pancakes from over here" He said with a frown. 

"Or am I boring you?" He asked, wiping his hands on his red checkered apron. 

"Or should I take it off? Maybe I could get your attention then" He said as he gentle loosened the apron to fall, revealing his well muscled torso. 

"You're ridiculous. Put on some clothes" I teased as I looked away from the screen, a shy blush crawling to my lips. 

"Well you seem well dressed. If I may ask where you're off to" He said as he picked up the phone. 

"You know, just the store close by" I said as I adjusted the phone I hung on the air vent. 

I reached for my seat belts as I ignited the engines. 

"Well, if this is how you dress to the store. I just wear some random shirt and sweatpants" He said, jokingly. 

"Maybe when you get back, we could talk?" He asked and I nodded. 

"I'd call you" I said. 

"Bye Kaleo Ruby Smith" He said, with a lop sided smirk that gave away a partial view of his well structured teeth. 

And even though I could never take him seriously while his shirtless, he always found a way to put a smile on my face

-especially when I needed it. 

"Bye Jeffery Logan Anderson" I said with a smile. 

Then immediately I hung up the video call, Aal's message popped right up. 

Aal❤️: Told him yet?

Then as I looked back at my stomach, I was left unsure of the right decision. 

After all, Jeff deserved to know the truth-

-he was going to be a father. 

But I guess a little piece of me remained unsure as to how he was going to take it. 

Jeff: We could text😊

Swiping his message away, I typed a reply to Aaliyah. 

Me: Working on it. ✅

Me: how was the meeting with the board? ✅

Taking a deep breath, I searched for Google maps as my legs nervously tapped the brakes repeatedly. 

Inputting my location as Miami, FL, I was left to write in my destination. 

It took me years, but this was supposed to be the biggest day of my life. 

"Memphis, Tennessee" I said along as I typed in my destination.

And no, I wasn't going to the store

-I was going back home. 

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO 

"Kaleo" My mother's dim voice fell upon my subconscious ears before she tapped my hands. 

"Baby" She called, noticing my eye slowly open and I was greeted with her bruised face. 

"Come on. We're leaving" She said as she shielded the side of her face with a scarf. 

Grabbing a bag from the closet, she paced around my room, holding unto a few of my clothes. 

"To where?" I asked, too lazy to stand as I slowly crawled out from under the duvet. 

"Anywhere but here, we could stay with grandma" She said as I managed to stand with my aching body. 

"What about dad?" I asked then she paused.

"Your father will be alright without us, just like we will without him" She said as she hurriedly packed my bags. 

"So we're just leaving?" I asked as she sat on the bed and I reached her wounds. 

"No, don't touch" She said. 

"Did you do something bad?" I asked and she continued packing in a hasty fashion. 

"Mom?" I called out before she paused, trying her best to contain herself. 

"I thought I did, that maybe-" She exhaled, not even turning to face me. 

"I blamed myself all these years, baby" She whispered. 

"I thought I had always done something bad too" She said as she fell unto the bed. 

Placing my head on her laps, she gently stroked the sides of my hair. 

"Mom?" I called out, noticing the tears that fell from her eyes. 

"Kaleo, you are strong" She started. 

"You called 911 and you called out for help" She said as she placed her hands on my shoulders. 

"You did what I couldn't and he did what he shouldn't" She said. 

"And that is why we're leaving" She added. 

"All this time, all I worried about was been the perfect wife but the moment I saw you in his grasp-" She paused. 

"The moment he held you. I knew I failed. I failed at being the least of a mother" She said as she broke down into tears. 

"I was drunk" He suddenly said as he leaned against the door frame. 

She suddenly held unto me defensively, realizing he stood by the door all along. 

"And I know-" 

"I know I touched our daughter" He said as he walked towards us. 

"No, you don't know. Don't take another step" She yelled as she stood, holding the end of the lamp in an embrace. 

"Miranda, I'm sorry. Don't go" He pleaded. 

"Miranda, don't leave me" He whispered as tears streamed down his cheeks. 

It was hardly believable that he was the same person of yesterday, but I hoped that she wasn't. 

Her fingers trembled around the handle as she struggled to bring herself to hit him. 

He took steps before he eventually stood as close to her, she didn't let go of her weapon. 

"Miranda, not now. We've been through so much already" He said, his breath mingling with hers as he stared back at me. 

"Look what we made. Don't take her father away from her" He whispered as he cupped her chin. 

She shook as he reached for her wounds. 

"I need help" He admitted. 

"And I'm going to get it" 

"But, please. You have to stay" He said. 

"No" She suddenly said as she stepped back. 

Wrapping her scarf around her neck, she threatened to raise the lamp. 

"No, Albert. I'm sick, honestly" She said as he stood there, perplexed. 

"I'm sick of all these. I'll be filing for a divorce and I'll be reporting, each day you touched, each punch you threw" She said. 

"Each slap you gave, each scratch and each and every pain you inflicted on me" She raises her voice in anger. 

"And I'm going to fight, I'm not going to stop fighting till the day you fall" She said. 

"And you fall so deep, you will never get up" She said, after which he let out a laugh. 

A degrading laugh as he wiped away his tears. 

"Look who's balls just dropped" He said as he gripped my arm. 

"Albert" She called with a frown. 

"You really want to do this?" She asked. 

"You are nothing, Mir" He spat.

"You will be nothing. Or you think you're the first? Or the last?" He asked. 

"That somehow your case is different than the thousands that arise each year" He said. 

"You, son of a bi-" She halted, looking back at me as she fisted the lamp. 

"All this while, you knew you were abusing me?" She raised her voice before he roughly pushed her to the bed. 

Holding firm to the light, she dashed it across his face as he climbed unto her. 

"No" I screamed, jumping off the bed.

"You want your daughter to know that you're a monster?" She asked and his grip tightened. 

He spat before looking back at her. 

I looked around for her phone before seeing it in her hands. 

This was how it always started. 

"You're a failure, you're a monster. You're an addict, Albert" She yelled to his face. 

"I told myself each day, cried myself to sleep each night-" She wailed, hitting again with the lamp, this time enough to make him fall. 

"That it was my fault, it was always my fault" She yelled as he fell to the ground. 

It was she who jumped unto him, the bloody edged lamp still in her hands.

"I'm done, Albert" She yelled to his face as she repeatedly hit him with the light. 

"I'm done, Albert" She said. 

"I'm not a monster. I'm not the slut. I'm not the cunt. I'm not the failure" She yelled, as she consecutively hit him across the face. 

"Mom!" I called as rage glowed in her eyes. 

"I'm done running, Alb-" 

"Mom!" I yelled again before she halted. 

"I'm done hiding, Albert" She said as she exhaled, looking back at his bloody body. 

It was as soon as she dropped the lamp that she began to wail, tears falling down her cheeks as she gripped into his shirt. 

Looking back at me, she cried. 

I had witnessed the worst as I stared at my mother who still cried. 

But the question that taunted my head was-

"Is he still alive?" 

To be continued...