Chapter 35-- The Monster Is Back

Cameron returned home at exactly 6:45pm that evening. To my surprise, he embraced mom tightly, until she yelled that he was hurting her belly. They both laughed as he apologized, and for some reason, I loathed that moment. I just hoped in my mind that he'd not hit mom again and she'd deliver the baby safely.

"Look at you!" He said laughing. "Ain't you just a strong woman, carrying a whole human in your tummy! Or are they two? When are you due, babe?" He asked. I wondered what kind of husband he was. He didn't even know how many months his wife had been pregnant. The pregnancy he put there.

"I'm 32 weeks gone, Cameron" she said going back to the kitchen and Cameron walking towards his room. I walked past him towards the main door, and he pulled me back.

"Your daddy is back, little big thing" he said. "Are you behaving at school?" He asked. He actually did bend down to my height to look at me closely.

"Get your hands off me!" I yelled and stormed out of the house. He turned back and shook his head, shrugged and went to his room. So much for being a daddy.

"Cameron, leave the little girl alone, she's going through a trauma right now. She needs all the love she can get" mom said.

"She just rejected my love" he said. "I can't do any better"

Mom shook her head and came outside to meet me. I was at Mike's door knocking but he was not around. I wanted to be away from the house for a while and play with Mike but he was out.

"Darling, come back inside. You don't have to talk to him if you don't want to" mom said and I had to follow her back inside our house. Cameron was in the sitting room then. He called my name, saying "Hey I got something for you" but I didn't answer him..

"It's a pallet, for your painting"

He said pulling out my favorite type of drawing pencils

"I don't want it. Mom can get me one. Stop trying to be nice, we all know you're not" I hissed.

"Oh well then, I'll give it to your mom, she's in fact better than you at painting" he said and laughed. It was so immature.

"You're just an asshole" i said and went to my room. There in my room, I was so angry that I started to punch my wall. Mom heard me and started to yell at Cameron for giving me some fits again. He yelled back and that began to grow into a serious argument. He hurled cuss words at her and said it was her fault for giving birth to me in the first place. I heard him say that he warned her that he didn't want a child.

"I just wanted to fuck and go!! I told you I didn't want a child! I was not ready then! The one in your stomach should have been the first one" he yelled. I grew quiet so as to eavesdrop.

"Cameron, let's not do this" mom said. She was not having it. " Don't start"

"I won't, if you can rewind time! You were just so stubborn! I told you what I wanted!"

"Cameron! How dare you blame me now? How dare you?? You told me you didn't want a child but then you went ahead and slept with me without any protection. What were you expecting, a motorbike?" Mom yelled some more. I held my head and shook with fury and confusion. I was an unfortunate pregnancy. I knew it. But it was not mom's fault.

"I told you to get rid of it" he said so loudly that I felt the tone in each word. It was heavy. He had wanted mom to get rid of me.

"Seriously?" Mom sounded annoyed. I started to think maybe I should go out and separate the fight. I always caused arguments between them. I felt so bad about myself to the extent that I wished mom had actually got rid of me.

"Yeah.. Abortion is allowed. But you chose to keep it. You chose to keep it and now you bear the consequences" he said and I heard him make a short evil laugh.

"Ain't I such a nice guy though? I allowed her in, feed her everyday, send her to one of the best schools and clothe her with MY money. You owe me, you know that. I don't know what you're so mad at. I don't know why you want to leave when I'm such a nice guy" he said laughing dryly. "You'd never find any one nicer" he added.

Now I understood it. Now I knew why he hated me so much. Now I knew why he beat mom. But surely I was not the only reason he beat mom everyday. There must be something else. I had to find out, but first, mom, the baby and I had to leave safely.

"Nice you say? Cameron, you're far from nice. You and I both know" mom retorted, silently fuming.

"But you chose me! You chose me, , I'm a nice guy, admit it! I'm so good in bed, I know how to make you moan like..

"Cameron, shut up!"

"This short cute sound you make when I pound you.. that look of satisfaction on your face when..."

"You're disgusting. I regret the day I met you" mom said. Her voice was teary and full of pain.

"What did you say? I am what?" He sounded like he was about to hit mom. "You know you dare not repeat that statement"

"You're disgusting. I can say that a thousand times" I knew what was going to happen next. I hurriedly fetched the sledgehammer from where I hid it. I had to stop them because no neighbor was around to save mom. He'd send mom to hospital again. I had to do something.

So I took the hammer and came out to the living room where they were arguing. The hammer was heavy but I lifted it and hit it on the stool to announce my presence.

"I'll hit you with this, and I promise to destroy this house if you both don't FUCKING stop arguing like kids!!!" I shouted.

Mom gasped. Perhaps it was because of the slang word 'fucking' that I used(I learnt it from them) or because of the realization that I had the sledgehammer in my possession all this while, or because of the frustration in my voice. Whatever it was, it shook her to the roots. I sat on the floor and began to cry.

Mom came over to me but I shoved her away. Cameron shook his head and went out of the house. I was glad I stopped the argument but I was exhausted.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at mom. "Leave me alone. Just leave me alone!!!" I shouted at her at the top of my voice. She moved back a bit with shock and concern clearly written on her face. I was clearly not mad at her, but I took it out on her.

"I am sorry Ariana. I am sorry, please" mom knelt on the floor before me, pleading with a teary voice. She stopped trying to touch me. After a while, I quietened and she slowly fetched the sledgehammer on the floor near me. Then she went out of the house, and when she returned, she was without it.

She pulled me up and put me on her back. I was already calmer.

"Let's go for a walk, okay?" She said.

She groaned as she tried to balance me on her back, with a small bag in her hands. I didn't know what was in there. She carried me like that and passed through the back of our house into the less noisy road behind it. She put me down and held my hands as we walked in silence. There were many birds in that area... many colourful birds and I immediately started to feel good. They sang and chirped as they flew above our heads. My hands grabbed one, and I showed it to mom. A rainbow bird.

She smiled and rubbed my head. "Good girl, that was a good catch" I smiled. Then she said quietly when we got to a garden of flowers. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Well i think we should paint" I said.

"Whoa! That's what I'm thinking too. Shall we?" She said laughing out loud. She lifted the bag on her thighs and emptied its contents on the ground. There were many drawing pencils, cardboards, pallette, paper and every drawing materials you could think of.

"Shall we?" She asked. I screamed in delight.

"Yes" i said, and just like that, we set to work, first talking to each other and giggling and then not talking at all. We worked in silence, and just like that, every memory of the bad day evaporated as I put all my mind to painting.