76. Better Man (12/8/21)

The creaky floorboards kept her up at night, but it wasn't as bad as hearing her children crying as her husband stomped around the living room yelling and screaming. She could hopefully leave that all behind her.

The woman rose from her bed and approached the mirror that hung over the dresser. In the dark, she could make out her figure and loose curls that shaped her face. If she stepped closer, she could see the dark circles under her eyes and how red-rimmed they looked after her crying fit earlier. She didn't dare turn on the light; mostly because she didn't want to see how awful she looked, but she also didn't want to wake her children.

She glanced behind her and saw Lucas and Annie, her two children, curled up next to each other on the right side of the bed. They took the place of their father, who they had left two nights ago. It had felt like years since they lived on Lake Drive, but it was only because the woman had been planning her escape for such a long time.

She looked back at herself in the mirror. "You know you had to do it," she whispered to herself. Still, she could picture her ex-husband walking up behind her in a crisp gray suit and wrapping his warm, protective arms around her. "I'll keep you safe," he would say.

"Momma?" a faint voice said, and when the woman glanced over her shoulder, she saw her five-year-old son Lucas sitting up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He looked exhausted, and his mother was sympathetic towards him. Once they left their house, they had to take a train all day and all night to get to grandmother's house; it was their safe haven, a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Did I wake you, baby?" The mother asked, perched on the edge of the bed to face her son. She tried to push the familiar feelings away, but she couldn't help it; every time she looked at her son, all she could see was her ex-husband. It made things even worse that they shared the same name.

"Where's Poppa?" Lucas asked, glancing around the room as if he expected his namesake to walk in as soon as he called his name.

The mother gave her son a wry smile. "We won't be seeing Poppa for a while."

"Why not?" The woman had the proof, but knew she could not show her son the bruises or the scars, but he would not understand. He saw his father as a knight in shining arm, the prince or king who was there to save the family. The woman had once seen him as such as well, but not anymore.

When they started dating, the man seemed perfect. He ran a successful law firm, treated his parents with respect, and had only dated one or two girls in the past. The woman had seen the last fact as a good thing, since it meant she wouldn't have to worry about running into an ex-girlfriend at random, and she thought it meant the man was saving himself for the one.

But then life started to crumble around her. She got pregnant with Lucas, and the two married after only a year of dating. The wedding was a small and private affair, with only their extended families and a few close friends. She thought it would be the happiest day of her life, until her mother invited one of her ex-boyfriends to the wedding. Then again, she and the ex-boyfriend had been friends since they were children, so it did not seem like the end of the world.

The man did not think so. He slapped her across the face when he realized who the guest was. He called her selfish. He accused her of cheating. He threatened to call the wedding off and leave her with a bastard child if she did not apologize and ask the ex-boyfriend to leave. She did what she was told and covered the bruise with makeup.

Following the wedding and Lucas' birth, things seemed to be better. Her husband had apologized, and he went off to work as usual while she took care of the babies. They were content, and Annie joined their lives two years later.

But soon the husband grew suspicious. Annie had blonde hair, while the man and woman were both brunettes. The husband accused the wife of cheating, claiming she must have slept with another man for the child to have blonde hair. He made her conduct a paternity test and confirmed that he was, in fact, the father.

Annie grew up in a horrible household. The woman lived in fear of her husband, and after working on the plan for several months, finally decided to run away with her children. Despite the distance, and her better judgment, she still saw the ex-husband in her dreams. He would come to her in a crown and jewels, apologizing for his mistakes and offering her the world. He showed her a glorious house where they would raise their two children, and he would sign up for couples therapy. All signs of improvement, and they all showed that he wanted to be a better man for his wife and kids.

But they were just daydreams. A small part of the woman still hoped there was good in the man, and that he would call her up one day and apologize. He wouldn't even bother to ask if they could get back together. He would apologize, and somehow, that's all she needed to hear.

The woman turned back to her child. "I'll tell you in the morning, okay?" Then she tucked Lucas in and kissed him on the forehead. Right in front of her eyes, the boy drifted off to sleep. She knew she would never tell him the truth. The children's father would become a folktale, someone who hadn't even existed in the first place.