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The tortoiseshell cat is a beauty. Succotash and I are old friends after all the nights we’ve spent chilling together in the woods. Neal often kicked her out of the house, saying cats should roam. When she would purr on my lap, I dreamed of bringing her to my place. Just like Landry and the kids, Succotash needs a good home.
Tomorrow, I’ll round her up. Tonight, my only goal is to get my new family somewhere safe.
LANDRY
I’ve spent my lifewalking through a minefield. My parents exhaled chaos until I’d rather hide in the shed than risk gaining their attention.
At fourteen, I bolted into the night to free myself of my violent parents. I ended up with my “cool aunt” who put me to work and kept my money. Of all the abusers in my life, Darlie might have been the cruelest. To this day, she can still convince me that she cares. We talk weekly, only for her to leave me feeling worse than before I called.
My first bad man was named Ken, a shy guy with a bit of a stutter. He seemed so self-conscious, and I made him smile. To free myself of my slap-happy aunt, I moved in with Ken who promised to treat me like a queen.
I wasn’t particularly surprised the first time he hit me. Everyone important in my life tended to be violent.
Once I moved into Ken’s little house by the river, his family came over to meet me. They announced his teenage girlfriend was trash, embarrassing him.
I stayed with Ken through many beatings. His home was nicer than Darlie’s. I had a car to drive and a little cash to spend on myself. At some point, my teenage brain accepted my body and pride were the cost of comfort.
With Ken, I bolted into the night after he strangled me until I passed out. I might have gotten used to the beatings, but I wasn’t looking to die at sixteen.
I ended up back with Darlie, who put me to work in her cleaning company. I grew to hate the smell of bleach and Pine-Sol until I bolted into the night and ended up waitressing the night shift at a diner and sleeping in a coworker’s car during the day.
Within weeks, I moved in with a local petty criminal named Phil. He quickly passed me off to his slightly less rage-monster cousin, Greg. When I got dumped with their barely functioning alcoholic uncle, I knew I needed to bolt again.
Eventually, I met Neal. The trucker wasn’t obviously shitty. Yet, since he liked me, I went ahead and assumed he was a violent monster.
Though I wasn’t wrong, I always figured I could eventually run. Except at twenty-one, I got pregnant. After marrying me, Neal seemed less enraged. I think he liked knowing I couldn’t easily escape.
His family decided I was acceptable garbage and threw me a baby shower. I got all the best hand-me-downs from Neal’s sisters, sister-in-law, and cousins. The Copper family kept telling me how easy I had life since Neal made so much money and I never needed to work.
Deciding motherhood was what my heart craved, I got excited to meet my baby. Yet, when I first held Blair in my arms, I was surprised by her wrinkly and red face. I thought babies were supposed to be pretty. That’s how they seemed in movies, but mine looked weird.
I felt so disappointed for myself and then sad for her. What would an ugly little girl do in life? I had only survived because I’d stayed pretty enough for the next man to save me from the last one.
Neal’s family claimed Blair didn’t look like him. Those words set off something ugly inside him. I knew Neal would one day hurt our baby. Day and night, I kept them apart. However, his hatred grew for the kid his family mocked.
Eventually, I bolted with her. Yet, each time I ran, I got dragged back and beaten. That part didn’t hurt as much as the worry of me dying and leaving Blair with the Copper family.
