Evenings were the worst time to be in the Jones house.


    Sadie was on her bed, writing yet another vicious comment about Zachary Howard and she stopped midway wondering if it was the right thing to do anymore...


    She had the music playing from a Bluetooth speaker on her bed.


    Rock music thatSadie kept at a lowvolumebecause her dad didn''t like it loud.


    Talking about her dad, he should be home any time now.


    It occurred to her that usually when he came back home so late, it was because he had been having beers with his colleagues after work.


    In fact when he came back, Sadie ran to her bedroom window to see him park in the driveway. She saw her father park badly and stumble out of the car - it was a miracle he had never committed or been in an accident while drunk.


    He knocked on the door loudly.


    Sadie''s mother, Anna, opened and smiled, even if the horrid smell of alcohol reeked in Al’s breath made her almost puke.


    Yet Anna pulled through it and smiled, ''Honey,welcome back, I made you a special dinner. I waited for you to come back so we could have it together.''


    Al walked in without saying a word, almost tripping on his own feet before walking over to the dinner table to sit.


    Anna hadbeen waiting for him with excitement.


    They both sat down and Al didn''t even bother to take off his construction worker uniform.


    ''Your favorite, curry. I tried a new recipe, it''s a little spicier than usual.’


    ''Hm...'' Al dove in with a fork into the curry and ate up.


    He began coughing uncontrollably,eyes wateringas he tried to get a glass of water in the table but the drinking had made his hands shaky so Al failed to bring the cup to his mouth.


    He wasn''t breathing.


    Anna ran to raise Al’s chin up and open his mouth so she could drop water from her cup down his throat. It worked, he gulped down the water and the fear of “death by curry”was gone.


    In a flash second movement, Al slapped Anna so hard, the sound of the slap could be heard from upstairs, Sadie heard it over the music.


    ''Fucking bitch! Were trying to kill me?!''


    From the floor, Anna pressed a hand on her cheek, ''No I—''


    He kicked her stomach with heavy construction boots.


    ''Bitch! Trying to kill me after I came back from work... I provide everything in this house and this is how you treat me?!''Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Her screams of pain did nothing other than fuel Al''s rage; he kicked again, this time way harder than first time andanother kick.


    Anna could feel the toe of his boots go deep in her belly, wreaking havoc on her intestines, it made her want to vomit.


    ''Ah… Please, Al! Please!''


    ''Un-fucking grateful whore! That''s what you are...!''


    ''Stop,dad,stop!'' Sadie came running down the stairs, and saw her mom on the floor squirming in unimaginable pain. Sadie couldn''t bear to listen to the screams anymore.


    ''Dad, don''t hurt her...'' Sadie got on her knees to beg him.


    Alstared at his daughter for a while…


    You see, dear reader, alcohol is a foul beast that makes rational thinking useless against whose possessed by it but truly, all it does, is show people''s true colors. Al''s color was the darkest shade of black, a soul rotten by a harsh life, where scenes like thiswere the rule, not the exception.


    ''Like mother like daughter…’ he snarked, ‘I know about what you get up to that little boyfriend of yours... his dad was just with me at the bar. He told me all about how you lock yourselves in his room for hours...''


    ‘It’s not how you—’


    He used his right hand to slap her face into silence, ''Shut up! When I talk,you don''t talk.''


    Sadie fell backwards, hitting her head on the floor.


    ''Stop it Al, I beg you…!''


    Too late. He had already picked his daughter off the floor and given her a punch in the face.


    Al raised a fist up to punch her once more, when Anna yelled, ''I''m pregnant!''


    Suddenly, Al stopped and turned Anna, ''What did you just say...?''


    Al dropped Sadie like a sack of potatoes.


    ''What did you just say?''


    Anna managed to stand up with her back still arched, and both hands pressing her stomach.


    ''I-I''m pregnant...''


    Al''s look was mysterious -you couldn''t tell if he was shocked or angry about the situation.


    He walked to herwith a smile, ''We''re going to make another child?''


    Anna nodded.


    ''That''s amazing news!'' he yelled with a joyous smile.


    Sadie was still on the floor trying to take her mind off the swelling up of her eye.


    ''Oh, my god, why didn’t you say this earlier Anna, we need to celebrate!''


    Anna would have liked to tell him, the curry was what she had made to celebrate-not like he cared to know anyway.


    At the same time, Anna feared those strong kicks to the stomach might have changed the situation about the pregnancy.


    ''Don''t worry, I''ll make sure every thing''sperfect for the baby. Come let''s sit...'' he accompanied Anna to the dinner table, where they sat back where they sat before.


    Al looked at Sadie, ''Heard the good news Sadie? You’re gonna be a big sis… You ok princess?''


    Sadie slowly got herself up, with a black eye -she knew better than to confront him about what just happened...


    ''Y-yeah, I''m... Fine'' From the way that eye looked, she definitely wasn''t.


    Sadie watched as her father continued to eat his curry like nothing happened.


    Al went far to comment, ''This is fantastic Anna, you should try yours!'' While his wife was still struggling to breathe, not to talk about eating.


    Sadie went back upstairs to her room, and finally let all the tears go, while the black eye had gone purple-ish, making it hard to see from her left eye.


    How could her mom even think of bringing another creature into this hell that their life was?


    If he could do this to her and then call her “princess”, Sadie could easily imagine him killing the baby because it cried too much, only to claim that “the baby stopped moving for some reason.”


    Her father''s madness was something recent,the alcohol was a side effect of it.


    Sadie made sure the door was locked and pulled up YouTube on her phone. She found self-defencevideos.


    She had been practisingfor months to take her dad on but had never found the courage to fight back. One day, she thought, one day, I’ll show him.


    She walked to the closet and took out a man-sized dummy for practisinggrappling. As she manoeuvredthe dummy into submissions, she could envision herself doing something similar to her father.


    Sadie had been saving pocket money to be able to get it and since she got it, practisingon that dummy was what she did when not on social media, insulting people.