Independence Day

"You're no good, just like that convict of a mother of yours." The sting of his slap was worse than the words he spouted. Ever since momma had been convicted of trying to kill him, he had been unhappy with my resemblance to her. "You can't cook, clean, or anything else. I don't know why I keep you around."

"My Foster parents would be happy to have me again. All you have to do is tell me, and I'll leave, Father." I braced myself for another slap. Every time I mentioned going back to the family that loved me, he got angry and tried to make me forget them.

"You unhappy with accommodations here, girly?" I debated whether I should tell him the truth or not. If I did, there was a chance I would end in the hospital again. There's only so many times that they would believe I ran into the door. "Well, are you? Cause I can think of ways to make you happier."

He undid his belt, and I knew what was coming. I sucked in a deep breath and waited to fell the first brush of leather against my skin. When it didn't come, I pushed the issue. "You don't seem to like me being around, so I can go stay with them."

As the leather met the bare skin of my arm, a voice startled both of us. It was my mom, Sunny. "Well it's good to see that you kept some family traditions alive. Though if you hit my daughter again, that will be the last thing that you do."

"I've already had you sent to jail once. Are you that dumb, that you think I won't do it again?"

"After all of the domestic abuse reports that I made against you, it was a miscarriage of justice that I was sent to jail for burning down the house. But make no mistake, it was worth every year that I was in there." Momma had her hand on her hip. She was thinner than I remembered, her hair was shorter, and blonder. "It's funny that you forgot that you tried to burn me with the candle and that it only started the fire when I threw it at you."

"You're a crazy bitch. They should have fried you. You burned down my family home. Nearly killed our daughter."

"The daughter you only started to care about, after they threatened to garnish your paycheck to help pay the foster parents."

"Momma, Father, stop fighting. Our family is back together again. We should celebrate this, I can make us a nice dinner."

"The day you can make anything worth eating will be the day that I die."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Earl."

"You always were a good for nothing-

"God, can you guys stop! This should be a happy day. Momma has been freed from jail. We're all together. Let's just be happy." The belt slid across the air and wrapped itself around my arm. When Daddy pulled it back, it hit my face. "Why did you do that?"

"You know what, Earl. That's the last time, you hurt my baby." Momma brought a glass vase down on his head. I stood in stunned silence as I watched her drag his unconscious body to a chair. "Hand me a few beers, and some Whiskey."

"There ain't none of that in the house. Father said he stopped drinking."

"Yeah and I made it out of prison without having a lesbian experience. I promise you there is some sort of booze in this house."

Momma was right, I found whiskey, vodka, Brandy, and all sorts of other alcohol in Father's room. I brought it all to her. She uncorked it and splashed some of Father's clothes. She opened another bottle and poured a glass, set it in front of Father. Finally, she broke her silence. "Listen. We can torch this house and let your daddy burn with it or we can both get away from him now. The choice is yours, but you can never unmake it."

"I want to burn him. After all the beatings I took from him, for no good reason. I have been to the hospital so many times that the nurses know me by name. They know that he hits me, and that he..."

"We all know honey. I'm sorry I wasn't a better Momma to you. I should have done better, I should have protected you. Now I can though, you just say the word."

"Let me burn him. I want to be the one who does it." Momma went out the door and came back in with a can of gasoline. She handed it to me. "Father, this is for all of the times that you hurt me. For all the times that you told me that I was no good or that you wished I was never born. I never asked to be born, I never asked for you anything! You made my life a living Hell. The Coopers were a nice family, they loved me and I loved them. But you pulled me away from them. I am done with you. If you survive this, I will never see you again. I don't ever want to hear from you again."

"Do you have to make everything into a speech, sweetie. Sometimes it's easier to just burn a sonofabitch down."

Momma lit a cigarette, and placed it in Father's hands. She lit another one and handed it to me. She took the gas can and splashed a little around, I threw the cigarette into the fire and watched as it licked upwards to the ceiling.

Once we were outside, Momma hugged me. "Listen here, you go back to the Coopers and be with them. You belong there and deserve to have a happy life. When the police come, I'll take care of the rest."

The house fire was ruled an accident. That was my Independence Day.