Women And the Demons Who Love Them

Little Devil's Cove-1

Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man

    Not even turning the volume up all the way on my headphones drowns out the sound of my parents fighting. They've been at each other's throat since last Tuesday and by the looks of it, they were no closer to a solution now than they had been then. My brothers had gone out with a group of friends tonight and were spending the night somewhere with someone. I'm glad they're not here to hear what was happening in the kitchen. 

    I jumped when my mom stormed into my room slamming the door behind her. Another door slamming echoed on the other side. She's beyond livid. Her face is flushed red as she takes deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She paced for a bit before she turned to look at me. I took the headphones off and turned off the music to hear her out. She never comes in here to talk to me. We weren't the type of family who did that. Once in a while, my brothers would come to me for advice and I'd come up with close to nothing unless it was health-related or had to do with their homework. I text Kyle what was happening as fast as I could. 

    "You okay?" I asked when she didn't say anything. 

    "Your father and I are getting a divorce," she announced calmly. She turned around and let herself fall back landing on my bed with a bounce. 

    "Okay," I sighed gladly now that something was finally happening. 

    "He's giving me full custody," 

    That didn't come as much of a surprise either. Dad had lost interest in all of us after the twins were born. Not that he had much interest in me before that. I once heard him telling one of his drinking buddies that I might be defective or not his kid. He didn't like that I didn't get his dark hair or his forest green eyes. 

    His go-to insult is: You're just like her. Her referring to my mother. Which is hardly an insult, my mother is the best mom a girl can have. She might work a lot and keep her emotions to herself but that's what makes her ideal. She's protecting us. If it wasn't for her, dad would have turned his drunken angry stupor towards one of us long ago. This should have been decided a really long time ago if you ask me. 

    "I think this is for the best," I nodded, reaching for her long golden locks of hair. She looked up at me probably shocked that I had taken it so well. 

    "Really?" she asked. 

    "A rock has better paternal instincts than dad," I smiled at her. She let out a little nervous laugh. 

    "You think the boys will be okay?" she asked. The door was once again pushed open only this time it was my two i***t little brothers. 

    "Is it true?" they asked in unison. I got up to close the door as fast as I could. 

    "Yes," I groaned, pushing them away from the door. 

    "Yes," they both cheered high fiving each other. 

    "Does that answer your question?" I asked mom. She sat up with a guilty look on her face. 

    "I am so embarrassed," she said softly. "I thought I had to endure because you three needed him," 

    "Hell no," the twins scoffed.

    "All Kelly was good for was sperm donation because we all got our good looks from you," Kyle boasted, sitting on my bed. 

    "Not to mention the genius gene," Kayne added, throwing his arm over my shoulder. 

    "And by that, he means our super-smart sister who somehow has managed to keep him from being to two grades behind," Kyle laughed. 

    "So, you're not upset about this?" mom asked. 

    "Only if we have to spend weekends with him," Kayne smiled, both of them are looking at her. She looked away with tears flooding her eyes. 

    "I'm so sorry," she apologized, putting her fingers to her eyes lightly capturing the tears before the spilled out of her eyes. "All this time I thought I was here because I wanted you guys to have a complete home. Not once did I ever stop to think or ask what you wanted. I was afraid to. I was afraid that if I asked you, you'd pick him," 

    "Never," I scoffed, the three of us climbed on my bed to go over to her to show her that we'd never pick that ass hole. 

    "You're our life mom. We never said anything because it wasn't our place to tell you what to do," Kyle cooed, taking her hand in his. 

    "Yeah, you already had a rough time without us making it worse," Kayne added. 

    "I love you, guys," she croaked, letting out a little sob.

    That night we all slept in my room. My mom and I on my bed and my brothers in their sleeping bags they had originally taken to their friend's house on the floor. I lied here with her. Mom had her back to me the entire time and she cried. The light sobs rocked through her body giving the bed a little shake. I give her credit for staying super quiet. Not once did she make a sound, not even a sniffle. I stayed awake with her all night. 

    She fell asleep sometime around four in the morning. By the time her alarm rang I was already up, had made breakfast, and cleaned up the mess, they had made in their argument. My dad walked in his body stiffened when he saw me, he must have thought I was mom because he looked ready to argue. He didn't say a word to me as he grabbed the coffee pot and poured some coffee into a mug. 

    "I take it you know already," he stated softly as if he didn't want anyone to hear him address me. 

    "Yeah," I nodded. 

    "You agree then?" 

    "I do," I confirmed with a shrug. He nodded. 

    "It's not that I don't care about you. I just don't know what else to do," he tried to explain. "This isn't a family. We're all looking for a way out," 

    "How chivalrous of you to give us a ticket out," I shook my head, turning away from him. 

    "Kels, I know I haven't been much of dad. I'm sorry about that," 

    "No, you're not," I bit out angrily. turning to face him. "Just like I'm not sorry for a single thing I have ever said to you. It's funny that you always say that I'm just like mom. Because in reality, I'm just like you, dad. Someone ruined you when you were a kid and you thought it was okay to do it to me. The only thing you ever taught me was how to be indifferent to everything around me. You taught me to keep my expectation low so that I never have to be disappointed. I had kept them extremely low but I guess there's always going to be you the level of low that isn't even considered a positive percentage with you,"

    "Good," he bit out through his teeth. The muscles on his jaw are tight.  

    "If there's anyone you have to give a bull s**t ass apology to it's your sons because now they have to live their lives with you as the only example of what a father should be," 

    He glared at me for an instant like he was considering that slapping me across the face like he had my mother countless times was a good idea. I'd return it. Even if he is bigger and stronger than me, I wouldn't let this mother fucker bring me down anymore. I had been ashamed of my life because of him for so long and now we were free. We are all free. He turned away. He picked up a duffle bag in the living room. 

    "When it happens you need to call me so I can teach you to control it," he sighed.. 

    "What?" I asked. He looked over at me with a smile on his face.

    "It turns out you are my daughter after all," he shrugged. "Those two aren't. Those boys are not my sons. Never have been and never will,"

    I wanted to tell him to go f**k himself. I wanted to hurt him to say something that would ruin his life or at least his day. Call him? Please, I would never need him to help me with anything. I've never needed him before and I will never need him. My brothers came down first and then my mom. We started our day like we usually did. Without him and as a family. 

    As the divorce finalized in the weeks to come, mom decided that she didn't want us to live in the big city. She wanted us to gain some "humility". Which I thought to be hilarious. I didn't like that she was leaving the children's hospital here. It was her dream job and she had worked so hard to get there. Yet when I asked her why we had to leave she said she had always wanted to start her own practice. That she hadn't double majored for anything other than starting her own children's clinic one day. 

    The boys are excited because they wanted a change from city girls to small-town girls. I shook my head as I typed the name of the town into my laptop. I laughed to myself as I typed it out because I had never heard of it. Pictures of the beach and cute little shops began to pop up. It was kind of shocking that they had their own website considering the population barely goes over two thousand. Social events began to pop up pictures of little festivals and block parties. The one thing that caught my attention was the welcome sign that was used as the cover picture. It's kind of a creepy slogan. 

Little Devil's Cove. Come for our views. Stay for the bites.