Monsters

He lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He could hear them fighting again, their raised voices slipping through the crack underneath the door. He was supposed to be asleep, but how could anybody sleep through this? He pulled his stuffed bear closer to his chest.

"It's okay, Yellow," he whispered. "Don't be scared."

Something shattered in the kitchen. He cringed. More shouting. Mostly Daddy's voice. The front door opened and slammed shut. A car started up and drove away. The only sound now was Mommy, crying. He held Yellow tighter. He hated it when mommy cried. He hated Daddy for making her cry. He listened to her tiny noises for a long while, waiting to hear the front door open again. When he was sure Daddy was really gone, he took Yellow and rushed to his door. He paused again at the hallway, listening. Mommy was still in the kitchen. He ran toward the half-open door. She sat there against the kitchen counter, head buried in her hands, shaking. Broken glass lay to her side. She looked up as he opened the door more. Her eyes were red, her hair hanging down in her face. She tried to smile for him, even though he could see the red marks on her arms.

"Don't come over here," her breaths shook even as she spoke. "There's glass."

"Mommy?" 

"It's okay, sweetie. Daddy got... upset again. It's okay now."

Slowly, she stood and walked toward him. He held up Yellow.

"He wants to help make you feel better."

She smiled at both of them and knelt down. She took the the stuffed bear and held out her other arm. He hugged her, held her, the same way she always hugged him when he cried. He could feel her starting to shake again, the breaths less and less stable. He felt her tears falling against the back of her shirt. He stayed there for a long time, playing with her hair like she did with his. When her tears finally stopped again, she took him gently away from her. She looked at him as if she hadn't seen him come in before. 

"Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" She kept her voice gentle, not like Daddy. Daddy would scream at him, yell at him, tell him how he was a stupid, worthless little boy and couldn't do anything right. He looked down at his feet. Before he could answer, he heard a car door slamming just outside. Mommy's whole body tensed. He could feel his heart beating faster. His breathing ran with it.

"I'll talk to Daddy, okay? Run back to your roo--"

The door opened. Daddy stood there, hand on the doorknob, staring at them both.

"Why aren't you asleep?" His voice sounded like thunder.

"He just couldn't sleep. He--"

"I wasn't asking you." The thunder deepened.

"What? He wanted to come in here and comfort his mommy? He wanted to tell her that everything would be better?"

Mommy was crying again.

"Well maybe things would be better if he'd never been born."

Mommy's hands started shaking again, "He couldn't sleep. He was--"

"There's... there's a monster.... in my closet," he could hear the shaking in his own voice, but tried his best to be brave. He had to be Mommy's strong little boy.

"There's no such thing as monsters," Daddy growled. Daddy started walking toward him.

Mommy stepped between them. "He's going back to bed now," she turned around and handed Yellow back. "Right?"

"Right." He clutched Yellow to his chest and stepped hesitantly backwards. Mommy tried to smile again, tried to let him know everything would be okay. He tried to smile back, to tell her the same, then turned and ran all the way back to his room. Even as he ran, he could hear them talking again.

"Please don't be mad at him, it wasn't his fault."

"The little bastard should have stayed in his room."

He closed the door behind him, hoping to drown out the voices, but it didn't work.

He crawled into his bed, pulling the covers over his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

"Don't say that." Mommy was pleading, begging. He wished the pain in her voice would hurt Daddy the same way it hurt him. He wished he could hurt Daddy, the same way Daddy always hurt them.

"If we didn't have to take care of that stupid kid, we'd be a lot better off. All he does is waste space and money. And all you can do is feel sorry for him, treating him like a baby. He's gotta grow up to be a man, and since all you can do is try to protect that worthless piece of trash, then maybe both of you are better off dead!"

He and Yellow huddled together under a blanket. He pulled the pillow over his head so he didn't have to hear Daddy's words any more. He tried to calm down, tried to remind himself to be strong, but he couldn't. He shook and cried and thought about how Mommy had shaken and cried too. He held Yellow as tightly as he could, burying his face in the soft body.

"Daddy's wrong," he whispered. "There is such a thing as monsters. Just... sometimes they look like humans."