"Stop Hurting My Mom!"

I saw mom beaten time after time but two of the times were among the worst.

My five-year-old knees knocked together as I watched.

I saw her thrust up into the air and fall to the ground like a rag doll.

She laid lifeless on the floor for a moment then crawled on all fours.

My uncle-in-law kicked her repeatedly and she toppled over each time.

My nine-year- old sister grabbed my arm

and pulled me into our bedroom and shut the door for fear we were next.

During the night mom had  disappeared.

Then my sister and I were told that she was in the hospital.

She had surgery to remove a growth in her neck caused by the tremendous blow!

She couldn’t talk when we came to see her and half her face was paralyzed.

We went to stay with our father for some time not knowing if we’d ever see our mother again.

It seemed an eternity before we were reunited with her.

She slowly healed completely but

shortly after I saw her being beaten again.

Her head was being bashed into a brick window sill in the kitchen.

Over and over again I kept screaming “Stop hurting my mom!”

After her head was gushing blood and she looked as if she were dead

my aunt and uncle-in-law drugged her off to the shower and held her under cold running water.

I saw my lifeless looking mother’s thick and dark crimson blood pooling and swirling down the drain.

My aunt shoved me into my room and closed the door.

I waited alone.

My sister was not there, she was at her friend’s house.

I was alone for days.

I kept trying to get into the room my mother lay in but the door was locked.

I tried talking to her through the door.

I feared she was dead.

Day after day I tried to see and talk to her but the door continued to be locked.

I tried seeing her through the key hole but couldn’t.

My grandmother came and put me in my room, told me to stay, and shut the door.

I could hear through the door her trying to get into the room to see my mother.

Then I heard the police come in.

I heard emergency personal take my mother away.

No one spoke of what happened to her.

I waited for any news but no news came.

I went to stay with my father again.

I was so young I did not know the days nor of weeks.

It seemed an eternity before I saw my mother again.

When I saw her I asked her what happened and she said she didn’t know.

She could only remember that she was in the hospital again.

I told her what I knew.

She had a look of shock on her face and said “My  sister Lola did that to me?”

I didn’t know what to say.

She began to cry.

I leap into her lap and we held each other tightly.

We wept.