Chapter 6 - Leo
Five Years Later ...
Eight-year-old Leo calmly ate his breakfast, humming to himself. Next to him, Emma was crying. They could hear Paula in the other room begging for forgiveness as Martin beat her for the thousandth time.
"How can you eat breakfast and hum while your dad does that to mom?" Emma couldn't believe that Leo wasn't affected by what his dad was doing at all.
"You should be used to it now, Emma. Your mom needs to stop messing up, and then maybe he'll stop hitting her. Dad said it's her fault, and you know he's always right." Leo hummed a little louder, wishing Paula would be quiet because she was messing up his good mood.
Emma had always loved her brother, but as he got older, he started acting more and more like his father. Sometimes he even hit her or Paula because he didn't get his way. If either of them were to say anything to him about being hit, Martin took it out on them or let Leo hit them more.
Over the last few years, since Mrs. Elrod had tried to help, other teachers had tried to do the same. When they asked Emma about turning Martin in, she refused. She hadn't forgotten the broken arm she got last time someone promised to help her.
Paula had turned into a shell of a woman. Emma no longer saw any light in her mother's eyes, and she never smiled. It broke Emma's heart to see her mom in such bad shape, but at the age of ten, she didn't know what to do.
Martin was a little more careful where he hit Emma now because he didn't want anyone to send the police after him again. He made sure to only hit her where the bruises wouldn't be noticed. He didn't reserve himself at all with Paula; if anything, he'd gotten worse with her.
Both children looked up when Paula walked into the room. One of her eyes was swollen shut, she had a bloody lip and was walking with a limp. Emma jumped up and hugged her mother gently. Paula stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. They both jumped when they heard the front door slam.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Are you ready for school?" Paula looked at Emma's tear-stained face, but she didn't even have it in her to try and smile for her daughter's sake. She probably would have already been dead if it wasn't for Emma; she was the only thing that gave Paula the will to live.
"Mom, do you need me to stay home with you today?" Emma asked her knowing her mom would still try to do all her daily chores even though she could hardly walk.
"No, you go on to school. I'll be okay. I love you, Emma." Paula kissed her daughter's cheek and walked her and Leo to the door. She no longer walked to school with them; her body couldn't take even that little exertion.
Emma waved to her mom as she and Leo started walking down the street. She dried her eyes, not wanting anyone to see that she'd been crying.
"Why are you crying? It's not like you were hurt." Leo asked Emma as they walked to school. He never understood why his sister cared so much about her mom being hurt. She should be grateful that their dad wasn't hitting her. Leo liked to hit Paula, too, because he knew she couldn't do anything about it.
When he was younger, he used to beg his dad to stop hitting Paula and Emma, but as Leo got older, he came to realize that they deserved it. Martin explained that females are worthless and are only good at doing whatever a man wants.
"You don't understand, but when someone you love gets hurt, it hurts you too." Emma didn't know how Leo could be so cold toward her mother; she had raised him since he was a baby. Yet when Martin beat her, Leo complained that Paula was being too loud while he was trying to play.
"I don't care if someone else gets hurt as long as it's not me." Leo ran ahead of Emma and into the school.
When they were younger, they had been close, but as they got older, Leo had changed. He started mimicking his dad in the way he treated Paula and Emma. He also had made it clear that they weren't his family, so he didn't care what happened to them. Emma had been hurt when Leo talked to her that way.
As she walked up to the school, she saw her best friend Melora waiting for her. Emma put on a smile and waved at her. Melora was the only one who knew everything that went on at home. They'd been friends since the first day of kindergarten, so Emma trusted her with her family's secret.
"Hi, Mel." They walked into the building together.
"Hey, Emma. I saw Leo run in, and he said you were coming, but you were too busy crying. How do you put up with him?" Melora had two brothers, but they weren't mean like Leo.
"I have to if I don't want to get hurt. Is it still okay if I spend the night at your house?" Emma stayed every other weekend at Melora's. At first, she hadn't wanted to leave her mother, but Paula had insisted. Martin was a little better when Emma wasn't there because he couldn't use them against each other.
"Yes, my mom loves it when you're there because she said you have better manners than we do." The girls walked to class and talked about their upcoming weekend.
Leo watched Emma walk by with Melora. He tried to feel sorry for her and her mom, but he couldn't. Leo felt nothing for no one. Even when he was little and would hug them when they cried, it wasn't because he was trying to make them feel better. He hugged them because he thought that was what you were supposed to do.
As Leo got older, he stopped hugging them; it was their fault his dad treated them like he did. If only they would not make his dad mad, they wouldn't get hit all the time. Leo laughed as he tripped a kid that was bigger than him, causing him to spill everything out of his backpack. Leo continued walking by him, making sure to kick some of his belongings out of reach.
Leo had no friends because everyone thought he was mean. He didn't care, he didn't need friends, and when he got in trouble at school, his dad hurt Emma, not him. Martin blamed Emma for not keeping Leo out of trouble. Nothing was ever his son's fault; the females in their lives were to blame for everything that went wrong.
Tilly watched as Emma came up their front walk carrying her overnight bag. She loved Melora's friend like one of her own children, but she knew that Emma's home life wasn't pleasant.
Tilly had seen Paula at the school when the girls were younger and had talked to her a few times. With the number of bruises on her body, Tilly didn't know how the fragile woman was still alive.
She had heard from Melora that when the police came several years ago, it made things worse for Emma and Paula, so Tilly didn't say anything. It went against everything she believed to stay quiet, but she hoped to help Emma by having her stay with them as much as possible. Besides, Emma was so well-behaved and pleasant that Tilly hoped she would rub off on her own kids. When Emma got to the door, Tilly opened it for her.
"Hi Emma, how are you?" She held her arms open for Emma, who always greeted her with a hug.
"I'm okay. Thank you for letting me stay here again." Emma smiled at Tilly, who had the same tan skin, black hair, and dark brown eyes as her daughter. She loved Melora's parents; they were so nice to her, and she was never scared they would hurt her.
"You're welcome, dear. How is your mom?" Tilly always asked, and even though Emma always gave the same answer every time, she could see the truth in her reaction. When Emma's eyes welled up with tears, she knew it wasn't good.
"She's okay. Is Melora upstairs?" Emma wouldn't meet Tilly's eyes. She knew Melora's mother knew about the bad stuff, but Emma refused to ask for help or talk about it.
"Yes, you can go on up." Tilly watched Emma walk up the stairs, and her heart broke. She had never met Martin, but her son Scott was in Leo's class. He said Leo was a bully and always hurt the other children. Tilly was sure it had to do with the household he was raised in, but how could he be so different from the sweet Emma?