Book 1-Chapter 2 (Title to be determined)

Disclaimer: OK, I wanted to put this up first so that no one misunderstands what I am doing here! I am NOT a professional writer! I only write for my pleasure. If anyone else enjoys it, that is wonderful! If not, that's ok too. I will never use anyone's material knowingly, so if someone see's that something I have written is similar to something they have seen or read, please, please, please inform me so that I can change it or reference it!!! I am not into plaguarism! I will not title anything I do until I am done because if any of you have ever experienced having to name something (i.e. a pet) you know that when you give it a name as a baby, you sometimes will regret the name you gave it! So, since this is not a living, breathing soul, I think it's best I wait until after I am further into it to name it! For my longer stories, I will try to only post one chapter at a time, so as not to bore anyone! This is all original work, so please ask before you use it somewhere else. I hope you enjoy what I write!

Please go here:http://the-two-rs.blogspot.com/search/label/Book%201%20Chapter%201 to read chapter 1 if you havn't already.

Chapter 2

It was beautiful day in Little Rock and Elli was driving the boys to baseball practice. They were huge baseball fans. The boys had been playing T-ball since they were old enough to hold a bat and Elli loved to have them involved in as many outside activities as possible. Tristan, her husband of 16 years never involved himself in their activities because he thought it was too much for them at their ages. He thought that Elli drove them too hard when it came to outside activities and therefore, he refused to take part in it. Tristan never had the niceties that their boys were able to have and Elli was going to make sure they had. He just didn’t see the need in it.
Tristan tried to be a good dad to the boys, but since about the second year of their marriage, Tristan had been verbally abusive to Elli. She just took it most of the time. It wasn’t until after the boys were born that Tristan began being physically abusive to Elli. She loved Tristan more than anything. He was only abusive to her when he was stressed out. She tried so hard to keep his stress level down, which is why she tried to keep the boys out of the house when he was there. She knew that they drove him crazy most of the time. But, lately it wasn’t working. He was always upset over one thing or another. She didn’t know what to do anymore.
Tristan was at work that day. It was Saturday morning and the boys had to be at practice by 10:00 a.m. She was well aware that if she did not get home to get the house cleaned and laundry done by the time Tristan made it home for the day that she would for sure get it that night. She was growing weary of the way he was treating her. No one knew what happened once they were in their bedroom. It was hard for Elli. She was emotionally drained and beginning to feel that if she didn’t do something soon, Tristan would go off the deep end and she didn’t want her boys to be on the receiving end this time.
“Mom, can we please go to McDonald’s after practice?” Caedan begged.
“Oh, honey, I wish we could, but momma’s got to get home and clean the house today. You know that daddy wants the house cleaned. Maybe we can stop and pick it up to go if you promise not to leave the mess when you’re done.”
“OK, thanks. I love you mom.”
“I love you too, Caedan”
Her boys were crazy about her, and she about her boys. She didn’t know what she would do if anything ever happened to them. Practice ran long this time. It was after noon when they finally ended for the day. She knew that if she didn’t get straight home, she wouldn’t be able to get everything done that Tristan expected to be done and make dinner. But, she wouldn’t let her boys down either. She drove through the drive through and waited. It was taking forever or maybe it just seemed that way because she was in a hurry. Either way, she knew she was in for it later.
“Mom, Justin’s touching me!” Caedan yelled, “Make him stop.”
“Oh, he is such a cry baby, mom. I barely touched him.” Justin was picking on Caedan again. Even though Caedan was older, he was a very sensitive child. Justin carried a lot of his dad’s characteristics. He was pushy and aggressive most of the time, but Justin also had a sensible side to him. He was very smart and knew when enough was enough. She never had to discipline either of the boys very often and really tried not to.
“Boys, I really need you both to stop. I will have your food for you as soon as I can and then we’ll be home and you can separate for a while,” I tried to reason with the boys. It usually works, but today, they just kept picking at each other. She knew they were tired because they had stayed up late last night watching a movie that Tristan thought wouldn’t be too scary for them. It kept them both up with nightmares most of the night. That was one of Tristan’s downfalls. He didn’t know how to deal with the boys. He always watched inappropriate T.V. shows when they were around or rough housed with them too much and they usually ended up walking away crying. Caedan did so more than Justin and that bothered Tristan. He would tease Caedan about it, which only made matters worse. Justin just ignored it most of the time. Justin was 2 years younger than Caedan, but just as big as Caedan. He was Tristan’s favorite and Tristan usually had no qualms saying so. It was becoming harder and harder to smooth things over with Caedan when he noticed how much Tristan catered to Justin.
As we pulled into the driveway, Elli’s heart began to race. Tristan had come home early. She knew he would be angry that she had bought the kids lunch and the house wasn’t clean. Elli thought about just driving on past the house, but knew she couldn’t do that. He would not allow it. “God,” Elli silently prayed, “please not today. Please just let him be asleep or preoccupied. I just don’t think I can handle another beating.” Elli stopped the car and told the boys to go in through the kitchen. She went in and did not see Tristan. She then walked into the living room, but still no Tristan. Then, she went to the bedroom. There he was. Frozen where she stood, Elli just stared. He wasn’t aware that anyone was in the room, but the girl he had in bed with him did. The girl gasped and poked Tristan. He looked up and saw Elli. “Go away,” he screamed. “I said leave now.” When Elli didn’t run he got out of the bed and lunged toward her. He struck Elli in the face, which knocked her to the floor. He kicked her out of the room and slammed and locked the door. I could hear the girl, and she was just a girl, probably not more than 22 years old, crying and screaming. I could hear him talking to her in a soft voice trying to calm her down. He was saying that I didn’t matter; only she did. He was telling her that he hit Elli only because she had scared him and that he would never do that her. She seemed to calm down from what Elli could hear.
When Elli finally was able to get to her feet, she turned around and saw Caedan and Justin standing in the hallway. They were crying. “Mom, what’s going on? Are you o.k.? You’re bleeding bad.”
She touched her mouth. It was really bleeding and Elli felt light headed. That was it. She couldn’t take it anymore. Without saying anything, Elli shuffled the boys outside and into the van. She pulled out and vowed to never see Tristan again. He had never cheated on her or at least not that she was aware. Now she wondered how long it had been going on. She drove for about an hour, not really knowing where she was going, but thinking that it would be best for her and the children if she just went to her parent’s house. That was about 3 hours or so away in Shreveport and she knew that they would be safe there. Elli’s parents never liked Tristan. He never liked them either. They rarely visited Elli and the boys. “If I could just make it to Shreveport, I could take further steps there to end this marriage once and for all,” she thought to herself. Her dad was a divorce lawyer and would know just what to do. She never wanted to see Tristan again and that made her very sad because she loved him deeply.
The boys remained silent in the back seat. They had never seen their dad abuse their mom. They knew he could be mean sometimes, but they had never seen this before. They were scared, scared for their mom and for themselves. They asked Elli if they could watch a movie and she said to go on ahead, just to put the headphones on so she could listen to some music. Music always calmed her down and she put in her Caedman’s Call CD and quietly prayed. She was scared. She had never thought she could get up the nerve to leave Tristan and yet, here she was, running as fast as she could to keep herself and her boys safe. She knew that the next year would be long and difficult and hoped that Tristan would just leave them alone.