The screams from the kitchen woke Hadeza up from her sleep. She ran out from her room and went downstairs to the kitchen. She stood by the door of the kitchen and watched as her drunk step-father Obadiah Reign beat her mother Cathay Williams violently with his belt.
Hadeza witnessed her step-father abuse her mother violently while she grew up as a child in the states. She wondered why her mother refused to leave Obadiah since he was so abusive and harsh towards her. After all, her mother had a well-paying job as a real estate agent. Hadeza cried on her pillow almost every night when she heard her mother sobbing loudly from her room after she was abused by Obadiah.
Obadiah rained slaps and blows on Cathay heavily, severing injuring her in the process.
Hadeza couldn't stand the sight of seeing her mother being treated like an animal. She quickly went to the telephone which was on a stool opposite the kitchen and dialed the cops, she sobbed as she reported everything to the cops.
Obadiah caught a glimpse of Hadeza with the telephone on her ear. Hadeza also made eye contact with him. He flung his belt on the floor and began walking towards Hadeza. His eyes were raging red and he breathed heavily like a bull.
"Did you call the cops, you little brat?" Obadiah growled.
Hadeza hung the call and quickly ran back upstairs in fear that Obadiah was going to beat her too. She never liked the look on Obadiah's face when he was angry. When she got to her room, she quickly shut the door lock and bolted the other locks which her mother had installed for her under her own request.
"Hadeza, open this door right now" Obadiah yelled.
Hadeza sat on the floor by her bed and covered her ears with her palms.
"Hadeza" Obadiah growled at the top of his voice as he banged his fists heavily on Hadeza's room door.
Cathay crept behind Obadiah with a baseball bat. She positioned herself in a perfect stance and swung the bat like a boomerang and hit Obadiah on the back of his head, knocking him out unconscious.
Obadiah slumped on the floor with a heavy thud.
Cathay knocked on Hadeza's door. "Zee, please open the door. It's mommy" She said mildly. When Hadeza opened the door, she fell on her knees and cried and hugged Hadeza.
Hadeza sobbed on her mother's shoulder as she hugged her.
Cathay patted her daughter's back. "Did you call the cops?" She said in a whisper.
"Yeah" Hadeza replied in the same tone.
"Good girl" Cathay said as she withdrew herself from Hadeza. She felt light headed because of the bruises and injuries she had then fainted on the floor in front of Hadeza.
Hadeza stayed up all morning, watching cartoons on the small TV on the wall in her mother's ward. The nurse taking care of her mother had given her the remote control to the TV so she could watch whatever she wanted. Hadeza wasn't aware that her mother had opened her eyes because she had all her attention stuck on the show she was watching on TV.
Cathay glanced at Hadeza, admiring how pretty her daughter was. "Zee" She whispered.
Hadeza turned and looked at her mother and smiled at her. "Look who's up and late for school"
Cathay realized Hadeza was mimicking and imitating her. Hadeza imitated her so perfectly well she felt a bit elated inside and a little ashamed too. She never allowed Hadeza go to bed late neither did she ever allow her wake up late for school. She gestured at Hadeza to meet her.
Hadeza climbed her mother's hospital bed and lay beside her, cuddling herself like a big fuzz ball under her mother's arm. "You slept for hours!" She cried.
"How long?" Cathay asked in a justifying voice.
"A day and a half I guess"
"That's long,"
"Really long"
"I know" Cathay sighed as she said under her breath. She had never slept that long before.
Hadeza clapped with her small palms as she cheered her mother. "You beat my unbeatable record. You should be proud mom. You should be proud" She said, trying to be sarcastic.
Cathay rolled her eyes almost to the back of her eye socket. If she rolled them any further, one would think she was blind.
Hadeza shifted closer to her mother. "Mom, why didn't you ever stay down when Obadiah hit you?" She asked softly and looked deeply into her mother's eyes like she was searching for something inside them.
"When they hit you, you get back up and hit them harder. That what really matters?" Cathay replied with a little attitude.
Hadeza nodded. She stared at the pair of scissors on the table at the other side of the ward. She stood on her feet and went to pick it then looked up at her mother.
Cathay stared at Hadeza curiously, wondering what Hadeza was doing with the scissors. "Zee, what are you doing with that?"
Hadeza walked backwards and dashed into the restroom. She locked the door and stood facing the mirror. She heard her mother shouting her name but that didn't stop her as she began to cut her hair with the scissors.
A nurse rushed inside Cathay's ward after hearing her shouts from outside. She went to the restroom and wobbled the doorknob but it was locked. She knocked and called Hadeza's name but there was no answer.
"Hadeza, open the door. Your mother is worried about you" She said softly.
Hadeza's hair fell at her feet as she cut it to her satisfaction. She threw the scissors in the sink and stared at herself in the mirror for a brief moment before walking back to the door.
"Hadeza!" The nurse cried. She raised her hand to knock on the door again before Hadeza pushed it open. The nurse gasped when she saw Hadeza. She stood aside so Cathay could see what Hadeza had done to herself.
Cathay couldn't believe her eyes. She gripped the sheets out of anger and fumed internally. "Hadeza! What have you done to your hair?" She said in a shrill voice.
Hadeza didn't answer instead she frowned at her mother.
"Do you know how you look like? Is this who you want to be?" Cathay said to Hadeza and balled her fist. She never expected Hadeza to do such a thing to herself. What was she thinking? "Answer me!" She yelled, which followed with a cough.
Hadeza staggered but her fear didn't show on her face except in her feet.
Cathay wanted to shout at Hadeza again but she began coughing. The nurse inside the ward rushed to calm her down.
Hadeza ran to her mother and grabbed her hand.