Free Somewhere Only We Know ....... by Leanne Burn

were born and
often called around to each other’s houses for a coffee and a catch
up.
    Scarlett was
a couple of years younger than me and we had attended the same
school, like me she was born and bred in Kinsley and had lots of
relatives in the village. She had married a local lad and lived a
couple of streets away from ours. From the beginning we bonded, it
was nice having a friend again, obviously I was guarded about my
home life with Keith but it was great for the day to day stuff and
baby talk.
    Scarlett
wasn ’ t actually Scarlett
when I met her. She was plain old Karen Brown. Years later when her
marriage broke up and she decided that she would get back into
dating again she changed it to Scarlett, thinking it made her sound
more sophisticated. I howled with laughter when she told me and
told her she sounded more like one of my Nice and Easy hair dyes.
But she was adamant and eventually Scarlett stuck.
    It was
Karen ’ s idea that we have a
night out. It was a good idea, neither of us had been out since the
birth of our babies. We weren ’ t doing anything too exciting, we were just going to go to
a pub in the village and have some food a couple of
drinks.
    Keith was
going to look after Thomas, he wasn ’ t happy, but I assured him I would only be a few hours.
When I was getting ready to go out, Keith came into the bedroom and
insisted on having sex. It was like he wanted to put his scent on
me to deter any men coming near me. As I went to wash in the
bathroom he blocked the way and said I
couldn ’ t clean up. If I
wanted to go out, I would go out as I was. This became a regular
occurrence, if I was going out without him, then I went with his
come between my legs. It eventually got to the point that I was
turning down invitations for nights out, it just
wasn ’ t worth it.
    When Thomas
was about 3 months old, Keith came in from work really drunk one
night. I was upstairs bathing Thomas when I heard him come crashing
in. I heard him shouting for me and I rushed to rinse the shampoo
off Thomas ’ s hair. I
wasn ’ t quick enough and
Keith came staggering into the bathroom. He was furious that I had
ignored him and before I knew it he smashed his fist into the
mirror above the bath. Natural instinct made me grab Thomas and
crouch over and protect him. I felt slithers of glass fly around me
and small stings in my head and shoulders.
    It all seemed to happen in slow motion, but
it was only seconds. I heard Keith stagger out of the bathroom
behind me and I took my chance to run down the stairs with Thomas
into the living room.
    Laying
Thomas onto the settee I saw that he had blood on him, through my
tears I rubbed my hands all over his body, Thomas was giggling
thinking I was tickling him. There were no cuts or glass on him. It
was my blood.
    I dressed
Thomas and lay him in his pram. Walking to the mirror I could see
that there was blood running down my face. Slowly I ran my fingers
through my hair, tiny shards of glass were embedded into my scalp.
Thomas was sleeping, so I crept up the stairs. Our bedroom door was
open and as I peeped through I could see Keith lying on the bed, he
was flat out. On the front of his trousers was a dark patch, he had
only been there a matter of minutes and already he had pissed
himself.
    I cleaned myself up, then the bathroom. I
should have just left it for Keith to sort, but there was glass
everywhere. There were a couple of cuts on my shoulder and lots of
small ones in my head, but there was no evidence of what had
happened.
    As I sat and
cuddled Thomas, I rocked back and forwards. What would I do? Keith
could really have hurt Thomas. In his drunken stupor he had no
thought for his son ’ s
safety. I should have walked out of the door then. But I
didn ’ t. I stayed. I
didn ’ t want Thomas to be
part of a broken home. Things would get better, I was sure they
would. Once Keith realised what had happened he would get better. I
should have gone, because they got worse.

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