James Romney stood outside of his house looking up at the night sky. The sky was like a black sheet with stars that twinkled like diamonds. The cool breathe of the wind went down James’ spine. He zipped up his leather jacket to keep away the nights chill. James looked back to his house and saw his father, Don, in one of the glowing windows. Don was an attractive man for his age of thirty-five. He was tall and had short brown hair. James was fifth teen years old and looked like his father at that age.

James heard a crash in the house. He ran inside and went into the kitchen to find his mother, but she was not there. While unzipping his jacket, James looked around for any broken glass that might have fallen on the floor, but there was not. James left the kitchen and headed toward the living room to talk to his father. Once in the living room, James saw his mother, Cassandra, on the floor picking up broken glass. He all so saw his father, Don, standing by an armchair, which was a few feet away from Cassandra.

“Cassandra why must you break every little thing we own?!” yelled Don.

James hated it when his father yelled. His voice was so piercing when he yelled. It was almost like a train about to crash. Cassandra was on her knees looking down at the broken pieces of glass. Don put his hands over his eyes. All three of them sat in silence for a few moments, but then Don said in a normal tone, “Just pick up the pieces and throw them away Cassandra”.

Don started to leave the living room, he stopped before the doorway.

“I’m going out for the evening. Having a late dinner with Ian,” Don said in a calm tone.

He left the living room. James could hear his father walking through the kitchen and in the hallway. He heard the front door open and then it slammed. Cassandra then started to pick up the broken pieces of glass and put them on a tray next to her. James walked over to his mother and knelt down in front of her.

“Mom, what happened?” James asked concerning.

Cassandra looked up to her son and her face turned into a smile.

“Your father asked me to get him a glass of water because he was busy with work, so I did. I got him some crackers to go with it, so he wouldn’t be to hungry for dinner. I put two glasses on the tray, one for him and me, and the cracker. I put the glass and crackers on the table and then I started to walked away to sit down in the arm chair, but I tripped over the carpet,” Cassandra smile went back to a frown.

Cassandra continued to pick up the broken pieces and put them in the tray, but then James took over the job. Once most of the pieces were picked up, James picked up the tray and stood up. James looked down to his mother.

“They only thing needed to be done is vacuuming the rug,” James said as he started too walked toward the kitchen.

“I’ll do that James. You should go up and see Jocelyn. She’ll want to see you”, Cassandra said as she stood up.

James looked over to his mother and replied, “Okay”

James walked into the kitchen and threw the pieces of glass away, and then put the tray next to the sink. He walked over to the door that lead into the hallway, and thought about his little sister, Jocelyn. She was eleven and the youngest. James was always very concerned about her, but she didn’t need have as much emotional trouble as James. She comforted James when their father would not listen to him or not go to anything at school that was important to James.

James walked up the staircase and walked down the eerie hallway to Jocelyn’s room. He stood outside her door for a minute and then knocked.

“Who is it?” Jocelyn asked through the door.

“James,” he replied.

James could hear his sister scamper out of her bed like a little mouse. Jocelyn opened the door and he looked down at her with sympathy. She looked up at him angrily.

“He’s not home is he?” She asked her brother with a frown.

“He just left to see Ian,” James replied.

Jocelyn walked back into her room and jumped on her bed. James walked in the room and looked around. It was full of things for little girls like dolls, stuffed animals and books. Jocelyn was lying on her bed and held her stuffed animal so tight James was afraid that the head might pop off. He walked over to Jocelyn’s bed and sat on the side.

“Are you okay Jocelyn?” James asked his sister.

His sister looked up at him and frowned.

“He’s never home,” Jocelyn replied.
“I know”

James rubbed his sister’s back and then got up and left the room with much agony. He was tired of his father abusing his family as if they were cattle. He wanted to make his family happy. He thought about his past. His father, Don, would never pay attention to anything that James made for him. Don would neglect his whole family. He would be rude to Cassandra, and never listen to Jocelyn.

James walked down the hallway. He stood in front of his bedroom door for a moment of hesitation. He was tired of his father’s abuse and neglect. He opened the door to his room and walked in it. He closed the door behind him and went over to his bed and lied down. The bed was soft and puffy like a cloud.

James closed his eyes and thought deeply about his life. His life would be so much happier if his father was not in the picture. James then heard the front door open from downstairs. He got up and left his room with a flash, but before he reached the stairs, he listened closely to his mother, who was at the bottom of the stairs.

“Don, why are you home?” Cassandra said worried.

James now knew that his father was home. He still listened in as quiet as he could be.

“I needed to tell you something”, Don replied.

“What is it Don?” Cassandra asked.

James heard a pause. That made him really nervous.

“I’m seeing someone,” Don replied.

There was a long pause. James felt like he was betrayed. He had suspected this, but he never thought his father would do it.
“I knew that you would do it someday. If you didn’t do it, I would have,” Cassandra replied as she started to cry.
James left the stairs and ran to his room and slammed the door. He felt like he had been lied to. He wanted to kill his father, for what he had done to this family. He felt the front door open and then close, so he looked out his window to see who had left. James saw his father slowly walk away from the house, before he noticed a woman standing in the street, who seemed to be waiting for him. The woman had brown hair and didn’t look that much younger than his mother.
The woman ran to Don and held him. He held her back. James frowned out the window, as his father looked back over to the house. Don saw James in the window and then left the house with the woman down the dark streets of the town.
James opened the window to his room and crawled out. Once he was out of his room, he carefully walked on the rooftops of his house, as he tried to find a way to get down. He finally found a pipe in the back of the house. He climbed down the pipe, trying not to be spotted by his mother. When he finally got down, he crept through the backyard and to the shed.
His father had always kept a gun locked in there. He opened the shed and saw the tool box that was locked under key. James took a hammer and chisel that was on the tool table. He lined the chisel up to the lock and then slammed the hammer against it. He opened the box and pulled out the gun that rested against some legal papers. James put the gun in his jacket pocket and then he crept out of the shed and went towards the road. When he got to the road, he walked around the silent road to his father’s best friend’s house, Ian. James knew where he lived, since he ad been there several times.
When he reached Ian’s house, he saw his father and the brown haired woman standing outside the doorway. James hid in a nearby bush for a bit. The brown haired woman seemed to be comforting Don, but then she went inside.
This was James’ chance to show his father how much he hated him. James crawled out of the bush and walked to his father. Don turned his head and saw James coming toward him.
“James, what are you doing here?” Don asked his son.
“Why did you leave us?! You could have made it better! But you never did, you didn’t even try!” James yelled at his father.
“James, you don’t understand…”
“I understand completely. You decide to leave mom, who loves you. We all love you, except me. I hate you”.
Don sat on the ground and put his head in between his legs.
“You never paid any attention to me. You never appreciated any of the gifts I had ever given you or when I built something you never complimented me. You were to busy doing work at home or doing other things that weren’t important,” James said to his father as he reached inside his pocket for the gun.
Don sunk his head more into his legs until he heard the click of a trigger. When he lifted up his head, he saw that James had a gun pointed him. Tears flowed down James’ face like a heavy rainfall.
“You never listened to me, and I hate you,” James said as he pulled the trigger.
The sound echoed through the suburban area as if the whole world was empty. Back at James’ house, Cassandra was in her daughter’s room. She was about to tell her that she was not with Don anymore. Jocelyn was sitting on her bed with her mother beside her. Cassandra patted the cute fluffy curls on Jocelyn’s small head behind her ears.
“Jocelyn, I want to tell you something very important,” Cassandra said as she stopped patting Jocelyn’s curls.
“What did you want to tell me mom?” Jocelyn asked.
Cassandra hesitated for a minute, but she was so happy that she couldn’t hold it back anymore. She looked deeply into her daughter’s eyes and said, “Jocelyn, your father and I are no longer together”
“Really?” Jocelyn did not seem upset or sad.
“Are you okay with that?” Cassandra asked.
“Mom, I’m really happy,” Jocelyn said as she hugged her mother.
Cassandra had never been so complete in her life. This was the most joyful moment she had ever had in her life. She loved her husband and would miss him, but she had two amazing children that she would keep. She didn’t want anything else in the world besides that. The doorbell then rang.
Cassandra let go of her daughter and smiled. Jocelyn smiled back. Cassandra then got up and left Jocelyn’s room to go downstairs and see who was at the door, not knowing that Jocelyn was following behind her. When Cassandra reached the door, Jocelyn was at the top of the stairway so she could hear what her mother would be talking about it.
When Cassandra opened the door, it was not what she expected. She saw a police officer at her doorstep. Another police officer was behind him with James. James’ hands were behind his back and were probably hand cuffed.
“Mrs. Romney?” The first police officer asked.
“Yes,” Cassandra replied.
“I’m Officer Gerald and this is Officer Linden. We would like to inform you on some fearful news about your husband,” Officer Gerald mournfully said.
“What’s wrong?”
Officer Gerald took off his hat for a bit and ruffled his hair. Once he put his hat back on, he said, “I’m sorry to say this, but your husband is dead”
Cassandra was almost in tears. Jocelyn stood at the staircase motionless.
“He was killed by your son, James Romney,” Officer Gerald said.
Cassandra looked to her son, who looked like he had been crying for hours. She went up to her son and put her hands on his shoulders.
“Please tell me it’s not true James,” Cassandra said as she shook her son.
James, looked away from his mother. She could not believe what her son would not reply to. Jocelyn ran from the stairs and back to her room and shut the door.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Romney, but we are going to have to take your son into custody until further notice. I’m sorry,” Officer Gerald said as he walked away from Cassandra.
Officer Linden took James away from the house and to the police car that’s red and blue lights blinked like circus lights. Officer Linden put James in the car and sat on the passenger’s side of the police car. James looked out the window to see his mother crying at the doorway. James closed his eyes and thought about how he made life worse than what it already was, and he couldn’t make it any better.