15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

works two miles from here, so he’s always home right after five.
We have a garage, but only one car can fit in it because of all my dad’s
stuff. My dad keeps his car in the garage and my mom keeps her car in the
driveway.
Well, yesterday my mom got home a little bit early. Atlas was still at the
house and we were almost finished watching your show when I heard the
garage door start to open. He ran out the back door and I rushed around the
living room cleaning up our soda cans and snacks.
It had started snowing really hard around lunchtime yesterday and my
mother had a lot of stuff to carry in, so she pulled up in the garage so she could
bring it all in through the kitchen door. It was work stuff and a few groceries. I
was helping her bring everything inside when my dad pulled up in the
driveway. He started honking his horn because he was mad that my mom was
parked in the garage. I guess he didn’t want to have to get out of his car in the
snow. That’s the only thing I can think of that would make him want her to
move her car right then and there, instead of just waiting until she was
finished unloading it. Come to think of it, why does my father always get the
garage? You would think a man wouldn’t want the woman he loves to get the
shittier parking spot.
Anyway, my mother got that real scared look in her eye when he started
honking and she told me to take all her stuff to the table while she moved her
car out.
I’m not sure what happened when she went back outside. I heard a crash,
and then I heard her scream, so I ran to the garage thinking maybe she had
slipped on ice.
Ellen . . . I don’t even want to describe what happened next. I’m still a little
shocked by the whole thing.
I opened the garage door and didn’t see my mom. I just saw my dad behind
the car doing something. I took a step closer and realized why I couldn’t see my
mom. He had her pushed down on the hood with his hands around her throat.
He was choking her, Ellen!
I might cry just thinking about it. He was yelling at her, staring down at
her with so much hatred. Something about not having respect for how hard he
works. I don’t know why he was mad, really, because all I could hear was her
silence while she struggled to breathe. The next few minutes are a blur, but I
know I started screaming at him. I jumped on his back and I was hitting him
on the side of his head.