Five

Flashback

Fred came back home and stopped a distance from his house. He was drunk and could barely stay on his feet. He felt the dots of rain that started falling from the distant black sky and immediately he spit, then cursed for nothing in particular. He staggered a little more and almost dropped his bottle of beer. He let out another diatribe of insults but almost immediately realized that he was alone in the street, then he quietly matched to the door of his house.

At that time of the night, he thought the children were fast asleep but they were still awake and cheerfully playing in their beds. Their mother was somewhere in the house and she was preparing food for her husband, their stepfather. Fred's arrival was announced by the careless manner in which he barged in. His beer was spilling all over the floor and the smell of him was stale.

He saw her in the living room. She simply tried to avoid him and this enraged him. There was a look of disgust on his face and a moment later,