Status: In Progress

Set Fire to the Rain

Scars

Looking back on my life, I never imagined I would end up where I am. Me, Eliza Launa Cahrter Richards, married with 2 teenage kids, I don’t have to work, I drive a luxury car, I wear beautiful clothes, and live in suburbia. Sounds like the perfect kind of life right? It might look like a storybook life from the outside, but the real story, that only a few are aware of, is far from perfect and definitely not what anyone would ever dream of having one day. It was not what I wanted for myself or my kids anymore. No one, especially my son and daughter should have to endure the never ending pain and abuse from their father. David has only ever hit me, but the verbal abuse is a daily battle for all of us to survive. It wears you down until you no longer feel like you are a human being and your spirit broken, your will and strength gone. I am teetering on that ledge and if I don’t get out now, I won’t make it. This I know, I have to get out and make something out of this disaster I call my life and resurrect it and my kids’ lives. They deserve so much more than what I have given them so far.

That’s why I have done this all behind everyone’s backs. First of all, I couldn’t take a chance that David would ever find out what I was up too, because if he did, I think he might actually kill me. Yes, I realize making this decision on my own and not talking to anyone about it is taking a huge risk, but if I have faith in anything, it’s my children. They are two of the few who have never let me down, besides my immediate family and a couple of best friends. Over the past 6 years I have very slowly been putting very small amounts of money into a secret account under my brother’s name. Along with help from my brother, my parents, and friends, I have managed to save up a decent amount of money. So here is what I am going to do, I am divorcing David, and have already filed the papers with my lawyer, and he will have them delivered tomorrow sometime. I am going to set up a public meet to tell him in person about the divorce. Timing is everything, I have heard people say, so I am waiting for Jake and Marguerite to get home from school, we will talk, pack up the rest of our things and be on our way to the new place. I already have a place rented that is in the district so the kids won’t have to switch to a different school system. Mags can graduate at the end of the year and Jake can finish his time there as well. My car is already packed with the remainder of my things, and all the other stuff I have been sending over in boxes over the past 3 weeks so that we could just take with us whatever was left and absolutely needed and can’t live without. One thing that cannot happen is that we end up still being here when David gets home, or he comes home early. If he gets wind that something is up, it’s going to get really ugly very fast. He has a very short fuse with an extreme temper. It is a volatile combination when he is set off, and it doesn’t take much. That’s why I now stand outside leaning against the car that I hate, staring at the home I hate even more, because of all it stands for and the secrets it holds. Things the kids don’t even know about, and will never know about. I wait for them so that we can get the fuck out of hell…

MJ’s POV

Driving my beautiful and meticulously self-restored Classic Fastback ’65 Mustang, I ran my hands around the steering wheel and then reached over to turn up the stereo that was currently blasting, Bullet For My Valentine on the cd player. My brother Jake and I were heading home after another extremely fun filled day at the so called learning institution known as high school. That’s the rumor anyway. Punching my fist down on the horn of my car I suddenly honked at the fucking asshole that decided to cut me off and nearly ram into my pride and joy, while also scaring the crap out of Jakey. We both gave the jackass in front of me the finger at the same time, and then we busted out in laughter. It is something we do only if we are alone, with friends or my mom, but never, ever with dear old dad. It was fucking funny after all! People tend to say that I have a bit of an obsession with my car. Fuck yeah, I love my car! I had poured hundreds of hours of hard ass work, passion, and huge amounts of money that I had earned from working at the local garage part time and also from playing gigs with my fucking awesome band, though sometimes i think the hardest part was the enormous amounts of shit that I took from numbskulls who don’t know fucking jack shit about anything while building it. So when people say I am obsessed, I just answer, yes I am. After all that, wouldn’t you be? Seriously, taking an auto class and having to put up with the bullshit crap from the pain in the ass guys, who never accepted the fact that I was tough enough to put up with them and be there in the first place mainly because I'm a chick, let alone that I was smart enough to understand what I was doing from day one. The thing was that I had always dreamed of building my own classic mustang and I had made it happen, and a lot faster than some of the other idiotic motherfuckers ever expected me too. Of that, I am so damned proud!!! My car is loaded of course, with a Cammer engine, it’s jet black with chrome, has red leather interior and the driver’s seat has a blue leather flame inset. I had a little help with the leather work, from a good friend of mine, so it's all good. This machine is the envy of a lot of the student body and teachers alike, and I happen to love that. Of course I have one major rule with my baby and I strictly enforce it too, no joke! The only person that is ever allowed to drive my car is me. Ever! I don’t give a shit the what the reason!

“Yo! MJ! Have you heard anything I have just said to your ugly ass face!?”

“Fuck you asswipe! No I didn’t, sorry.” I quickly glanced over at my younger brother with a small smile. “I really am sorry Jakey. Guess I was just really deep in thought. Was it important or no?” I asked looking at my little brother.

He is a really good looking kid, plus he's in the band with me, so of course girls absolutely love him. Jake doesn't care about all the girls; he only has eyes for one, Ali. It's fucking sweet how they flirt with each other, I just wish they would get over this we are just friends thing and don't want to ruin the friendship crap. I mean really! What the hell are you waiting for! Love isn't going to jump up and bite you on the ass without a little bit of help.

Jake turned to me with his light blue eyes and choppy, almost black hair then shook his head saying, “Nah, not a problem sis. Wasn’t all that important, to be honest.”

"You forgot what you were going to say didn't you! Dumb ass!"

"Fuck off! I did not. Just leave me alone MJ." He started to grumble under his breath and folded his arms over his chest sinking into the passenger seat, and turned to stare off out of his window. JT was sulking like a 5 year old. I had nailed it on the head. He was always forgetting shit, I love to give him a hard time but it will come back to him later.

The cd changed to Slipknot and a smile spread across both of our faces as JT and I started to sing, rather loudly to 'Duality', one of our favorite songs by them. I rolled down my window and turned up the volume, banging my head to the beat. I love Corey fucking Taylor! Turning my car to the right onto Carriage Lane, our street, I looked around at the rather large houses with their very manicured lawns. Everyone had a lawn service. No one did their own yard work in this neighborhood, and it drove my mom crazy. She was the last of a rare breed I thought, she still did the gardening around the front of the house, in small areas albeit, but they were her flowers and she loved to watch them bloom every spring and tend to them all season. It got her out of the house and helped her to relax and think when she needed it, and that was all the time. Did we have a gardener/lawn service? Yep, dad insisted, along with a tree service every year like clockwork. The house had to look perfect. The neighborhood was beautiful, I had to admit that. I wasn't happy here, and I loved to drive through with my stereo turned all the way up to piss off the neighbors, and see the look on dads face when he got the phone calls or knocks on the door about noise pollution, it was fucking fantastic! Smiling as I thought about that happening yet again, I immediately frowned when I looked up towards our house and saw mom standing in the driveway, leaning against her car. The second I saw her, I turned the stereo off, not because she would be upset, but I was worried.

“What the fuck is going on! Why is mom standing outside against her car?” I asked with concern in my voice as I looked towards our house.

I turned left into the driveway of our 2 story McMansion and pulled up the gentle slope that led to the 3 car garage, like I said the houses are large, actually very large, and we had one of the smaller houses. Pulling slowly to a stop and putting my car in park, I turned the car off; I looked over at Jake and waited a second for him to answer. He had been deep in thought.

“No idea, MJ. No fucking idea. But she doesn’t look so good” Jake responded while looking at me with a frown on his plump lips.

“Shit, something’s not right. I can feel it. Fuck, shit, shit. This should be interesting “I said, as we sat looking things over. That’s when I noticed the things that were piled high in the trunk area. “Jake, I think we should be prepared for something big, bro.”

“You see what I do, right?”

“Mhmmm. Let’s go get this over with. It will be ok. Oh, and by the way little fucker, I love you.” I looked over my shoulder and gave Jake as reassuring smile as I could, as I turned opening my car door and slid off the leather seats and stood waiting for Jake to do the same on his side of the car. He was moving a little bit slower, maybe given the fact that he was beyond confused and yeah, even scared.

“Love you sis. Let’s go…” And he exited the car.

Eliza’s POV

I looked up with my dark crystal blue eyes towards MJ and Jake as they pulled into the driveway, taking slow deep breaths as I walked towards the Mustang, with my hands in my jeans pockets. I had taken my leather jacket off and placed it onto the front seat of my BMW SUV, just before they had turned onto the street. It’s now late Oct in Northern NJ, and if I wasn’t doing what I was about to do, I would probably be out trying to enjoy this beautiful fall day. We are running on a limited amount of time, so I need to talk to the kids and get out of here a.s.a.p. Well, that and pray that they understand and agree with what I have done and want to go with me. Anything else and I don’t know what I will do. If they stay, I stay. Taking my right hand out of my pocket I pushed it through my long, very dark (almost black) hair out of my face and behind my right ear. I smiled slightly at my amazing kids, still surprised that they are as grown up as they are. MJ is 17 and Jake just turned 16, so hard to believe.

“Hey guys, listen, I need to talk to y’all about something rather important. Let’s go inside and sit down, ok?”

“Alright mom” They answered in unison.

“Hey Mom, are you ok?” Jake asked me with a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah Jakey, I’m ok. Or at least I will be. Let’s just sit and talk ok?”

“Sure Mom” Jake responded, sounding less sure than I am sure he was trying too.

The three of us walked into the house and rounded the corner into what would be considered our family room, and we all took a seat. The kids sat on the large cushioned couch and I sat on the matching love seat opposite them. I started to explain to them what I had been doing over the past few months and how I had made the decision to divorce their father. I wanted them to know that I hadn’t made the decision on a whim or just because I felt like it. This was a matter of survival for me and for them, and I could only hope that they would understand that. So I continued to talk about how my friends and family had helped me get this set up and how they would be able to say at the same school they were currently attending. They were also informed that David didn’t know yet, and it was done this way for a reason. We needed to make fast decisions unfortunately, because if they wanted to say, I wasn’t leaving without them, and I would have to put my other plans into action. My fears were all for not, when they both looked at me with smiles on their faces and Mags said to me, “You don’t even have to ask mom. Let’s get the hell out of here before the prick gets home and blows the entire thing all to shit.” I had to smile at that, because it was such a typical MJ response. I asked if they had any questions, and they simply said that there wasn’t anything that I couldn’t answer when we got to where we were going. They just wanted to get out now, so they ran upstairs to make sure I had gotten everything they needed from their rooms. There were only a few things that I had missed, so I considered myself lucky, as they descended the curved staircase in the main entryway. We all looked at each other and I was the one to make the first move towards our new life, by opening the front door and stepping outside and waited for them to come out behind me. I locked the door, set the alarm and took one last look at the place where I had resided for the past 19 years. The place where I had believed I would live a long and happy life with my husband, but it ended up being something I never imagined I would ever endure. Hell. Now we were moving in the direction of having the life I should always have given my children. Something better and I can’t wait to see what happens…
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I have re-written and added a few things into this chapter since the first time I posted it. So please let me know what you think. I will be going through and doing the same to some of the other chapters because I am not completely happy with all of them.

Also, I know that the whole timeline for the MARS shows are completely off, I made it that way for story purposes. If I get any facts wrong, I apologize, and have done my best to get everything as close as possible when I can, other things, I have completely made up obviously, so don't get angry with me. Thank you! :)

Ok, so here is the first chapter! Please, comment and let me know what you think!! Subscribe and spread the word my first try here on Mibba. So excited about it. Alright, my darlings, plus, the more comments I get, the more updates I post!! :)