Once Upon A Karma (Karmic Krystal Book 1) (18 page)

“You leave him alone!” I yell out.  Eddie motions his leg backwards, like he is about to kick a field goal in football, at the exact moment that Snoopy pounces.  His tiny teeth lock onto Eddie’s jeans, leaving Eddie shaking his leg madly, trying to get the ferocious fluff-ball off him.  It is both scary and hilarious to watch. 

“Don’t move,” I say to Eddie as I reach over and put my arms around Snoopy.  The moment my hands connect with the tiny dog, he relaxes his jaw and releases the evil man’s jeans.  “I guess Snoopy doesn’t like assholes,” I whisper under my breath.  With that, Eddie’s hand flies up to hit me, Snoopy growls and a terse voice comes from behind Eddie.

“You hit her again and I promise I will kill you.”

Both Eddie and I turn around to see my mother standing at back door, a look of pure hatred shooting daggers at her fist-happy husband. 
Way to go, Mummy! 
I look up and see a wide-eyed Eddie with his jaw dropped open, shocked that any woman would dare speak to him in such a way, let alone his wife.  Without responding, Eddie storms back into the house, pushing past my mother roughly at the door.  In less than a minute, he grabs his keys, galumphs his way downstairs to the car and speeds off – presumably to the pub. 
Good riddance.

Three hours later Eddie returns home, stinking of beer and in a somewhat better mood.  Once inside the house, he hands a single flower (from our front garden) to my mother and kisses her on the cheek.  She recoils from the smell of alcohol on his breath, which he seemingly ignores as he turns around to give Jake a cuddle. 

I half expect Eddie to continue his insult-fest and jejune behavior as soon as he sees me but he instead apologises for being rude to me.  My senses reach out to explore what is going on inside his mind.  What I find there is fear.  He is afraid that my mother will leave him.  He fears even more that she will kill him.  I see flashes of what he would do to her if she ever dared to leave.  The smile on his face never quite reaches his eyes as he speaks to me, forcing out such tumescent pretence.  Looking up at my mother, my heart breaks for her as she smiles at Eddie, thinking that he has finally seen the light.

“Now that you are home, honey, I might head down to the shops and get some groceries,” Mum says to Eddie.  “We are running low on baby food and I want to get some food for the puppy and some other supplies.”

“Hold up, love,” Eddie says.  “Don’t buy food and supplies for the mutt until we have a chance to sit down and talk about whether or not it is staying.  Just grab a small pack of food till then.”  I hug the puppy protectively. 
Snoopy isn’t going anywhere, jerk.  You, on the other hand…

“I’ll take Jake with me.  Remember what I said earlier, Eddie,” Mum says matter-of-factly before grabbing her purse, her car keys and Jake.  “I’ll be back soon.”  As soon as the front door closes, I take Snoopy to the back yard so that he can run around and play.  The further away I am from Eddie’s proximity, the better.    Within minutes, I hear Eddie whistle from inside the house.  Snoopy responds instantly by running as fast as his tiny legs could move.

“Snoopy,
NO!
” I scream, running after him.  Needing to catch him before he ends up inside the house without me, adrenaline takes hold, pushing me to my limit.  By the time I get to the living room, I am met with an almighty yelp and scream.  With a sneer on his face, Eddie holds the tiny puppy in the air by his tail.

“This fucking mutt needs to go first,” Eddie says before going to the front balcony, dropping Snoopy onto his steel capped boot and kicking the yelping pup as hard as he can towards the brick wall in the front yard, with a three metre drop below.  Snoopy’s body makes a sickening
CRACK
as it connects with the wall and falls limply to the ground.  Eddie chuckles like a madman as I climb the balcony railing, making my way down the branches of the tree at the front of the house.  When I drop to the ground from the lowest branch, I run to Snoopy, praying he is still alive.

As I put my hand on the bloodied pup, his body not moving, I can feel that his soul is still intact.  His breath is shallow and quite labored, and the weakness in his essence tells me that he is not far from death.  I look up toward the balcony and see that Eddie has decided to change the light bulb on the balcony which had blown two nights before.  Placing both of my hands on Snoopy’s tiny limp body, I absorb his injuries – fractured skull, bruising and swelling on his brain, broken spine, broken ribs, punctured lung, broken legs, fractured eye socket – all of which fuel the Karmic fury within my soul before looking up towards Eddie’s smiling face.  Shaking with rage, I point my finger at him and growl with the voice of a caged tiger as the word “GUILTY” rolls off my tongue.  Wanting him to feel every bit of what is about to happen, I leave his soul intact and watch as the events unfold before me. 

Standing on the chair with a beer in one hand, the new lightbulb in the other and a cigarette between his lips, Eddie’s body instantly goes rigid.  The bottle of beer and the lightbulb smash inside his palms as they draw into fists.  Blood oozes from both of his shredded hands.  His smile is replaced by a look of pain and horror as his body absorbs the injuries which he had inflicted on a tiny innocent puppy, just moments earlier.

The cigarette falls from Eddie’s mouth at the same moment one of his arms snaps in two places.  Both of his legs buckle and he starts to wheeze as his ribs turn to razorblades and poke holes into his lungs.  Blood pours from his mouth and nose before trickling from his ears as his skull splinters fragments into his brain.  A sharp gust of wind finally causes Eddie to lose balance from the chair he is standing on.  Almost as if in slow motion, he falls from the chair, takes a header over the railing, and plummets to the ground.  His neck and spine let out a sharp
CRACK
as he lands on top of one of the tree roots.  With eyes wide open, Eddie stares at me helplessly with pleading eyes, while lying in a crumpled mess at the base of the tree.

Gently, I scoop a recovering Snoopy up into my arms and take him to in the back yard where we had been earlier. A sense of relief washes over me as I feel the dog’s strength improve in leaps and bounds only minutes after his injuries were transferred to the monster of a human being who had caused them.  We both sit in the shade quietly.  I pat him and talk to him, scratching the top of his little head while explaining to him that not all people are so evil.  His squeeze-toy bark tells me that he is grateful that I got to him in time.  A familiar voice whispers inside my head that I had just committed a splendiferous act which was long overdue. 
Thank you, Goddess. 
After a few minutes, I pick Snoopy up and take him inside.  I grab some towels from the hallway cupboard on my way to the bedroom.  Closing the door behind me, I spread the towels onto the floor, just in case Snoopy needs to do his business.  I then put him on the bed beside me and we sleep until Mum and Jake arrive home.

“Krystal?” my mother says, waking me and Snoopy from our naps two hours later.  “Sweetie, where’s Eddie gone?  Did he leave you here alone?”

Yawning, I sit up in bed.  “The last time I saw, he was on the balcony changing a light bulb.  Snoopy and I came in for a nap so we could keep out of his way,” I respond.

“Hmm, that’s odd.  I didn’t see him on the balcony when we came home,” she says.  “I need to put Jake down for his nap.  Sorry I woke you.  Go back to sleep, okay?”  She kisses me on the top of the head, scratches Snoopy between his little ears and leaves the room with a smile.  My eyes close and I fall back into a warm and cozy slumber. 

An ear-piercing scream, just a few minutes later, makes us both jump.  I open the door and run out of the bedroom to find Mum hanging up the phone.  Without a word, she runs out of the door to the front yard under the tree.  Eddie’s body remains a crumpled mess.  He is still alive and conscious but is unable to speak.

“An ambulance is coming, honey.  Stay with me, okay?  Keep your eyes open and stay with me,” my mother says to Eddie.  She is too scared to touch him as he is soaked from head to toe in his own blood.

“Is he alive?” I ask. 

“Yes, he is alive.  Krystal, please go back inside the house.  I don’t want you to see this, sweetheart,” my mum pleads.  “I will come up soon.  You can watch Jake and Snoopy for Mummy until I come back inside.”

Although not overjoyed about the fact that Eddie is injured, I am content in the knowledge that if he does survive his injuries, he now knows first-hand the pain and the damage which he’d caused to an animal with his temper.  With luck, he won’t hurt helpless animals or innocent people any more. 

It is some time before Mum comes back upstairs.  She looks upset, although not as upset as I thought she would.  She’d chosen not to accompany her husband to the hospital, simply because nobody is able to watch me, Jake and Snoopy while she is gone.  In their almost-two-years of marriage, Mum and Eddie hadn’t actually made any friends in the neighbourhood.  I attribute this to the fact that my mother had married a monster.

“Mummy, can I ring Daddy please?” I ask.  Without answering, she turns around and dials the number for me before handing me the handset.  When Leena answers, Mum takes Jake into the nursery to clean him up and get him ready for his bath.  I keep my voice as low as I can when I speak.

“Do you still want to live here?” I ask Leena.

“No.  Eddie is always such a pig to me,” she snaps.

“Eddie is not here anymore, Leena.  If you want to come and live with Mummy, you can do that now without him being mean to you or hurting you,” I say.  “I think she would like it if you decide to come back.  You can help her with Jakey, plus there is a new family member that I want you to meet!”  My comment is momentarily met by silence.

“He is really gone?” she asks.

“I am guessing he will not be back for a very long time.  Can you put Daddy on the phone please?” I ask, smiling.  Another pause.

“Krystal, hey sweetheart.  How are you?” Dad asks.

“I am good, Daddy.  Can you please come and get me tomorrow?  I want to go home.  Leena wants to stay here for a while now,” I say calmly.

“Oh, she does?” he asks, confused.  I hear him talking in the background: “Leena, do you want to go and live with Mummy for a while?”  While I listen to Dad and Leena have a discussion, Mum comes out of the nursery.

“I have put Jake down with his bottle,” she says.

“Okay.  Daddy is bringing Leena tomorrow and I will be going back home,” I tell her as she sits down at the kitchen table.  My mother rests her chin on her hands, almost looking like a lost child.  “Leena will help you with Jake and with Snoopy.  I will be back to visit on holidays if you want me to come,” I continue.

“That sounds fine, love.”  Sounding absolutely exhausted, Mum gets up and makes me some toast for dinner before she goes to lie down.  She also pours some puppy food into the dog bowl she had bought for Snoopy, regardless of Eddie’s protests.  With tomorrow’s plans all set in concrete, I take the once-again healthy puppy into the back yard for his final poop and pee-fest before bed time.

Early next morning, my dad arrives with my sisters in tow.  Their jaws drop when they see my swollen face and split lip, but both Leena and Tania are excited to meet Snoopy, who runs many laps through the house to show his own excitement at meeting them both.  While my sisters and I play with Jake and Snoopy, our parents sit in the kitchen and talk.

“That bastard
hit
her?” I hear my dad say incredulously.

“None of us saw it coming, Frank,” Mum replies.  “I warned him after he did it that if he ever hurts her again, I will kill him.  I swear to you, I would do anything to keep her safe.”

“Jo, please tell me that you didn’t do this to Eddie.  Tell me that he is not in the hospital because you pushed him off the balcony,” my father says quietly.

“I swear on our children’s lives, I didn’t do this,” she answers. 

When I glance up at my parents, I notice my father is staring at me with worry.  His brow turns into a subtle frown but it is not a frown filled with anger.  I can feel his concern for my mother, for me, for Leena.  None of us know what will come next, now that Eddie is out of the picture.

“Frank, please could you do me a big favour?” my mother asks.  When Dad doesn’t respond, she continues anyway.  “I need to go to the hospital to see Eddie.  Could you please watch the girls and Jake while I am gone?  They could even play with Snoopy in the back yard if you don’t feel comfortable being here at Ed….”

“Of course I will watch them,” my father interrupts.  “Go.  I will be here when you get back, okay?  Drive safely.”

A tear slides down my mother’s cheek.  “Thank you,” she whispers.  Grabbing her handbag and keys, she heads down to the car and drives to the hospital.

“Daddy, are you living here with Mummy now?” Tania asks, causing our father’s eyes to widen with surprise.

“Uh, no.  That won’t be happening, girls.  Sorry.  Your mum has just gone to the hospital to see Eddie,” he explains.  The three of us groan and roll our eyes at hearing his name.

“I hope he never comes back,” Leena says.

“That makes all of us,” I add, looking into our brother’s innocent baby eyes.

We all spend the next hour in the back yard, taking turns chasing Snoopy as he turns around and chases us in return.  The laughter brings back memories of many happy times between us all, with even our dad smiling at our antics.  A screech of tyres in the driveway brings the laughter to a halt.  The car door slams hard as Mum walks up the path to the front door.  When she sees us all in the back yard, she simply steps over the fence instead to share her news.