To Lay Their Mark Upon my Soul….. (7/73)

My mother stopped moving instantly as she saw the knife within inches of my tiny chest. As she lay there completely still Jack pushed her further up on the bed and turned the knife on himself, but not before pulling me up towards my mother’s head so that I could watch the horror show along with her. With his knee pressed against her chest he rose up and started to stick the knife into his own neck. I watched the blood slowly drip down his neck as I would hear him say ‘Eileen if you try to leave me I will kill myself in front of Dawn Marie’, she slowly reached up and put her hand gently on Jacks hand that was holding the knife in the hopes of getting the knife away from him.

As she did he pushed the knife deeper into his own neck and the blood started to drip down her arm, on to the white sheets of my bed and onto my white flannel nightgown. Seeing the blood terrified me. The moment froze in time and it felt like there was a darkness creeping up all around me, like something was coming for me, to lay their mark upon my soul. The fear was suffocating me as I watched everything around move as if it was going in slow motion. Somewhere is all the chaos Eileen shoved Jack away from me and yelled at me to get out of the house and get the police. At that moment I stumbled out of my bed, thru my bedroom door, down over the back stairs and outside the back door.  

Once I was outside, I looked to the left then I looked to the right… but there were no police anywhere. All I could see was the reflection of the street lights shining off the chain linked fence that surrounded our back yard. I didn’t know what to do I was so scared. I was to young to understand that she wanted me to run to one of the neighbors and get them to call the police. I sat out side the back door of the house on the cold cement covering my ears, crying and rocking back and forth. I could hear my mother screaming from the house and could see the silhouette of their bodies struggling over the knife shining through my white bedroom curtains onto the back patio. I kept praying someone would come save us.

Finally, the police did show up. I suppose it was because I was not the only person in the area that could hear her out side. The police took me aside, wrapped me in blanket, and placed me in the ambulance where they could check me out further after noticing the blood on my nightgown. A little while later they removed Jack kicking and screaming from the house, placed him in hand cuffs and secured him in the back of one of their cars. I could see all of this take place from the back of the ambulance. I was terrified he was going to come and get me.

Shortly thereafter my mother was brought out of the house and over to me. She looked pretty banged up and her clothes were splattered with blood. The paramedics checked her out thoroughly. Fortunately, none of the blood was hers. She would survive the night with lots of bumps, bruises, a black eye, and a broken arm. As for me I would not be that lucky. I had no psychical injures but this moment scarred me deeper than any physical injury could. All that night I tried to sleep on the couch in our house but every time I closed my eyes all I could see was him with that knife. I was so scared he was going to come back and kill me. A few short days later my mother let Jack come back to the house……