Gus:

I ran away from my momma and mommy, locking myself in my room. I didn’t like it, I didn’t like the way momma always talks badly about daddy or how mommy talks about papa- my Jussin!
Daddy came today to visit me, momma didn’t let me see him. She never does. She always says that daddy doesn’t love me, not like Uncle Michael, loves and pays attention to JR. But daddy and papa are always there for me. It hurts me… mamma’s words hurt me.

They fought, again. She kicked him out of the house and told me that I would never ever see or talk to my dad again. She told mommy to control her son, when I started crying, and to stop overreacting like the queen of my daddy.

Why does she always call me mommy’s son when she is angry at daddy? I am also her son! Papa never stops treating me as his son when he is angry at someone, he doesn’t care that I am not his by blood. I thought, sadly. Momma does.

She screams at mommy, mommy screams back and then they scream at me. They aren’t happy and I am not happy. I am happy when I am at daddy’s, he never screams at me. If I do something bad he explains it to me calmly, sternly but calmly too. He and papa fight, but they always do when I am not in the room and they don’t scream- they talk. Momma and mommy never do that. Daddy and papa are happy, and I am happy.

I hear JR starting to cry and momma entering her room, to sing to her and call her: ‘her sweet good girl’. I cry harder, muffled against the pillow, because I didn’t want to get into more trouble. I wanted to be her ‘sweet, good boy’, too. I didn’t want to be here, or go to Canada. I wanted to stay with daddy and papa, for ever!

Melanie:

How dare he talk to me like this?! As if he owns MY wife and MY son! I exclaimed in my head, as I drag MY family through the airport, still fuming from what happened a couple of days ago. He just entered MY house and told me that I was not allowed to take ‘HIS’ son to Canada. Who does he think he is?! He gave up all his rights to Gus a long time ago. He is MINE!

“Miss Markus and Miss Peterson I’ll have to ask you to come with us. Struggling will only make things worse” a guard from the airport demanded, when we reached our turn in immigrations.

He took Gus into his arms rapidly and passing him to pretty, well dressed woman behind him and another two guards. The woman smiled kindly at Gus and whispered something, that made him smile happily and giggle, before starting to walk away- a guard followed her closely behind, keeping an eye on us.

“Hey! What do you think you are doing?! That’s my son!” I screamed at the guards, but stopped, frozen when I saw Gus pressing his hands against his ears, closing his eyes hard and flinching at each word that left my mouth.

“Stop right there!” The guard warned us, hand on his weapon. But I didn’t pay him any attention, I was concentrating on my son- the one who was clinging to a strange woman happily while he flinched away from his own mother “Miss Markus and Miss Peterson you are both under arrest for the kidnapping of Gus Markus Peterson-Kinney”

That’s when I snapped out of my trance, and began to struggle when the guards tried to cuff m- only to receive a bat against my diaphragm. I couldn’t comprehend what the fucking hell was going on, but when I stopped wheezing and looked at my wife to tell her that everything was going to be ok… I saw it. I saw her face paling and guilt… no embracement, at being caught on her face.

“What have you done?!” I accused her, angrily.

She didn’t answer, she didn’t talk to me the whole ride to the precinct. Not even when we were placed in the holing cells. I tried to get some answers from her, which only caused me to get worked up and start yelling at her. She yelled back then, hurtful stuff, but still didn’t tell me what I wanted to know.

I noticed Gus flinching again, I tried to get him to talk to me. However, he just ignored me, sliding closer towards the social worker woman. That angered me, why was he such an impertinent little shit sometimes?! That asshole surely told him to act like that! So, I snapped at him. Telling him that once I got out of here I’ll ground him for life, if he didn’t respect me as a mother.

I got a response from him, then… but not one I expected.

“No! You said I would stay with daddy, you promised me that I don’t have to return to them. I want to stay with daddy! I am happy with daddy, they hurt me and are all the time screaming! I don’t want to be sad… I want my daddy…” soon Gus broke into tears, sobbing frantically as he clung to the woman.

I could only stare at them in shock, not knowing what the fuck just happened… until, I recall everything that happened a couple of days ago. I was stunned at my horrible behavior, at how I treated my own son… I acted towards him the same way I always did with the asshole of Kinney. I tried to recall other moments like that one… and found a lot of them.

I could only stare at my wife- the one that stabbed me in the back- slumped against the wall, my son crying and clinging to a woman he didn’t know- scared of me-, and then at my own hands- bruised by the cuffs they had put on me.

I could only stare at myself and asked in my head: What have I done?