the 'brook action threads

Katie didn’t want to die. She didn’t want to remember the abuse, and she didn’t want to see what love was doing to her now. But most of all, Katie wanted to live. Trouble is, when your husband has a gun in the house and has threatened to kill the kindred spirit that once tried to help you, to the point of where you were clinging to his back trying to take the gun from his hands; then you don’t have much hope of living. Not at all. And when nights go by with Ambien and the occasional glass of wine, you know you’re not alright. That you might never be. But the worst thing is that while you’re hoping to live, you’re also unable not to love. Because he is everything to you. Every breath and every heartbeat. The one who terrorizes, the one with the gun – he’s your saviour. And the father of your child. He’s everything.

“Kat Doll, did you wash my green shirt?” Katie searched her memory for all the laundry she’d done the other day and nodded her head confidently; sure she had.
“It’s up to dry” she responded with a clear voice, tickling Novelia under her chin, making the little girl squirm with giggles. Her daughter was eating mashed banana and as per usual, there was a minor mess going on in the kitchen. It didn’t bother Katie much though, growing up she’d been cleaning the house more often than not so she knew the mess would likely be gone in an hour anyway. Katie smiled as a piece of the banana ended up on Novelia’s nose, and then felt herself being pulled off her feet.
“You call this dry? I can’t wear this to work now!” Alex was holding a tight grip of her hair, and the toddler stared at them with empty eyes. Katie squirmed, trying to get out of his grip, but there was no way.
“I’m sorry, Alex, I’ll just throw it in the dryer for a few minutes and it will be fine” she responded almost pleadingly, her head tilted in an awkward position.
“I don’t have time for that! God Katie, why are you always so useless!” It wasn’t a question as much as a statement, and she took it to heart because she was useless. The awards on the shelf were still whole but they didn’t say much about her. That she was the only one who could make Novelia stop crying through song wasn’t exactly a Grammy.
“I’m sorry” she repeated, as she felt his grip around her loosen. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. I love you baby, it was just a bad move on my part. ‘Kay?” She turned around and put her arms around him, kissing him on the mouth. He didn’t kiss her back, but he also didn’t push her away. It was the next best thing.

"Why is there school after high school?" Brooke whined. College wasn't quite as painful as high school, but school would never be on Brooke's list of things to do. Or that she wanted to do, anyway. Thank God the last class she had for the day was over. "It's so boring."

"And I wanna do something fun," she decided almost immediately, dumping her books into the backseat of her car. Looking at Renée expectantly, as though the other girl would suddenly start spouting insanely awesome ideas, she leaned against the car. "We never do anything fun," she pouted, though pretty much all Brooke did was 'fun'.