Leave Me on the Doorstep

They always say it's never the child's fault.

"It's the last straw, Matt!" Rachel yelled at her husband, suddenly uncomfortable in her position on the couch. "I'm tired of it!"

"Tired of what, Rachel?!" He said back, still calm but getting frustrated at being disrespected. "Having a husband that's human?! If you have something that'll help me become perfect and never makes a mistake, I'd be happy to oblige."

"What I'm tired of is having a husband that always undermines my authority! I told you to pick Cameron up at three –"

But in this case, she thought it was.

"I was there at 3:15! Did it kill her to wait for 15 minutes, Rachel?! She was with her teacher!"

"What if she wasn't though, Matt? That's the thing. If her teacher would've left, like she could've she would have been left alone. For fifteen minutes! What would you have done if she would've been snatched, huh?!" Rachel screamed. Cammie stood by the door, uncomfortable, fidgety.

"Cam, you may go upstairs, baby." Matt said, noticing her pulling at her sleeve, traumatized.

They say it will always be worked out.

"Okay, Daddy." She said in a small voice. She turned around, but didn't leave before whispering, "It's okay, Momma. I was okay."

Her footsteps pounded on the wooden stairs of the house, the one they've had for years. Cammie walked across the hall and slammed her door. Her parents continued talking as she quietly opened her door and sat by the banister, nervous and scared to hear what they were talking about.

"You see?! You see what you've done, Rachel?!" Matt said harshly. "You've got Cammie trying to save me here. She was fine!"

But she didn't think it would be.

"Oh, Cammie can't do anything to 'save' you. I'm done with it." Rachel was fuming, her face red. "I want you out of my house now."

Cammie started crying at the same time her parents started swearing. Hurtful things were being spewed out of their mouths toward each other, denting their relationship more and more with every word.

"GET OUT!" Rachel cried finally. "Just get out, Matt." She was sobbing right now. "You can't do anything I do; you don't appreciate me and what I do for this household. I'm sick and tired of feeling like a single mom because you don't do anything but go to work and sit around."

"Rachel –"

"Just get out," she whispered, pleaded.

They say things get worse when the screaming starts.

"I don't know if –"Matt started.

"Please, Matthew. It'll be best." She said quietly.

But she thought things were the scariest when she couldn't hear them.

Matt took a deep breath.

"Goodbye, Rachel." He said quietly. "I'll be back when the time comes. If it ever does."

"I know, Matt. I love you, okay?" Rachel replied, her voice as small as possible.

But Matt didn't hear her, because he had already walked out and slammed the door.

They say he'll be back.

Cammie ran down the stair as fast as her little feet could take her. Tears were flowing out of her eyes like rivers after a thunderstorm.

"Momma! Momma, what happened to Daddy?" she cried.

"He left for a while, baby. He'll be back." Rachel said softly, stroking Cammie's hair and letting her collapse into her shirt, which was now soaked with the tears of her only child.

"I'm sorry, Momma! Let him come back. Please, Momma," she sobbed. "It was all my fault. I swear it was. Daddy didn't have anything to do with it!"

"It was not your fault, Cammie, baby. Please don't think it was –"

"But it was my fault, Momma! He left 'cause of me!" She screamed, her heart breaking in two. "And you told him to leave!"

But she thinks that's unlikely.

"Sweetheart –"

"No, Momma! Why would you yell at Daddy like this?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. "You're not my Momma! You're, you're… you're a monster!"

Cammie ran out of her mother's arms and up to her room, her hands over her eyes as she tried to catch the tears she was practically drowning in.

Rachel had no luck chasing after her. Her face was greeted with a slammed door and a locked knob.

"What have I done?"

They say it's easy to make the right choice.

She tries calling Matt's phone.

But it's dead.

She tries asking someone to babysit so she can go find him.

But no one's home.

She tries pretending like nothing ever happened.

But his car isn't in the driveway.

She tries crying her eyes out.

But soon she's run out of tears.

She tries acting like she was right.

But she knows she was wrong.

She tries thinking it was his fault.

But she knows it was partially hers.

She tries getting it out of her head.

But all that's on television are romantic movies.

She tries taking off her wedding rings.

But she doesn't have to heart.

She tries to know that it's over.

But she won't let herself think that.

She tries to remember the good times.

But she doesn't want to think about them.

She tries to think about what life without Matt is like.

But then she realizes there isn't one.

But it never is.

a/n.I have no excuse for not updating besides forgetfulness, because I've had this sitting in my documents for the longest time. Not the best but I tried.

yes ? no ? maybe ? review.

S xx