Derek

 His lips split and pain throbbed in his cheeks as fist collided with flesh. “You should have just said so if you had no cash,” the taxi driver yelled, punching him again.

   At this rate, he would be heading home with a black eye. “I’m sorry,” he murmured to the driver, but it did little to calm the man’s anger. He kept punching and hitting Eden, demanding that he provided the fare he was charged, but Eden had nothing to give. He emptied out his pockets, showing the driver but the man didn’t stop hitting Eden.

   “Okay! Okay! I’ll make a call,” Eden said, panting, when the man raised a hand to hit him again. He had no idea who he was going to call but he had to figure something out before he would be beaten to a pulp.

  “You’d better!” The man yelled, letting go off Eden’sshirt collar. Eden staggered from the man’s grip, wincing at the pain in his body. A truly horrible day this was. He was almost tempted to use the cliché sentence, “Could it get any worse?”, but he knew it could. From first hand experience.

   He raced to the ward he’d left a few minutes ago, in search of a phone to use. Not that he even knew who to call.

   He passed by the man’s ward and he paused, seeing something in his peripheral. He took a few steps backward and peered into the ward again. The man was conscious and rubbing his bandaged forehead with a burly thumb. It would seem the universe was on his side today.

   He rushed into the ward and the man paused, not quite opening his eyes as Eden said, “Hey. You’re awake. I found you by the streets and I brought you here. I’m happy you’re doing fine but—“

   The man stretched out an arm without speaking, extending him a few dollar bills that were more than enough to pay the driver. Confused, Eden stared at the notes, but he took it anyway, sorting how much he needed and dropped the rest on the bed beside the man. “Thank you. I believe that all I need—“

   The man waved him off and though, Eden found the gesture strange, he left the ward rushing outside to hand the driver the notes. The driver scowled and cussed at him before driving off.

   Eden stood at crossroads, wincing under the scorching the sun that burned at the bruises on his face. His injuries from last night were feeling sore again and he staggered back into the hospital, nursing his wounds.

   He stopped by the ward, finding the man still awake and picking at the bandages on his body. The man paused again when Eden entered the room, but he still didn’t open his eyes. Eden found it strange but he paid it no heed. “I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow. I hope you’ll be fine by then. Sorry about earlier.”

   The man said nothing still, but there was a rustle of papers and the man extended his arm again, giving him a couple of dollars. Eden took it without questions, seeing as he had no money to take him home. He thanked the man severally, but the man didn’t reply. The money would be more than enough to feed himself and Elaine for two days. He expressed his gratitude once more before jostling out of the hospital.

   It was slowly getting dark as night was creeping in.Elaine would be worried sick about him. He needed to get home quickly before she would get it into her head to search for him. He was about entering a taxi home when he considered the fact that they would not be able to cook and noodles seemed like a better option than getting kicked and injured again.

   He grabbed them dinner and headed back home.

                         **********

   Eden twisted the door knob and the chatter he’d heard before he did died down. He walked into the house, noting the stares from everyone. Elaine was instantly in front of him, cupping his cheeks tenderly and asking if he was alright.

   Derek snorted, drawing Eden’s attention to  himand Eden looked away, avoiding eye contact with the hulking idiot. But Derek didn’t seem to get the memo that he was being ignored. He walked down from the steps smiling smugly while eyed the couple.“Steal something?” He cooed, pointing and drawing circles on his face, indicating the injuries that decorated Eden’s face.

   “Stop it, Derek,” Laurel chided, rushing forward and scanning Eden for injuries. To Eden, she said, “what happened to your face, Eddy?”

   Annabel snorted. “He must have stolen something and gotten beaten up for it. Tell us, Eden. What did you steal?” Her eyes dropped lower to the package in his hands. “Food? You stole food?”

   Eden didn’t deign their accusations fit for a reply.He motioned to leave but Derek and Gregor moved in front of them, blocking their path. “Show us what you got there, thief. What did you steal? I smell noodles!” Derek snickered and they all laughed, taking turns at trying to snatch the package from him. Eden held it tightly to his chest, holding on to Elaine as well. He knew if he lost the dinner, they would go to bed hungry. While the family didn’t particularly care if they lived or starved, Elaine was his responsibility, and he would ensure that he at least fed her tonight.

    Seeing the resolve and determination in Eden’s eyes made her brother’s intensify the goading and with each passing second, Eden grew more and more inclined to bash someone’s teeth in.

   Suddenly, Derek feinted left, forcing Eden to move and when he did, Gregor grabbed the pack of noodles in his hands and threw it to the ground, stepping on it and kicking it around until it was no longer fit for consumption.

   Eden’s anger boiled over. He’d had a terrible day, he was covered in bruises and swells, he was hungry, he was angry at himself, angry at life and angry at his situation. He couldn’t keep it in and he shouted in frustration before he could even think to stop himself.

   “What is your problem?! Leave us alone!” He barked, startling everyone. Even Derek.

    Grandmother Mia cleared her throat, clearly displeased with his outburst and he didn’t have time to think as Derek slapped him. The effect of the blow had his staggering backward and almost falling, had Elaine not held him before he could topple over.

  “You must have forgotten last night. Shall I remind you where your place is in this family? A nobody. A thief. You belong in the dirt. You should be happy that we let you live here. You should grovel every day in thanks for the opportunity to be here!” Derek yelled and Elaine darted in between them before Derek could hit Eden again.

   “I’m sorry Der—“

   Eden tugged back on Elaine’s hand. “Don’t apologize,” he said but his wife didn’t listen to him. In moments like this, Elaine never listened to him. She acted on her basest instinct. Protecting him. It made him feel useless as her husband. Utterly useless, like the nobody Derek had claimed him to be.

   Eden felt so defeated. He’d been feeling the same way every day since he set foot in the house but he felt it now, way more than usual. The thought of having to face this criticism and insult every single day weighed heavily on him, and even if he had told himself he could go through it for Elaine, he found it more difficult than usual.

  Seeing Elaine apologize to them on his behalf broke his heart way too much and he felt crippled.His eyes drifted to the wasted meal that lay on the ground and his anger was palpable. It would have been enough for both of them to have through the night but it was all wasted now. Nothing was left.

   Would they head up back to their rooms, hungry for the rest of the night after this fight? He suddenly felt like a blethering fool. Maybe they were right.Maybe he belonged in the dirt underneath their feet.Maybe he was a fool and a thief and a nobody. He was of no use to Elaine anyway. He could hardly keep her happy. He was a useless husband and son-in-law.

    He’d failed Elaine every step of the ay and she had never given up on him once. She had loved him and shown him all the care and affection in the world, regardless of the fact that he had absolutely nothing to offer her. He did not deserve her. She deserved so much more than what he offered her, so much more than the life of poverty and constant insults and bullying from her family, all of which he was the sole cause of.

   Even now, she placed him behind him, taking the brunt of her sibling’s anger and trying to shield him from them, even when he was supposed to be shielding her from them. He watched as she tried to pacify them, apologizing on his behalf and trying to make peace with them, and he watched how they disregarded his wife with the most disrespect he had seen. The insults came rolling in and she kept sobbing, pleading for him, begging for him.

   He wasn’t sure how much of it he could take anymore. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t snap and actually fight them.

    To make matters worse, Annabel walked forward with Elaine’s mother and joined in the party of attacks, causing Eden to fall back into a defensive pose. Slowly, he felt himself shutting off like he had learned to over the past month. Shut off all emotion so he could feel nothing when they cussed at him and called him names his mother had never called him.

     How he’d missed her on days like this. She’d thrown his luggage out the house the moment he a=said he would marry Elaine. She had known what his life would be like after everything and she had given him a choice. He either chose her or he chose Elaine. It had been a tough decision to make and he had hated every step he took away from his mother.He wondered what she would say at a time like this.

   “I think you’ve done enough, Derek. Seriously, how much further must you stoop to make yourself feel better?” Laurel snapped, earning a death glare from her siblings but it didn’t make her back down. She stood her ground staring each of them down and she didn’t back down, not even when Grandma Mia cleared her throat in a silent order.

   It was not nearly enough to rattle Laurel.

   “For the last time, Laurel, shut up or I will—“

   Laurel glared at Derek. “What? Will you hit me the way you have been hitting Eden? Go right ahead. I’ll just call the police and report you for abuse.”

   Derek laughed darkly at his sister but her threat hovered in the air like a sentence and it would seem Derek was wise enough to heed his sister’s threats, seeing as Laurel barely made those unless she was pushed and mad enough.

   “As for you,” Laurel said, turning to Annabel and her other brothers. “Do you not have better things to do with your time than try to make other’s lives miserable? At least, Eden uses his time to search for a job. What do you do all day long, Annabel? Pick your nails and eat? You call him useless but he pulls in less weight around here than you do and consumes less. Maybe start doing something tangible before pointing fingers at others.”

   The entire house was quiet and staring at Laurel like she had grown another head. She might have indeed, because it was the first time Eden had seen he speak aggressively.

   And she wasn’t done, because she turns to both himself ad Elaine and raised a perfectly carved brow at them. “Well? What else are you doing here?”

   Elaine then placed her hand around Eden’s torso before leading him away from her venomous family.