Chapter 7: Stranger Things

Just when I thought my fear of Corey had slightly eased and I got a little more comfortable, there it went running away. On the seventh day, I woke the morning ready for the day to be over - I was beyond exhausted! I had to first get Cathy ready for a birthday party. She was excited to get out of the house, oh how I wished I was in her size 3 shoes. I dressed her in a pink tutu and an orange children tee which she insisted on wearing. The shit didn’t match! I tried convincing her to wear her white Elsa shirt, but she screamed, “Nooo! I want to wear my pumpkin shirt with my blue shoes.”

Pink, Orange, and Blue - Cathy was looking like a pack of Tropical Starburst, but she still looked adorable and she felt comfortable. While I walked her down the stairs, I overheard Corey speaking to someone. I looked at Cathy and asked

“Who is Corey talking to?”

“He’s talking to himself... he always talks to himself. It’s weird,” she said in her fine voice.

A couple of weeks back, I heard him talking to himself in a strange voice. I thought he was playing around with himself and it seemed funny – somewhat. Then the voices got really creepy. Especially, when he made them right after he had a Tantrum.

Yeah! I witnessed another. After Cathy left for the party around 11:30 A.M. Liza was at the dining table feeding Corey some barbecue wings, while I washed the dishes, suddenly, I heard an uproar, “shut up!” I quickly turned around. Corey got up from his chair and slapped Liza across the face.

Yes, his mother. His M.O.T.H.E.R!

“Clean this up! Clean it up now,” he shouted.

He lifted his right hand, which was already in the form of a fist and threw a punch at Liza. Luckily, she blocked it and firmly held onto his wrists, “what’s wrong? Why are you doing this?” Liza asked.

I stood there like a deer caught in headlights while I looked at them go back and forth. My black ass wasn’t going to get involved. What if he swung at me? I may seem like a tough chick, but I can’t take a punch; I would be knocked out on the floor, probably sent straight into a coma or paralyzed. And Corey looked like he packed a punch.

Liza held his hands and tried calming him down, “it’s ok, you’re a good boy, please don’t hit mommy.” Corey then looked over at me. For a few seconds, he stared directly at my face that had fright written all over it, then looked at Liza “I am sorry mommy; I didn’t mean it... you can let go of my hand now.” He then stormed off to his room. I looked at Liza as she walked towards me,

“Are you ok?” I asked because that was a solid slap he gave her.

“I am fine; he is just cranky he didn’t mean it,” she replied with a smile.

I was puzzled. What had taken place at that point was far from “fine.” Corey needed to be disciplined.

I wouldn’t DARE raise my hand at my mother. I don’t care if you’re black, white, orange, purple, brown – Can you hit your mother and get away with it? Am I crazy for thinking that? Or should he be allowed to lash out like that?

“Go upstairs and change Cathy’s sheet,” Liza instructed me. It was the first time she had me change Cathy’s sheet; I didn’t mind. I needed some time to myself.

As I walked up the stairs, I overheard Corey in his room speaking in the same demonic tone. What the flying fuck, I thought. I power walked to Cathy’s room.

While taking the sheets off of Cathy’s bed, I realized a few tiny blood stains on her mattress and on her pillow. I wondered if it was recent, then I remembered Cathy slept with Liza for the whole week. Was it even blood stains?! Again, I was confused. I quickly changed the sheets and went straight into the bathroom. I sat on the toilet and thought about it all. I remembered Cathy’s chipped tooth and her response. Questions then arose:

Did she fall?!
Did someone push her?
Did Corey cause that?
Was it an accident?

What happened?! This seemed like the biggest piece to the puzzle, but it was missing. I couldn’t jump to any conclusions just yet. I needed more information.

Later that night, I tried putting Corey to bed and something felt a little off. Whilst I read him a bedtime story, he laid there looking into thin air. As I got up to walk out of his room, Corey threw himself off of his bed and started speaking in an evil creepy voice,

“I’m not a good boy, I’m going to be bad. I want to do bad things,” he said.

If this was a movie, this would be the precise moment where I yelled at my screen, “Bitch you better get your ass up out of there! – Run bitch, runnnn!!

My first thought was, “Oh hellll no! I am way too black for this shit.” I was ready to bounce and leave all my shit behind; except my wallet and passport. Yet, I pulled it together and turned to him,

“you’re a sweet boy, you’re not a bad boy at all.”

There was a long pause.

“I’m a sad boy, nobody loves me... I’m really sad,” he said with tears streaming down his pink cheeks.

It felt like a piece of my heart broke as I watched him break down. I wanted to put my arm around him and give him a tight hug, but I was not going anywhere near that boy. So, I tried my best to comfort him from a distance.

I heard Liza as she walked up the stairs. As soon as she entered the room, Corey was happy and laughed. The tears vanished.“You’re off, you can go to your room.” What was up with this family?! In my mind, I said screw the money it wasn’t worth it. I am yet to take a proper shit; I couldn’t even think about taking a piss whenever both kids were under the same roof, neither if he and I were playing. There were a couple of times during the pool sessions, I took a few leaks here and there. Don’t judge me, I couldn’t dare to leave him - a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

On the other hand, my heart told me to stay, only for Corey. I needed to see this through and spend a little more time. At the end of this journey, I honestly want to leave knowing that little Corey loves himself - believes in himself, knows that he’s not a monster. Who knows, maybe I’m just wasting my time, and he wouldn’t learn anything but I couldn’t help but wonder what if he does learn something - it wouldn’t kill me to try.

A lot of nannies have passed through this family. Some spent a few days, weeks, months; I am not sure which ones spent more than a month but kudos to them. These kids don’t deserve that, especially Corey. Cathy goes to school; she has friends her age. Cathy doesn’t get weird stares from people when she joyfully tells them “hey!” Yet, if Corey did it, people watched him strangely. Also, I needed enough money, as I’ve mentioned to you all thousands of times; I needed an editor for my manuscript and money pay rent. So, I really had to suck it up!

I went to bed that night with so much on my mind. “What a long and rough week,” I thought. Okay! Well, that’s all for this week. I am exhausted. 14 hours/ 7 days was way too long.

Until next ti...
But wait, there’s more, one more thing I almost forgot to mention...

gasp

Sike! LOL – you couldn’t expect more. This week was a lot - don’t be greedy now. My heart could only take so much for one week.

Until next time!!

XOXO