"Quick Mum phone the police now," I urged, "our combined weights and over four inches of wood is not going to hold him up for long." "Do it Mum, now!" said Taran as she pushed as hard as she could, standing next to me. Mum dialed the numbers. The Price To Pay - Vol. 2.15 - Departure (Vol. 2 Conclusion) by Alys

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Vol. 2.15
 
"I told you not to come back you freak!," screamed the middle aged, overweight, tall man, standing in the doorway.

"I'm only getting some papers, David, I won't bother you again," responded Mrs Prys, timidly, to her aggressive husband.

"You don't get it do you, you disgusting pervert!" shouted the drunken Mr Prys as he slowly advanced towards us along the corridor, taking a swig from his bottle of lager as he moved. Mrs Prys moved forward to block her drunken spouse's view of us cringing in the corner of the kitchen.

"I'm sorry if you feel betrayed, I loved you so much, I made a mistake, can't you forgive me?" pleaded Mrs Prys.

"You stupid piece of shit! How can a thing like you ever love?" her ex-partner sneered, "and now I'm going to make sure that no-one else ever makes the same mistake as me."

He quickly advanced to where Mrs Prys was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, raising his hand and was about to strike when I rushed forward, grabbed her hand and pulled her out of his way.

"Leave her alone, you big bully," I shouted.

He stopped and stared at me then he noticed the presence of Mum and Taran standing next to me and Mrs Prys.

"Who the hell are you?" he yelled, "what the fuck are you doing in my house?"

Mum pulled her shoulders back and stared at the eyes of the drunken bully before replying, "Is that the sort of language to use in front of my daughters Mr Prys?"

The shock of Mum's apparent confidence in addressing him made Mr Prys step away from us. He clumsily put his bottle down and looked a little confused. Mum tried to take advantage of his moment of indecision.

"Now if you don't mind we were just leaving," she said curtly, gesturing to the rest of us to follow her.

Before we could get past him, Mr Prys had moved to stand in our way.

"Just a minute, you haven't explained what you're doing here and I told that.......thing not to come here again," he said loudly, pointing at Mrs Prys for emphasis.

Mum made sure she stood in front of the rest us before replying, "Your WIFE asked us to come with her to help her collect some of her things."

"What's it got to do with you anyway?" he asked, sounding angry again, I wondered as we stood there about Mum's wisdom in using the word 'wife'. I hoped against hope that he wouldn't see it as a provocation. I groaned inwardly as my Mum persisted.

"Your WIFE came to my house this morning after YOU assaulted her," she said accusingly before being economical with the truth, "she is a friend of my family, it is the least we could do to help her."

Whatever Mum's intentions were by her comments the response of Mr Prys was immediate and forceful.

"Don't call that thing my wife! How you would like it if one of your daughters was a freak like her..him. I'm not gay, I don't want to be fucking a man," he ranted.

"I would still love her as my child," my Mother responded calmly, "and as far as your wife is concerned she is a WOMAN and maybe you have forgotten your marriage vows, 'for better or for worse'."

Unfortunately the drunken husband was too far gone to appreciate the logic of my Mum's argument and his next action was unfortunately predictable.

He picked up his bottle again and moved menacingly towards us.

"Out of my way you interfering bitch," he screamed, "unless you want what the freak is going to get?"

Mum backed away, keeping herself between him and us.

"The police are on their way this very minute so you'd better calm down if you don't want any more trouble," she said, maintaining her eye contact.

"Don't be stupid, they're not interested in a little domestic, now GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Now Mr Prys please don't make this worse for yourself," responded Mum, bravely

"And how are you going to stop me then, you a kung fu expert or something," he sneered in response.

"Mrs Morus please you must go with your daughters......" began Mrs Prys.

There was a flash of inspiration in my head and I knew what I had to do.

"Ohh Ahh Cantona!*," I yelled as I first pulled my dress up and then threw myself, feet first, kung fu style, at the menacing bully in front of us.

My feet caught him square in the chest and the force of the impact caused him to stagger and fall.

"What the fuck!" he exclaimed.

"Quick Mum, let's go," I shouted as I got to my feet and raced through the door out of the kitchen. I reached the front door, with the others in hot pursuit behind me. I reached for the handle and yanked it down to open the door.

It hardly budged.

"It's locked!," I said as I turned to see the others standing behind me. There was a noise from the kitchen of Mr Prys getting to his feet, cursing as he did so.

"The key, Mrs Prys, quick," I urged.

She reached down to her waist and then stopped before responding, "My handbag.....it's in the kitchen!"

I looked through the door to the kitchen and saw the bag containing our hope of escape plonked right in the middle of the breakfast table. There was no way we could retrieve it without first getting past the angered ex-soldier, who that very second was taking another swig from his
bottle of lager.

"Let's go back into the lounge," said Taran.

"No wait," I said, putting my hand on my sister's arm, "I've got a better idea."

I took the three paces towards the door into the kitchen and pushed it shut then I gestured at the bureau in the hallway.

"Quick pull this across it should stop him," I instructed as I pushed all my weight against the door.

The other three quickly moved the large wooden piece of furniture across the door. We all stood pushing as hard as we could.

Within seconds there was an almighty thud as Mr Prys, in the kitchen, threw his weight against the door. It opened a few inches before we pushed back to close it again.

"Quick Mum phone the police now," I urged, "our combined weights and over four inches of wood is not going to hold him up for long."

"Do it Mum, now!" said Taran as she pushed as hard as she could, standing next to me.

Mum dialed the numbers.

"Police please," she said as the operator asked her what emergency service she wanted.

She quickly related our predicament and was reassured that a car was on its way and would arrive in minutes.

***************

Ten minutes later there was an almighty crash as the front door was smashed open by two burly looking members of Gwent constabulary.

"Where is he then?" one of them asked brusquely.

"In there," indicated Mum, pointing at the kitchen door from where there had not been much sound since the sound of the police siren a couple of minutes earlier.

The two policemen quickly moved the barrier aside and then strode into the kitchen.

We heard one of them reciting the charge.

"Mr David Prys, I'm arresting you for the assault of your wife, Mrs Cerys Prys and the attempted assault of Mrs Haf Morus, Taran Morus and Celyn Morus. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence "

Moments later a much more subdued Mr Prys, with his hands in plastic restraints behind him, walked out of the kitchen ahead of the two policemen.

He stopped in front of us.

All the earlier anger and aggression seemed to have vanished from his face. He seemed about to say something but then then he was propelled forward towards the police car. One of the policemen helped him into the rear of the car while the other turned to speak to us.

"Someone will be in touch ladies later on for a further statement," he said before turning to get into the car.

"Thank you so much officers," said Mum.

The policeman nearest us, in the driving seat, waved an acknowledgement and then the car sped off and merged into the town traffic.

**********************

"Are you sure you won't stay for lunch at least?" asked Mum as Mrs Prys put the last of her belongings into the back of her stylish blue Citroen C3 convertible. She was looking very chic in her summer dress, designer sun glasses and pretty scarf. The bruises on her face had almost completely faded.

She had not returned to school during the month since the assault, having been on extended sick leave. The rumours had been rife about the reasons for her absence and Taran and I had been asked many times for the reason as the news of her staying with us had extended over the school bush telegraph. Mr Prys had agreed to plead guilty and expressed his remorse in court while not mentioning his motivation for the attack. To our disgust he had only been heavily fined and bound over.

The only silver lining for Mrs Prys was keeping her transgender status out of the local newspapers. She had decided to take a job teaching English in a school in Nantes. My Dad had taken Taran on a visit to see her new university accommodation in Caerdydd and so wasn't there to see our guest depart.

"Thanks Haf, you know I'd love to but I want to leave enough time to catch the ferry," she responded, before hugging her warmly, "I will always be grateful to you, thank you for everything you've done."

"It's been our pleasure Cerys," Mum answered, "and don't forget to keep in touch."

Mrs Prys turned to me and opened her arms. I embraced her.

"Celyn, I wonder if anyone has ever told you what an amazing girl you are?" she said, quietly, "and you know one thing?"

"What's that?" I asked.

"You're going to grow up to be the most amazing woman," she replied.

She gently kissed me on two cheeks, French style, and then without another word she got in her car.

As she gave us one last look I could see her eyes were beginning to moisten. She then turned and started the car and then with a quick wave was driving down our drive out onto the lane leading to main road.

Mum took out her handkerchief and dabbed her eyes, before handing it to me, as we watched the little blue car until it disappeared around the distant corner.

*http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/27/...

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End of volume 2