A Different Perspective

Sophia reaches down and pushes the engine start, conversely silencing the nearly brand new SUV. She reaches guides her hand down to a small bottle of ice coffee, pops the cap, and drinks half the bottle.

"That bastard. Why did he do this to me..." She mumbles to herself, capping the drink and looking up out her window.

The house in her view had white paneling and a grey roof, a black van in the driveway, though that wasn't what she was here for. No.

The brown blur flashes past her sight and her heart flutters. A smile creeps upon her face as she watches. A small labradoodle is running around the backyard of the house behind the white paneled one.

"There you are, my babies. He can't keep you from me forever." Sophia mutters to herself and grabs her phone. She opens up her email and then selects the sender. 'Monster'. Types in the heading 'Please hear me out' and then proceeds to send her message.

She watches the two small dogs for a moment, the world around her fading away...

"Hey Sophia. Looks like little Sylvester and Sammy are happy to see you." A man's voice echos through a muddled room. Sophia bends down and scratches behind the ear of the small brown labradoodle as a second slightly larger one pushes between the two in a desperate attempt for attention.

"My babbies. Mommy will love you forever." She says petting the slightly larger Sammy.

A loud beep causes the memory to fade away and Sophia looks down at her phone, an emailed response. She opens it up and reads it, becoming utterly speechless.

"What is your fucking problem! Why can't you just work with me! You're such an asshole!" She shouts out in frustration, wildly tapping away at her phone in response...

'Just let me see them. You've been keeping them from me for months now and i love them. They love their mother. You have no right to do this.' and then she hits send.

Sophia looks up at the mirror and see's that her cheeks are flush. "Why is he doing this to me!" She mumbles to herself and then hits the button to turn the SUV on before driving off...

A silver SUV pulls into a small hamlet and rounds the corner to the first house on the block. A quaint little house with blue siding, a small volkswagon bug in the driveway and a small wooden shed to park in front of.

Sophia steps out of the SUV and closes the door, taking a deep breath and patting her cheeks. She glances in the mirror and smirks at herself. "Looking good sexy." She says to herself before approaching the side door and unlocking it with her key.

"Mommy's home!" Sophia calls out, sliding the door wide and looking across the kitchen to see what might be out of place. A bowl of chips is scattered across the counter and two cups have been carelessly tossed in the kitchen sink.

"Good evening honey. How was work?" A male voice echos from the other room accompanied by the sound of two kids voices.

"Mommy!" a young boys voice calls out, followed by the scampering footsteps of a small blonde boy. She little boy rushes over to his mother and locks her in a deathgrip hug. Sophia pats him on the head and leans over to hug him momentarily.

"Butch, what happened with the kitchen?" She calls out to the man in the other room before smiling to her son. "How was your day little Geo?"

"It was good. I had fun." Geo replies bobbing up and down as a man dressed in a button down shirt and slacks walks into the room. His head looks akin to a potato, and the look across his face seemed rather accommodating.

"Geo and Sandy had a snack after dinner. I was speaking with my brother and didn't get around to cleaning up yet." Butch replies, stepping over and giving Sophia a kiss on the cheek.

"It's fine. I'll take care of it." She replies before moving over to grab the bowl and chips on the counter and move it to the sink. She rinses the cups out, the bowl, and then places them in the dish washer.

"Mommy. When can we go see daddy?" Geo's voice echos from behind her.

A look of pure hatred washes over Sohpia's face for a moment, but is quickly replaced by a smile.

"Daddy is too busy to see you. He's working and his mean girlfriend has been saying some really nasty things. Why don't you go upstairs and play with your sister." Sophia replies with a smile and shoos little Geo out of the kitchen. "Mommy has to get something to eat before sitting down to take my class."

Little Geo leaves the room as Sophia takes a salad from the refrigerator and begins prepping some chicken. Twenty minutes later she has the sliced chicken and vegetables ready and set in a fair salad for herself. She then sits down at the dining table and looks into the far room, glancing down at her phone to check her email.

"Oh, you're going to regret what you've done, believe it." Sophia mutters under her breath before spending the next few minutes typing quite a long message and sending it. She then looks up and scans the room. Every little thing is perfectly in its place. The counters look recently wiped down, the cabinets are all closed, nothing is on display on the counters, the sill, or even the table. It was absolutely perfect to show off to company or any of her friends.

About an hour after eating Sophia is in the master bedroom sitting on the bed with her computer open. She has documents scattered across the bed and classwork open on the computer.

A fairly thin man dressed nicely, with patchwork hair, a thin jaw, and narrow eyes enters the room. "Sophia. Geo and Sandy are in bed. They're asking to see you."

Sophia stops what she is doing, sets her phone down and stands up stretching. "Did you make sure that they both had baths?" To which Butch nods. "Did you make their lunch for tomorrow?" Butch nods again. "What about the living room?"

"It's clean." Butch nods while responding. "Would it be alright if i went out and saw my brother?"

"I'm going to say goodnight to Geo and Sandy. I'll talk to you about that in a moment." Sophia replies, stepping around Butch and out of the room.

Geo is tucked in tightly, a nightlight casting shapes on the ceiling. Sophia steps across the pile of toys on the floor and makes her way over to Geo with a smile.

"Mommy! I love you! Goodnight!" Geo exclaims excitedly, reaching up and hugging Sophia. "I love you too. Don't forget to clean your room tomorrow. You know mommy works really hard all day so that you can have all those toys on your floor." Geo nods in acknowledgement before giving Sophia another hug and settling in for bed.

Sophia closes the door and then steps across the hall to knock on Sandy's room. "I wanted to say goodnight." Sophia calls through the door and after a moment opens it to walk inside.

"Couldn't you wait a moment? I just got dressed." A young girl replies, no more than twelve. She is passing a brush through her hair, trying to untangle it, and using the mirror to the best of her ability.

"Aww you look so cute, Sandy. I love you." Sophia coos.

"uh-huh. Love you too." Sandy replies, keeping her attention on what she is doing.

"Can you make sure that Geo cleans his room tomorrow after school? Also, I wanted to make sure that you two are behaving for Butch while I'm not home." Sophia says.

"Your his mother. You tell him .. and yes I know that i behave." Sandy says. "Maybe stop him from hitting me tomorrow." Sandy also mumbles under her breath.

"Listen, Sandy. I work very hard each day so that you and Geo don't need to want for anything. The least you can do is help me out with this little favor." Sophia replies.

"Uh-huh. I'm going to bed now. Goodnight mother." Sandy says, placing the hair brush down on her dresser and climbing into bed.

"I know you're a good girl and you'll help your mother out. I love you. Sweet dreams." Sophia replies, tucks Sandy in and then heads out of the room.

"I want to see my father." Sandy says as Sophia closes the door. Sophia does not reply, but closes the door.

Butch stands in the bedroom, patiently waiting for Sophia to return. A look of absolute fury is on her face when she comes back into the room. "What's wrong?"

"Everything's fine. Just go see your brother." Sophia snaps, grabbing her phone and rapidly typing in her email.

"Alright then..." Butch replies solemnly, rreaching over and kissing her cheek before heading out.

"Bastard." Sophia murmurs before setting her phone down... then looking longingly at Butch as he walks away.