“Excuse me,” I’m still trying to be polite, but it’s pointless because my words are being lost in the noise. “Excuse me. I need to get outside. Can you get out of the way, please? Oh my God, move…”
I end up shoving people out of the way, but no one even bats an eyelid. I guess being knocked out in a night club is normal for these people, so I keep on going with it until I finally make it outside into the nice cold air. I suck in a few breaths and allow myself to cool down just a little bit. I’m still a little dizzy, still a bit sick, the alcohol is definitely affecting me in ways that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s stopping a little bit now.
“Ooh, that was intense,” I mutter to myself. “I don’t know if I want to go back inside.”
“Huh?” A guy beside me turns to face me with a drunken glaze covering his eyes. “Did you say something?”
“Oh no, I didn’t say anything.” Shit, I really am acting like a crazy person. “Sorry, let me just…”
He tries to grab me, to keep on talking to me, but I am not in the mood. Now that I have managed to escape the whole night club atmosphere, I don’t know if I will be able to force myself back inside. It’s only when I get a little bit of distance between myself and the noise that I realize my cell phone is ringing. I drag it out of my handbag in an instant, wondering if it’s going to be Alisha trying to find me, to get me to go to this after party. I will have to make some excuse as to why I’m not going, because that definitely won’t work now. I can’t do it.
Oh! But it’s my mom. My mother hasn’t called me back all week long so this is strange, especially for this time of night as well. Immediately my heart stops beating, I can’t stop myself from freaking out.
“Hello?” I press a finger in to my ear that isn’t on the phone to block the other sounds out. “Mom?”
“Serena, help me,” she screams desperately. “Help me. It’s David. He has… he’s gone too far this time.”
My blood runs ice cold and I instantly sober up. “Mom, what’s happened? What has he done?”
I don’t know what she can possibly mean by ‘gone too far’. He has done all sorts of terrible things to Mom before so I don’t know what this can be about. All sort of terrible images flood my mind and make me feel sick to my stomach. I bend forwards, grabbing onto my knees, barely able to get my breath back.
“I need your help,” Mom tells me, not giving me anything more than that. “I need your help, Serena, I’m scared.”
I can hear that in her voice. I can tell there are tremors of terror which is too much. I want to immediately transport back home to be with her, to support and help her. Me going seems to have escalated David, he doesn’t have me in the way anymore so he can do whatever the fuck he wants to do to my mom without being called out on it.
I left for selfish reasons, to get me away from that situation, and I justified why I left my mother behind in that mess, but now I can see that was a mistake of mine. I should have protected her better.
“Mom, I’m on the way.” I don’t know how I will fulfill that promise, but I will somehow. “Just wait. Keep safe, keep together, don’t let him get you again. I will be there with you as soon as I can.”
“I’m frightened, Serena. I’m so scared. He’s going to… to kill me. I might die here.”
Fucking hell. The tears streaming down my cheeks are agonizing. If David kills my mom tonight then I will never be able to forgive myself. How dare I be out at a night club with friends in another city when my mother needs me? I feel utterly stupid in this short sparkly dress, with booze swirling around in my system, this is all so wrong.
“Don’t, Mom. Don’t let him get to you. I am on the way. Hold on until I’m there. Please.”
She hangs up the phone. Either that or David has found her and ripped the cell phone out of her hands, knowing that she is asking for help. He might not realize that she is calling me, but that doesn’t matter. For reaching out, he will hurt her even more. And she has already said that it’s the worst that he’s ever done and she’s afraid to die, which is terrifying. I need to get to her and I have to do it right now. As quickly as I can. But as I glance my eyes around my surroundings, I don’t know how to make that happen. Will was right when he suggested that there aren’t any cabs around this late at night. Not that I would even be able to afford that all the way home…