A brand new fear overcomes me. Maybe we made it all the way here and Mom has gone somewhere with David. I wouldn’t stop to think that the asshole has taken her away so that I can’t find her. He has always wanted to be rid of me so his reign of terror can continue and get worse over time. Oh God, I won’t know what to do then.
“Stop here.” I unclip myself rapidly. “Wait here. I’m going to go inside to check.”
I leap out of the car before Will can argue. I know what he’s like. I’m sure that he will want to come with me, to save my day, because he’s a real hero. But I need him in the car, I don’t want him to see the mess of my family life. I’m sure that he will already look at me differently for what he knows about me now, but I don’t want to make it any worse. I don’t want him to really see it with his own eyes because that’s too much.
I push on the front door with my heart thundering like crazy, and much to my shock and horror it opens much too easily. Sure, this isn’t the city and people are much less likely to always keep their doors locked, but with what’s going on around us, I’m frightened that this means my fears are correct and no one is here.
“Mom?” I call out as I tiptoe inside. There isn’t any noise. No one has come to push me out the door. There isn’t any sign of David just yet. I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing. “Mom, are you here?”
The house remains frighteningly silent, it chills me to the core. I want to run for the hills, I want to rush out of here and never look back, but that’s what I did before and it didn’t work out too well for Mom. If I hadn’t gone then she wouldn’t be in this mess now… whatever this damn mess looks like. So, I’m not going to run. I will check every damn room of this house until I’m sure that no one is here before I make my next move.
“Mom?” Nope, there is no sign of her downstairs. No sign of anyone really, but it does smell like booze. Someone has definitely been here recently and that someone is definitely David. “Mom, where are you?”
My nerves get worse as I climb up the stairs two at a time, my hope lessening by the minute. I am really starting to fucking freak out now and I don’t like it one bit. David really has out done himself this time…
“Oh my God, Mom…” But then I see her. Not that the sight of her does anything to dispel my fears. She is lying on the floor of my old bedroom in a pool of blood, not moving. He might have really done it. He may have really killed her. “Mom, what happened? Oh God…” I rush to her side and fall beside her. “Mom, what happened?”
She’s breathing, faintly, and she has a light pulse as well, but it doesn’t feel great. I’m scared that the life is slipping away from her no matter what happens. I might be too late, I might have been idiotic by not calling the cops, so if my mom does pass away then I will hold some of the blame for it as well. No doubt about it. I will never recover from this, I won’t forgive myself, I might not be able to even live with myself honestly.
I grab my cell phone and call nine-one-one, needing an ambulance at least. I don’t know if I want the police here, I don’t give too much of a shit about David, he doesn’t seem to be here anyway, but we do need medical assistance.
“Help me,” I plead with the operator on the phone. “Send an ambulance. My mom… I don’t know what has happened to her. I think that my stepdad might have beaten her. But she’s on the floor, she’s in a pool of blood, I’m scared that she’s going to die. She’s passed out, she isn’t talking, she is barely breathing…”
The woman asks me for an address, and I reel it off at the speed of light. My heart is in my throat, I feel like shit, I feel like this is all my fault. I let them know that I need them to come quickly. I need someone here now.
By the time the woman hangs up the phone, I try to calm myself down by convincing my brain that help will be here soon, but I’m still terrified that no one will turn up or that David will somehow intervene and she won’t get the help that she needs. I was always afraid that David would hurt Mom too badly before she could get out but I never considered death. I never would have thought that he would do this to her. How could he? What sort of prick would do this to another person? To the person he’s supposed to love? Oh my God, what an asshole…