by Willow Rose
Maddie sniffled, then looked out under the blindfold, when suddenly there was a sound coming from outside the door. Maddie knew these sounds by now. The scrambling, the rustling, then the opening of locks, and soon the creaking of the door, followed by the heavy footsteps.
She knew the procedure by heart, and it always filled her with the greatest terror. Maddie gasped and realized she wouldn't be able to get back into her corner, so instead, she crumpled up into a ball by the opposite wall. The footsteps walking across the floor were determined, but they didn't come close to her. Instead, they walked to the box, then stopped. Out of the small crack under her blindfold, she could see a dolly being inserted underneath the box and it being lifted into the air, then rolled across the carpet toward the door. Maddie gasped as she saw it disappear out the door, then the door being slammed shut again behind it and the sound of it being locked.
Maddie sobbed when she realized that now she was actually all alone again. The person in the box was gone. She didn't know what this meant. Did the person get to go back to his or her family? Or was he…or she…?
Maddie didn't dare to finish the thought. Instead, she crumpled up on the floor next to the name on the wall, then cried till she exhausted herself so much that she fell asleep.
Chapter 59
I grabbed three gallons of milk to make sure we could make it for a few days before I had to shop again, then got the rest of the items on my grocery list, and even added some candy for the kids. To sweeten their lives a little. I knew I was going to end up eating most of it, but I bought it anyway. Halloween was coming up at the end of the month, and you had to have sweets in your house.
I spotted him in aisle three. He was looking at cereal, holding a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch out and putting it in his cart. I wondered who in his household ate that.
Phillip Anderson spotted me as I came closer and took two boxes of Cheerios.
"What? Are you stalking me now?" he asked. His nose looked swollen and crooked. It was still purple in places.
I looked into his cart. There was a roll of duct tape and zip tie strips. "To put up Halloween decorations," he said.
"I’m just getting cereal for my kids," I said.
"You're lucky I don't press charges; do you know that?" he asked.
"Well, I could say the same about you. How did you convince her not to, huh? Did you tell her you'd beat her even more?"
Phillip looked at me, his teeth gritted. "I wasn't even with her when it happened."
I wrinkled my forehead. "You're lying!"
"You think you know me, huh?" he asked. "You've never even talked to me properly. You just come down here and start judging me. You have no idea who I am and what I am capable of."
"Wow. That sounded almost like a threat," I said.
He growled. "Argh, it doesn’t matter what I say to you. You'll just twist it anyway. Don't you get it? I didn't hurt Dawn. I love her. I don't understand what happened. Yesterday, we were dating and having a wonderful time, and then suddenly today I hear she's in the hospital and everyone thinks I put her there. I’ve tried to call her, but her mom keeps answering the phone, telling me to stay away from her. I am completely freaking out, and I have my daughter coming this weekend, and I was hoping they'd meet. What if she hears these stories too? About me beating Dawn up?"
I paused. "Well…didn't you?"
"No! That's what I’ve been trying to say all this time. Even my colleagues at the station won't believe me. Everyone in this stupid town thinks I beat her up."
"Wait…Why should I believe you?" I said.
He threw out his arms. "I wasn't even with her last night. She was going home for dinner with her parents. I had coffee with her at Juice N' Java at three o'clock and then she kissed me and told me we'd see each other tomorrow. She had promised her mom she'd take her dad for a walk. He's in a wheelchair, you know? They like to drive out to Lori Wilson Park, and she helps him get all the way down to the beach. He loves it there. He misses the ocean."
"He was an excellent surfer back in the day," I said, remembering Dawn's dad in the lineup. It was always spectacular to watch him do tricks on his longboard. I chewed on this new information while my eyes locked with Phillip’s, wondering what the heck was going on. If Phillip hadn't put Dawn in the hospital, then who had?
I left Phillip in the aisle, then rushed to the checkout, holding the phone between my shoulder and my ear while calling Melissa.
Chapter 60
Melissa told me Dawn had been discharged from the hospital and that she was staying with her parents, so her mother could take care of her. I drove to their house and parked in the driveway, my heart racing in my chest. What was going on here? I kept wondering.
I grabbed a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and walked up to her door, then rang the doorbell. Her mother opened it.
"Eva Rae? What a nice surprise." She wiped her hands on a dishtowel, then opened the door for me to enter. "I put her in her old room."
"How is she?" I asked.
Her mother shook her head and looked down. "Not good."
"Can I go see her?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Go ahead. You know your way."
I did. It was strange how being there again brought back so many memories and emotions I had completely forgotten. Inside her parents’ house, it was as if time had stood still. Even the smell was the same as it had been back then. The furniture was all in the same place.
I knocked lightly on Dawn's old door, then peeked inside.
"Hey there."
"Eva Rae!"
She sat up in the bed, but I could tell by her strained face that she was in pain.
"I brought you chocolates," I said and handed her the bag.
She smiled. I opened the pack and fed her one. She could barely get it inside her swollen lips and winced in pain from where they were cracked. As she opened her mouth, I could tell that two of her front teeth were chipped.
I stuffed my mouth with two pieces at the same time, trying to suppress my desire to burst into tears. Dawn chewed cautiously, but it seemed to be more pain than pleasure for her.
"You want another one?" I asked.
She shook her head, and I exhaled, then ate another chocolate. I had a knot in my stomach, and a big part of me just wanted to run out of there, but I had to have some answers. I had to know what was going on with her. Something wasn't right.
"I punched Phillip," I said and grabbed her hand in mine.
"No!" she said, her swollen eyes lingering on me.
"Yes," I said with a chuckle. "Hit him right on the nose. I was that mad at him for what he did to you."
She slumped her head, and her eyes looked away.
"Dawn?" I paused. I really didn't want to ask about this, but I had to. "It wasn't him, was it? He didn't do this to you, did he?"
Dawn lifted her head and glared at me from inside the small cracks between her swollen eyelids. I could tell she was contemplating what to say to me. I let her think it over.
"It was never any of them, was it?" I asked and held her hand tightly in mine. "All the times you ended up in the hospital. It was never your boyfriends."
Her eyes lingered on me still; her nostrils were flaring lightly. I could tell she was getting agitated, scared even.
I leaned closer and squeezed her hand tightly. "It's okay, Dawn. You can tell me. I remember how your dad used to beat you when we were children. My guess is the abuse never stopped. Am I right? Is it still him?"
Dawn's nostrils flared violently now, and she shook her head.
"It's okay, Dawn," I said. "You can tell me everything."
Dawn shook her head fiercely now and was breathing heavily. Her eyes were staring at me and fear seemed to be spiraling through her.
"What's wrong?" I asked, then turned to look at what was behind me. I barely managed to duck before the crowbar whooshed through the air and hit me on the shoulder. I screamed and fell to the floor, then looked up at Dawn's mother, who was hovering a
bove me.
"This is my daughter," she almost screamed at me. "You're not going to take my daughter away from me, do you hear me?"
She swung the crowbar again, and it whistled through the air, then hit my arm. I screamed in pain.
"MOM, NO!"
Dawn screamed from behind me as her mother jammed the crowbar down on me once again, barely missing me as I rolled to the side. As I did, I reached down my leg and found my weapon and pulled it out of the ankle holster, then pointed it at her.
"Stop, Vivian," I panted. "It's over."
The woman's wild eyes glared down at me, and I could tell she didn't care. She swung the crowbar once again, and I fired my gun, hitting her in the shoulder. The shock was so great that she dropped the crowbar, then fell backward and landed against the dresser, her eyes struck with deep fear. I rose to my feet, still pointing the gun at her as she sank to the floor, blood gushing out of her wound.
Chapter 61
"So, it was her the entire time?"
Melissa handed me a bottle of water, and I drank greedily, wishing it was something a little stronger. I was sitting with Dawn, who was still crying heavily. I couldn't get her to stop. I had given my statement to the police, and Dawn's mother had been taken away in an ambulance. The paramedics had also tended to my bruises. They wanted me to go in for an x-ray to see if anything was broken, but I told them I had to go home. I felt okay. I was sore and in pain, but I didn't think anything was broken.
Dawn nodded and looked up at Melissa. "I am so sorry, you guys. I should have…I should have told you. I lied to you."
"I can't believe it," Melissa said.
I nodded. "Me either. All those years, we believed it was your father who had beaten you up and…you were just covering for your mother?"
Dawn looked away. Tears spilled onto her bedcovers, and she wiped them away.
"Over the years, it got worse," she said. "And as I grew older, I began saying it was my boyfriends. I didn't mean to lie or get them in trouble. It was just easier that way."
"And because it was too embarrassing to tell anyone that your mother still beat you," Melissa said.
"Using a crowbar, apparently," I said, feeling my sore shoulder.
"I…I tried to get away from her. I tried to stop visiting, but she was just…she had such a stronghold on me. It was like I was powerless. I don't know how she did it, but she always made me come back. She would guilt trip me or tell me my dad was sick, and then when I came to see him, she beat me. It was actually better if I came often because then she wouldn't touch me for a long time unless I upset her somehow. It was worst when I had boyfriends. She got so jealous and would tell me I was worthless, that he would leave me, that no one would ever marry me. I tried to hide them from her, but somehow, she always found out. A neighbor would tell her that she saw me with someone downtown or she would follow me in her car and see us together. And then she would become this monster, yelling at me that I wanted to leave her, that I was a loser and that I was destroying the family and making my dad upset. It was actually mostly to see him that I ever came home. I felt like I needed to be there for him. He was the one who was really trapped here with her."
"Wait…she put him in the wheelchair?" I asked.
Dawn nodded. "He was about to leave her. After so many years of abuse, he was a broken man, and then one day, he finally found the courage to stand up to her. She pushed him down the stairs, and he landed in the wrong way, getting paralyzed from the waist down."
"That way, she made sure he never could leave her, that he was forever dependent on her. Just like she made sure you were," I said. "If you never had a boyfriend, you'd never leave her. So, she destroyed every relationship you ever had. It was a way for her to control you."
"I still…I can't…It's sick. I can't believe I never saw this," Melissa said. "I just thought…I always thought you found these bad guys. I had no idea what you were going through, Dawn. I feel terrible. Poor you."
"It wasn't your fault," Dawn said, smiling between tears.
I couldn't hold mine back anymore either and, a few seconds later, we all three joined in a hug until Dawn groaned in pain and we had to let go of her.
"No more secrets," I said, wiping my tears away. "You hear me? The three of us, we need each other, and we can't be of help if we're not honest."
"Okay," Melissa said with a deep sniffle. "That's a deal."
"You start by telling us what's going on with Matt. And be honest," she said laughing.
I blew my nose, then threw the tissue at her.
"I do know one thing, though," I said. "I owe Phillip a major apology."
Dawn exhaled deeply. "So do I. If anyone owes him one, it must be me."
Chapter 62
I had called my dad and asked him to be with the kids till I got back. It was late, and they were all asleep as I entered the house. Even my dad was napping on my couch in the living room, snoring loudly.
I woke him with a kiss on the forehead. He smiled happily. "You're back?"
I nodded and sat down with a deep sigh. He sat up and folded his hands. "That bad, huh?"
"Worse," I said. "I'll tell you about it another day. Right now, I am beat and just want to go to bed. Thanks for coming over."
"I’m glad I could be of help. Your mom has been out all day anyway."
"Where has she been?" I asked and put my feet up on the coffee table that my mom had bought for me because she said I couldn't have a house without a coffee table. I knew she would have a heart attack if she saw me put my dirty shoes on her expensive table, but I didn't care.
"Winter Park, visiting her girlfriends. They all live there now," he said. "Because of the gated communities and golf courses. And less risk of hurricane damage, they believe."
"Let me guess…she wants to go live there as well?" I asked.
"Well, naturally. The neighborhoods are far more well-trimmed, as she puts it."
"But you don't want that," I said.
"No. Of course not. I like it out here. I like the ocean breeze, and I like the surfers and the laid-back attitude. In there it's so…uptight. It's not for me. I need the ocean close. Makes it less unbearable in the summer too. I wouldn't last a day in there in the summer. Besides, I still have my business to attend to."
"You could do that in there," I said grinning, knowing that had probably been my mom's argument too.
"True. That's a lousy argument. But I am not going. End of discussion. If she wants to go see her friends in Winter Park, then she can do the drive."
"Sounds like something you guys can argue about for the next several years," I said.
My dad chuckled and got up. He leaned over and kissed my forehead. I pulled him into a hug, thinking about Dawn and all that she had been through. He put his arms around me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed being held.
"Don't give in to her," I said as he let go of me. "Ever."
He shook his head. "I won't."
I walked him out and then closed the door behind him, thinking I had been lucky with my parents after all. At least compared to Dawn. My mother was just coldhearted toward me. She had, after all, never laid a hand on me. I turned off the lights in the living room, then noticed something on the light carpet. I knelt and sighed, realizing it was some of Alex's green slime. It was deep into the carpet, and someone had stepped in it. It had left big marks all over the carpet and into the hallway. It was going to take forever to get out.
I sighed and decided that would have to wait till the morning, then walked up the stairs, and checked on the kids in their rooms before turning in. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was sound asleep.
Chapter 63
"Mommy. Mommy! I got an award."
I am running through the house, holding the medal in my hand. The house is so quiet. It has been for months, ever since that day in Wal-Mart when Sydney was taken. It is fall now, four months into Kindergarten. I feel proud of myself.
"Look," I say and run into the kitchen, throwing
my backpack on the floor as I go. My mom is standing in there, looking out into the backyard and the canal.
"Mom?" I say hoping to get her attention. "Look! I did the project all by myself."
She doesn’t turn to look at me.
"What's wrong?" I say.
My mother shakes her head, then looks down at the potatoes she is peeling. "I was thinking maybe we should grow some petunias out in the yard, huh? I bet that would look nice."
"Sure, Mom, but…I won an award. In school?"
My mother doesn’t look at me. She shakes her head while peeling the potatoes. "Pick up your backpack from the floor. It doesn’t go there. If you keep throwing it there, someone will trip over it."
"But…Mom?"
"Now," she says.
I stare at her back, thinking I can't remember when I saw her eyes the last time, or when I felt her kiss.
"Sydney has a doll in her room, the American girl doll, can I go play with it?" I ask.
It's the first time I’ve mentioned her name since that day. I haven't dared to, but I really love that doll. And now it's just in there gathering dust like all her other stuff. Every day, I walk to the door and open it, then look inside, but I never dare to go in there. A doll should be played with and not just sit there.
My mother's back turns curvy as she takes in a deep breath. The response comes promptly.
"NO!"
"But, Mo-om, that doll is brand new, and no one is playing with it."
My mom no longer pays me any attention. She shuts up like a clam and doesn't say a word to me, no matter how much I beg. She just freezes me out and, finally, I give up. I turn around and walk out of the kitchen, picking up my backpack on the way. My mom doesn’t speak to me for three days after this, and after that, only with short words without even looking at me. I tug at her dress, I yell her name as loud as I can, but she simply ignores me.
