by K. Webster
Penny
One month later…
“Where does Ken go?” I ask, pointing at the Barbie Jeep full of females.
Zella giggles. “They’re gonna run him over.”
“Zella!” I gasp, feigning shock.
She sends the Jeep careening forward, running over Ken. We both laugh when several of the Barbies fall out of the Jeep.
While she collects the dolls to put them back into the vehicle, I try not to look at the scars on her bare arm. There aren’t any new ones. I’m thankful as hell for that, but no less worried over the situation.
Jack is smooth. I’ll give him that. He says the right things and has clearly brainwashed Zella into answering correctly for fear of retaliation. Each time he asks me to sit for him, I show up even though I hate his guts. He gets drunk more and more, but has been keeping his hands to himself. The judge awarded Terrence custody three days a week, but that still leaves four of them where she’s left in Jack’s hands. Jack pled a pretty good case that he’s only wanting to provide Zella with normalcy since her mother abandoned her. He told the judge he was afraid she won’t adjust well to move in full-time with a stranger. The judge agreed.
My phone buzzes with a text from Terrence.
Smash: Where you at, babe? Thought you were going to come over after your thing.
Me: It’s taking longer than I thought.
Smash: What ARE you doing? Is it illegal?
I send him a bunch of eye roll emojis.
Me: It’s just something I have to do.
Smash: One day I’ll get inside that head of yours, Penny.
I decide I’ll text him back later because I’m not about to get into it with Terrence about the stuff I have to do. He’d freak the hell out if he knew. Maybe one day he’ll have Zella all the time and he won’t have to know about my vigilante babysitting. Zella’s a great secret keeper and hasn’t ratted me out yet. I shove my phone into the pocket of my backpack on the floor so I can avoid the guilt that always infects me whenever Terrence broaches the subject of what I’m keeping from him.
“Again!” Zella shrieks.
I laugh at her excitement to run Ken over. “You’re out of control, child.”
The bedroom door slings open, making both of us cry out in surprise. Jack’s face is purple with fury, the stench of liquor quickly permeating the air around us. I don’t like being at a disadvantage on the floor, so I spring to my feet.
“You’re back so soon?” I ask, hating the slight quiver in my voice.
His lip curls up and his eyes narrow. “Been back for a while. Zella knows better than to scream and carry on.” He starts to unbuckle his belt and I panic.
“W-What? Stop, Jack. It was my fault,” I stammer, my heart beating hard in my chest.
“I know what I heard,” he snarls.
The belt whips out of the hoops of his jeans with a menacing swoosh. I stand in front of Zella, unable to let him unleash on her for just being a kid.
“You need to get some coffee and sober up,” I spit out at him.
He wraps the leather around his fist. “And you need to get the fuck out of my house.”
“Not until you calm down. I’ll take her to her dad’s.”
Wrong thing to say.
Hatred burns hot in his eyes for Terrence.
Whack!
Stars burst across my vision as pain sears over my cheek. Tears automatically form because it really hurt to be hit in the face with a belt. I tenderly touch my cheek, gaping at him in shock. He prowls my way and I nearly stumble over Zella.
“Move,” he growls.
“No!” I yell back. “You don’t get to hurt her. You’re drunk. Let me take her to her father—”
“I’M HER FATHER!” he roars, backhanding me hard.
I knock over Zella in my fall, my head smacking the dresser hard enough everything goes black in an instant.
It burns.
It burns.
Why does my back burn?
I’m groggy and in a state of confusion as I try to make sense of my surroundings. Jack is dragging me by my ankle down the hallway. The carpet burns my back as my shirt rides up from being dragged.
A whine escapes me as I try to find my voice.
Move, Penny.
I squirm, but my head hurts and I can’t find the energy to escape his grip. Until he makes it into his bedroom. His hold on my ankle releases and he turns to slam the bedroom door shut.
Oh God.
I need to get out of here.
His malevolent eyes flash as he rakes them over me. “What did I tell you about running, Lacey?”
Lacey?
What the actual fuck?
I try to stand, but I’m too woozy. His fist swings at me and I narrowly dodge the hit. I scramble on my hands and knees past him toward the door, the world around me spinning out of control. He tackles me to the carpet, knocking my breath from my lungs.
“Stay still,” he grinds out as he tries to get ahold of my arms.
“No!” I screech, twisting and fighting. “Get off me!”
“Goddammit, girl, I said stop fucking moving!”
He starts ripping at my sweatpants, baring my ass in the process. I claw at the carpet, trying to escape him.
This isn’t happening.
This. Isn’t. Happening.
“I said stop it or I’ll bury you in the backyard next to your mother!” he roars, grabbing my ponytail and yanking me back.
I’m no match for him. I screech and howl, trying desperately to free myself from his evil clutches. When I hear his zipper go down, I panic. Everything inside of me goes numb. I can feel myself retreating, erecting walls faster than I know how. My skin grows cold as he nudges me with his dick.
It’s soft.
His dick is soft.
I almost sob in relief. His inability to get hard pisses him off, though, because he slams me to the floor. I start crawling away again when he kicks me hard in the ribs, knocking me into the dresser. Pain lances through me, making me gag. He grabs me up by my hoodie, hauling me to my feet.
Bam!
His fist is hard and painful. I black out again only to find myself his punching bag. Like he’s possessed by the devil, he wails into me. The assault is too much to bear. I shut down, my body growing heavy and fatigued.
“Wake up, bitch!” he snaps, shaking me.
His movements rouse me, but I let my head lol to the side. Maybe he’ll leave me alone if I play dead. After a few more hits, he throws me to the floor. He clumsily shoves his limp dick back into his jeans. As soon as he moves his hand away, I rear back and kick him hard in the balls.
“Fuck!” he cries out, landing on his ass and cupping his balls. “You fucking psycho!”
I look for a weapon. Anything. I settle for a lamp, yanking it from the wall. While he howls in pain, I smash it down hard over his head. Glass shatters everywhere as he crumples.
My body buzzes with adrenaline. I have to get away from him. I have to get out of here. I fight past the pain to drag my sweats back up my ass. The room spins, but I manage to stumble out of the room on a mission for Zella. I find her sobbing in her room.
“We…” I wince and take a deep breath. “C-Can you carry my backpack? We h-have t-to go.”
She nods, snatching up my bag. I wheeze as I unzip the side and grab my keys. Before we exit her room, I check to make sure Jack’s not lurking. One quick peek around the corner tells me he’s still sprawled out on his bedroom floor.
“Come on,” I whisper.
Zella holds my hand as we make our way out of the house. Everything keeps spinning around me. I have to stop just outside the house to puke. Zella cries harder, reminding me we have to get the hell out of here.
“C-Can you buckle yourself in really fast?” I choke out.
“Yes!”
“Good g-girl.”
I get the Jeep door open and Zella scrambles in. The effort to shut the door makes me black out, but I quickly blink it away. Ha
uling myself into my Jeep is difficult. Eventually, I manage and get it started. One of my eyes is swelling shut, but there’s no way I’ll stop. Not now. I back out of the driveway, narrowly missing the mailbox, before I throw it in drive. It’s a slow trip, me wheezing the whole time and Zella sobbing, but eventually we make it to Cal’s cabin.
“Let’s go see Daddy,” I whisper as I open her door once we’re stopped.
Zella clings to my side as we make our way into the cabin. My head hurts and I think I might puke again. Terrence is going to kill me, but right now, I just need to make sure we’re safe from that monster.
“Honey, I’m home,” I croak out, my joke falling flat when I meet Terrence’s horrified face.
“What the actual fuck?”
Terrence
These new glasses have got to be fucked up.
I’m not seeing what I’m seeing.
It’s a fucking hallucination.
“Penny!” Charlotte shrieks from behind me, jolting me back to reality.
It’s real.
Penny is bloodied up, face bruised and swelling, holding the hand of my little girl. Why? How?
I pounce forward, needing to assess the damages of my girlfriend while trying to make sense of what the fuck is going on.
“Penny, what happened?” I growl, tenderly putting an arm around her waist to keep her standing since she looks seconds from passing out. “Cal, call Garrett!”
She’s in shock. She has to be. Penny isn’t crying. Just staring. Her hand is firmly gripping Zella’s shirt like she might escape.
I guide them to the sofa while Cal and Charlotte both start chattering on their phones to different people.
“What happened?” I say, sitting on the coffee table right in front of Penny. “Who beat you up?”
“Jack.” She winces and squeezes her eyes shut. “He, uh, was going to whip Zella with the belt. I t-tried to stop him.”
“Why were you over there?” I demand.
Charlotte sits down next to Penny, a gel ice pack in her hands. “Where does it hurt, sis?”
“Everywhere,” Penny grumbles.
“Penny, why were you—”
“Jack did this to you?” Charlotte asks, cutting me off. She holds the ice pack to Penny’s head where a goose egg has popped up.
Penny and Zella both nod. I note that they’re still clinging to each other.
“Why were you there?” I bark out.
“He said he’d bury me in the backyard like my mother. He kept calling me Lacey,” Penny whispers, terror gleaming in her blue eyes. “I think…I think he may have killed Vicki.”
Jesus.
“We’ll call the police,” I assure her, “but why were you there?”
Penny closes her eyes again as though that’ll prevent her from having to answer me.
“Zella, baby, why was Penny there? It’s okay to tell Daddy. I need to know what happened.” I reach forward and take Zella’s other hand. “It’s okay. Talk to me.”
Zella lifts her chin, giving me her sweet wide-eyed stare. “Penny is my babysitter.”
It doesn’t make sense.
“She babysat you tonight?”
Zella nods. I give her hand a squeeze. “Thank you for telling me.”
Turning my attention to Penny, I speak firmly, “Tell me everything right now.”
“Fine,” Penny blurts out in a harsh manner that quickly loses to sadness. Her bottom lip quivers wildly, but she doesn’t cry. “I’ve been babysitting Zella to keep an eye on her. I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
The bruises. The lies. The weirdness. It was all because she was with him. This whole fucking time. Unbelievable.
My blood turns to ice.
I’ll revisit this later. Right now I need to know what the fuck happened.
“What happened tonight?” I urge. “I need to know.”
As she starts replaying the night, I feel sick to my stomach. He hit her in the face with a belt. Backhanded her, which inadvertently knocked her out when she hit her head. Dragged her unconscious form into his bedroom. Pulled her pants down. Attempted to rape her, but his dick wouldn’t get hard. Beat the living fuck out of her.
They escaped.
Thank fuck they escaped.
“Cal!” I boom, glancing up at him where he’s standing behind the couch wearing an equally infuriated expression as me. “We need to go get him.”
Cal curses and shakes his head. “Can’t, man. I already called the police. We have to let them do their job.”
Anger simmers deep in my gut. Had I known Penny was trying this bullshit, I could have told her no. Protected her. Instead, she took it upon herself to willingly walk into the den of a monster. I can’t even fucking kill him because he’s so wrapped up in my trying to get full custody of Zella.
“I did it to help,” Penny explains as though she can see inside my head. “I wanted to keep an eye on her for you.”
She’s been lying to me. Putting herself in harm’s way to help me. What the fuck was she thinking?
“Don’t be mad at Penny,” Zella pleads, tugging at my hand.
I realize I’m scowling, so I quickly force it away to smile at her. “All that matters right now is you’re safe,” I assure Zella. “You want a snack?”
Penny stares at me with watery eyes. She knows I’m pissed. And upset. And worried. That motherfucker beat the hell out of her. Of course I’m about to lose my fucking mind.
“Char, are you good to sit with Penny?”
“Of course,” Charlotte says.
I pick Zella up and carry her into the kitchen. My mind buzzes as I sit her on the counter and offer her different snack options.
I’m in a daze, lingering in the kitchen, trying to make sense of this night when the front door opens. Garrett walks in with two police officers hot on his heels. He makes a beeline to Penny. I let out a heavy sigh as I pick Zella back and head over to the cops. All I can do is hope to fuck they do their job and put that motherfucker away for what he did to her.
Penny sits on one side of the couch, curled against Garrett while I hold a sleeping Zella in the recliner. Charlotte is sitting in Cal’s lap, both of them wearing matching faces of worry. It’s been hours since Penny showed up with Zella. The cops took the report and then sent more officers to arrest Jack. Penny refused to go to the hospital because she’s stubborn as fuck and let her dad check her over.
Bruised ribs and banged all to hell, but nothing is broken. It’s late and Penny was being argumentative, so she won this round, but she’s going to get checked out in the morning. Garrett assured me.
“You okay?” Garrett asks, frowning at me.
I don’t know how this guy can tell when my head is pounding, but he always knows.
“I’m fine,” I grumble.
Charlotte rises from the sofa and escapes to the kitchen. I hate waiting around for answers. Time crawls along. Eventually, Charlotte appears with a sandwich, a bottle of water, and my medication.
“Thanks,” I rumble and then inhale my sandwich. Once I’m full, I swallow down my pills and continue brooding.
Hours later, Cal opens the door to an officer. One we all know.
“Captain Fitzgerald,” Cal greets. “Did you miss us?”
Fitzgerald shakes his head. “Something like that. Mind if I come in?”
Cal guides him into the living room and motions to an armchair. Fitzgerald sits down, frowning at Penny.
“You okay?” he asks her.
She gives him a thumbs-up, which makes Cal snort.
“How’s the little one?” Fitzgerald asks me.
“She’s fine.” My clipped tone makes Penny wince.
Fitzgerald lets out a heavy sigh. “He’s gone.”
“I killed him?” Penny asks, a little bit of delight in her tone.
“No,” Fitzgerald says. “He’s gone. Ransacked the place packing his bags and left. We have an APB out on his vehicle, but as of yet, we have nothing.”
Un-fucking
-believable.
“He belongs in prison,” I growl. “To rot for the rest of time.”
Penny sits up. “Are they checking into what I said? What he told me about his wife?”
“Yes,” Fitzgerald says, “but that will go outside my jurisdiction. Feds will need to be involved. Normally, a claim like that isn’t one we’d follow up on, but since we’ve been presented the evidence of alleged child abuse, the violent assault, and the disappearance of his wife and stepdaughter, it’s been rerouted to the feds.”
“What happens with Zella?” I demand. I know what needs to happen, but so far, I’ve been getting fucked at every angle.
“You’ll be awarded temporary custody over her until your attorney can prepare something more concrete and lasting.” He smiles. “Your attorney is a good one. She’ll make it happen.”
“So we just wait for him to get caught?” I go to rub at my eyes and nearly knock my glasses off in the process. This shit will take some getting used to. “What if he comes here?”
“We don’t think he’ll come back, but if he does, we’ll be ready. I would suggest keeping the girls safe in numbers.”
“Just get a cop to sit outside,” Cal suggests.
“This isn’t the movies,” Fitzgerald grumbles. “As much as I’d love to say we could do something like that, we don’t have the manpower or budget. It’s just the cold, hard truth.”
“And you wonder why some of the town’s citizens prefer a little vigilante justice,” Cal grinds out.
Fitzgerald hangs his head in shame.
“I’ll hire a security firm,” Garrett assures us. The man always has the fucking answers. “Frankly, I’m over the incompetence of the police in this town. My daughters both have been on the losing side. I’ll make sure they’re protected.”
“Now, Mr. English,” Fitzgerald says with a sigh. “We’re doing the best we can.”
“And it’s not good enough,” Garrett says simply. “If that’s all you have to say, may as well get going. These kids are exhausted.”
“I’ll keep you all informed.” Fitzgerald stands and gives us a nod. “Good evening.”
As soon as he leaves, I rise to my feet, Zella still asleep in my arms. “Garrett, take Penny home.”
