The silence that fell after sliced through me like a thousand paper cuts in my skin. My mother wanted to get rid of me, and my father didn’t want me.
“You’re going to take her back, or I will call the police.”
“Do it,” he said. “Do it and I’ll tell them you’ve got her locked in the closet. I’ll tell them why there’s scars on her wrists. I’ll tell them about how many times I’ve watched you put her on her knees...”
“I think they’d be more interested in how you raped her mother.”
My head popped up, my eyes locking with Gabriel’s.
My father closed the door on me. “Don’t you ever say that.”
Gabriel slid down to his knees, collecting me until I was standing next to him. He half held me up off the floor, ready to take me. I was ready to tell him to go. I wanted him to run. I’d go with him now. I’d do anything he asked. I didn’t want to know any more.
“She was sixteen!” My mother howled at my father. “And she killed herself after she had that girl in the closet. You tell me how it happened. It doesn’t sound like she was happy with it.”
“Is this why you wanted me back here? To throw it in my face?”
“You bring that girl into my house, swearing she was your sister’s and I believed you. I can’t believe how stupid I was. I can’t believe you had me lie to the doctor about how it was a surprise home birth.”
“Stop it,” my father shouted, his voice booming. It was the loudest I’d ever heard him. “I came back. What do you want?”
“I want you to take that girl out of my house. You left money for us, I get that. You’re leaving me, go. I don’t care. But I’m not going to have her here for another minute.”
“She’s going to stay here,” my father said. “Give me until the end of the school year. By then I’ll have enough...”
“She’s sleeping around with boys in the neighborhood. She’s getting them to pay for cell phones for her. I found boy clothes in her closet. Marie said she’s sitting with a group of them at school. I won’t have her here. You’re not going to leave me with this mess, your mess. She’ll end up pregnant and the police will be here after her any way. I can’t look at her face any more, knowing that’s what she looked like. The whore you slept with. She’s a little whore like her.”
Gabriel growled low in my ear, gripping me to him.
“I’ve left enough money for all of you,” my father said. “You don’t have to do anything. Just let her go to school. After that, you won’t see her again. It’s only few months.”
“I...” my mom shouted, but faltered. She cried out. There was a thud. She started screaming.
“Don’t you give me that,” my father shouted at her. “If you’re faking it, I swear...”
Her screams filled my senses, drowning out everything else. Gabriel slipped a palm to my ear, bringing my other ear to his chest. I wanted to tear myself away from him to see what was going on but he held me strong against him.
There was more thudding, more screaming. My father started talking quickly, “Hello? Yes, we need an ambulance. My wife is sick.” He rattled off the address, repeating himself.
The next few minutes became some of the longest and quickest at the same time. Gabriel held me as the only mother I’d known screamed in pain. My father tried to ask her what was wrong, tried to get her to take medicine but despite this, her screaming continued. Gabriel refused to budge. He didn’t want me to see what was happening.
The doorbell rang through the house. It startled me again, since it was an alien sound. A thunder of knocking sounded at the door.
My father’s footsteps echoed through the house. Voices sounded. The crash of a stretcher being brought in followed. Voices spoke. My mother quieted.
Gabriel relaxed next to me when the footfalls disappeared down the hall again.
“Let’s go,” he said.
He opened the door, peeking out. I followed behind him.
The bedroom was empty now.
Gabriel turned to me, tucking his shoulder into my stomach and hoisted me onto his shoulder.
“Put me down,” I said, dangling off of his body. I patted my hands against his waist and butt. “I can walk.”
“Fuck you,” he said. “I’m dragging you out before you think of some other stupid reason to stay.”
Upside down, I was taken through the house. I recognized the path to the side door of the garage. Gabriel stepped out. It was dim. The garage light wasn’t on and the sun had just set.
Gabriel marched, carrying me across the garage and out into the open, heading across the drive.
“Wait,” I called to him. “Put me down.”
“No,” he said.
“Sang,” my father’s voice shot through the air, “hey stop that.”
Gabriel ignored him.
“Gabriel,” I said. “Put me down.” I struggled, poking at his side.
He grunted, stopped, shifting me on his shoulder but moved forward. Orders were given. Orders would be finished.
“Sang,” my father called out.
Gabriel stopped in mid-step.
I wriggled. “Let me see what he wants. I’ll tell him I’m leaving with you. I’ll tell him so he won’t call the police or think you’ve kidnapped me. I’ll go with you.”
Gabriel grunted but put me down. His hand found mine, his mouth tight, his crystal eyes dark. He squared off his shoulders and turned with me to look at what was happening.
An ambulance was parked in the road in front of the house. The gurney was being hoisted into the back. The paramedics closed the back doors and turned to my father.
My father was in the middle of the yard, staring after Gabriel and I in the drive. “Wait just a second,” he said, appearing half conflicted with wanting to address the paramedics or to talk to us.
I nodded to him. Gabriel squeezed my hand.
When my father seemed sure we would wait, he turned to address the paramedics, saying he’d follow in his car shortly. The paramedic guys turned to look right at my face as my father turned around to walk back toward us.
Mr. Blackbourne and Dr. Green.
The Academy was taking her. My father had no clue. Did they intercept the call?
Where
did they get an ambulance?
My father jogged across the yard toward us. “Sang,” he said, stopping a few feet from us, shooting a questioning glance at Gabriel. “Who is that? Is that your boyfriend?”
“Yeah,” Gabriel said before I had a chance to respond. “That lady locked her in the closet all god damn day. Where the hell were you?”
My father reeled his head back. “I was at work.”
“You weren’t,” Gabriel barked at him. “We called and you weren’t there. What the hell, dude? You don’t even want your own fucking daughter.”
“Gabriel,” I said, squeezing his hand, and pulling. “Don’t...”
“Do you know what she’s been through? And I know you do because you just admitted it in there! You’ve seen her scars. And you’re walking out and leaving her to that crazy woman? Did you want her to die? Fucking great. No problem. Just let me take her and I’ll...”
“Wait,” my father said, taking a half step back. “Just wait.”
“For what?”
“Let her stay,” he begged. “Please.” I didn’t know whether the sorrow in his eyes was genuine. I wasn’t familiar enough with him to know.
A shallow echoing, mimicking footsteps, approached. Two figures jumped from the rail barrier of the front porch. Kota and Nathan. They’d been in the house.
A cluster of footsteps sounded from up the street. A group of guys were dashing down the road in our direction. I recognized North and Silas, with Luke and Victor behind them.
My father took a step back as Kota and Nathan marched around him toward me.
“What is this?” my father asked. “Who are they?”
“My family,” I said, the words slipping from my mouth. For a moment I thought maybe that would seem insulting to him. The thought passed quickly. I didn’t care what my father thought.
Kota reached me first, wrapping his arms around my waist and picking me up off the ground, hugging me close. I let him take me. I couldn’t resist any more. The others surrounded me, I could smell them. I could feel their hands touching my back, my face, my hair.
“Wait,” my father pleaded again.
“She’s not staying,” Gabriel shouted. “Not another second.”