“Don’t pull away from me.Tell me what happened,” I demand.
Her chest expands on a long inhale, but when she finally exhales and turns her attention to my face, her eyes seem as lifeless as a porcelain doll’s.
Even as I recognize her robotic cadence and tone as the coping mechanisms they are, my soul aches as she recalls what must have been hell on earth.
“Donald was working late, so my mom went to her prenatal appointment alone.He came in while I was doing homework.I broke a vase over his head and ran away.Even though my feet bled all over the sidewalk, I didn’t go back until hours after he usually left for work.”
She doesn’t need to elaborate.The fury festering in my soul won’t rest until I destroy my father for hurting her.She was only fifteen years old.He’s a sick, disgusting old man who deserves the ass rape I’ll ensure he sees behind bars before he dies.
“I found my mom lying in a pool of blood in the living room.He beat her because I wasn’t there.”I long to stop her flow of words, but horror binds my tongue.“She wouldn’t have lost the baby if I had come home earlier.I should never have left.It was my fault.I ki—”
I seal my mouth over hers and kiss her with the desperation thrumming through my soul.For a few heartbreaking moments, she remains lifeless, but I coax her out of her protective shell with gentle insistence.When she shudders and reanimates, I moan in relief and deepen the kiss.
With sorrow, anger, and self-hatred warring within me, I pull my mouth away and rest my forehead against hers for a few heartbeats as I gather my strength.
“Audrey, you—”
“I know.I’m the monster.Now you’re going to leave.”
I lift my head and meet her eyes.
“No.I’m not,” I promise.“You’re not a monster.You didn’t kill that baby.”
“But—”
“I don’t care what horrible accusations your mother has been beating you down with for the last decade; you did nothing wrong.You’re not a home wrecker.Not a whore.Not a murderer.”
Tears shimmer in her bright green eyes.She swallows.
“You were fifteen.Fifteen.At home.A place that was supposed to be safe.”
I rub my thumbs over her tear-streaked cheeks.
She lowers her lashes and trembles.I pull her chin higher and wait until she opens her eyes again to deliver the truth.
“Donald is the monster.He attacked you.He beat your mother.He left her bloody and broken and went to work.He killed the baby.”
Her breath hitches.She searches my eyes, so I pour my honesty into my words and silently beg her to believe me.
“It wasn’t your fault, baby doll.You didnothingwrong.”
She won’t change her mindset overnight, but I’ll happily remind her every day.
“You were a terrified fifteen-year-old girl.You escaped.You survived.You saved your mother and have been protecting her for ten goddamn years.I’m proud of you and I’ll never let you go.Ever.”
I become her shelter as she falls apart.She honors me with her trust as I gather her onto my lap and wrap her in my arms.
I fall apart with her without shedding a single tear.She has every reason to blame me for leaving her behind.Even though I couldn’t have known how low my father would stoop, I should have taken her with me, societal pressures be damned.
I should have protected and cared for her.
I’ll never be able to right the wrongs she suffered because of me, but I’m damned sure going to try.
Every day.Every minute.Every second.
I’ll devote the rest of my life to her.
I’ll avenge her, her mother, and our half sister who never got to take her first breath.
