The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Thirteen

Penny stared up at him again, the same defiant look burning in her eyes. "Get out!" She screamed at him.

"But I haven't finished yet. The funny thing is, the first moment your mother found out that she was pregnant she wanted to get rid of you, and do you know what, I bloody wish we had."

Penny saw the smug smile play over his face as he savoured his words.

"I said get out!" she screamed at him.

"Oh, I'm off all right, but I'll be back later, and when I get back you two had better not be here, have you got that." He stood over her for a moment longer to emphasise the threat then turned and left the house, slamming the door behind him, before Penny could retort.

She remained on her knees for some time stunned by his accusation. He was lying. He had to be, after all, she knew her mother better than he did.

"Mum?"

Penny tried to stand up but her stomach hurt too much. Her head was still spinning and she could feel the bile swirling up inside her, but she knew that she had to find out what that animal had done to her mother.

Penny heaved herself towards the living room on her hands and knees. "Mum, are you all right?" There was no answer, just a painful moan form behind the sofa. "Mum!" Penny crawled in the direction of the sound forgetting her own pain. "Mum, are you okay?"

"It's all right sweetheart, I'm fine." The woman's battle weary voice sounded far from fine as she slowly raised herself from the ground.

Penny felt the nausea sweep over her again as she saw her mother stand up, holding onto the back of the sofa for support. She did look quite rough, but nowhere near as bad as Penny had expected. Her left eye was bruising over and there was a small nick on the edge of the eyebrow above it, but apart from that, and her dishevelled hair and dressing gown, she looked fine. Penny started to wonder what she herself looked like. Her stomach still felt quite tender, her bottom lip had begun to swell like a balloon and her peripheral vision was still hazy, but she managed to follow her mother's example and hauled herself up onto the nearest armchair. Not wanting to alarm her mother, she tried not to grimace at the pain but she couldn't stop herself. She tasted the blood in her mouth and she ran her tongue over her teeth to check that none were loose or cracked; thankfully they were okay.

"What the hell did that bastard do to you?"

Penny didn't answer, she just watched her mother stumble towards her. There was so much concern on the young woman's face, so much love and anguish. Penny didn't have to ask the question that lingered at the back of her mind; she already knew the answer. He was a liar, and that's all there was to it.

Penny's mother crouched down in front of her and gently held one of her hands. "Did he do anything else to you? Did he... you know?"

"What?"

"You know. Did he, touch you anywhere?"

"No!"

"And you would tell me if he had, wouldn't you?"

"Mum, he didn't do anything like that. He did this," Penny pointed to her face.  "He said some horrible things too, but that's all." For one awful moment, she realised that her tone almost made it sound like she was defending him and she felt another bout of nausea move through her.

"What did he say to you darling?"

"Nothing. Just a load of rubbish. Anyway, it doesn't matter." Penny glanced back over at the living room door. For a moment she imagined that she saw him standing there with his cold, dark eyes, filled with hatred and disgust. "Why don't we just leave him, Mum? He doesn't deserve us and we definitely don't need him. We could pack right now and just split."