Now Boarding

2. Mother May I

Wearily, I trudged my way down the darkened street headed home from the Walker’s. It was nearing one am on Sunday morning and I was spent. It doesn’t matter what a kid looks like, cute doesn’t make up for hellion.  As I made my way up the driveway towards the front door, I couldn’t help but pause to take in the blackened windows. Chances were, dark windows meant all was well in the Sorenson household. It was safe to enter… hopefully. I crossed my fingers just in case.

As stealthily as possible, I slinked through the front door and tip toed my way towards the kitchen, hoping to snag something to take with me up to my bedroom. With my head stuck in the refrigerator, I was unaware of the presence behind me. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, I found myself being thrown to the side, my body smashing into the counter and crumpling to the floor. What in the heck was that? Pain flared to life on my right side as I sat myself up on the floor. I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t good for my cracked ribs. I blinked through the tears that were starting to form, and noticed the over bearing form of my Step-Mother, through the dark. Dread overwhelmed me. This could not be good.

“Mo-“ My words were interrupted by a stinging slap that sent my head backwards into the cupboard. Blood filled my mouth and stars distorted my vision. My thoughts began to race. I had to get out of here, now. Instinctually, I brought up my hands to cover my face in some semblance of self-defense.

“Shut up! Just. SHUT UP!” She was hysterical. What happened today? Obviously, I had missed some important goings on. “You’ve ruined everything! This is ALL your fault, you selfish brat!” Mommy Dearest continued with her tirade. I was smart and just kept my mouth shut. Speaking now would only make things worse. She began to pace back and forth across the kitchen, swinging her arms and muttering and carrying on about who knew what. Slowly, I inched my way toward the hall while she wasn’t paying attention.

“Where in the hell do you think you’re going, you little whore?!” Apparently she was paying more attention to me than I thought. I stuttered out my response as I stood up, “N-n-nowhere, Mother.” She hated it when I called her Step-Mother.

“Don’t lie to me you little piece of shit!” She came at me like an enraged bull, nostrils flaring and eyes fuming. I noticed her hands balling and was a fraction too slow in dodging her left hook. My vision flashed white for just a moment before everything came blaring back into focus. My ears were ringing and my face felt like it was on fire.  Step-Monster looked like she was winding up for another shot and I wasn’t going to let that happen. I brought my hands up, ready to soften a blow or push her away if needs be. Honestly and truly, I didn’t want to hurt her if I didn’t have to. I knew that she wasn’t entirely in her right mind, but I also didn’t want to die. Not today anyways.

With rapid speed she grabbed a pot off of the stove. Marie didn’t clean up after herself, again and now I was going to pay the price for her laziness, again.  With wild abandon, Mother started waving the pot around claiming, once again, that ‘it was all my fault’. What was my fault? I seriously didn’t understand what was going on. I’d been out of the house all day. She shouldn’t be freaking out on my like this. “He left us, all because of you! He ran off with that harlot of a secretary and he’s not coming back!” She swung the pot toward my head. Luckily I was able to duck in the nick of time. The roar of anger that flew from her mouth would have been impressive had it not been directed at me.

“I-I-I’m s-s-sorry! What do you want to do?” My voice refused to cooperate. I lifted my hands out to my sides, palms up in a show of surrender. Maybe she would take some pity on me when she saw that I was defenseless.

“SHUUUTTTT UUUPPPP!” Eyes and veins bulging, beet red, and spittle flying. I’d never seen anything so horrifically scary in my life. I wouldn’t have been able to speak if I would have wanted to. For lack of a better phrase, I was scared stupid. I didn’t know what to do. Anything I did or said at this point was only going to make her even madder.

Physically frozen in terror, mentally I screamed at myself to move. Before I could second guess my decision, I turned and bolted for the stairway. I was running for my life and concentrating solely on reaching my room where I could lock and barricade the door. It wasn’t until I felt my ankle being jerked out from under me and saw the stairs approaching my face at an alarming rate that I realized my Step-Mother was right behind me. I could feel her fingernails clawing into my calf muscle and I knew that she had drawn blood. Blindly I kicked out, my foot meeting skin. When I heard her muffled shout of surprise and felt her grip on my leg slacken, I didn’t look back to check how she was. I counted my blessings and scrambled the rest of the way up the stairs, and darted into my room, slamming and locking the door behind me.

With my back pressed against the door for added leverage, my eyes darted around the room. Mentally tabulating all the things I needed to grab before I started my escape a day sooner than planned. Oh well, there’s no time like the present and I couldn’t stay here another day, that much was clear.

Hastily, I snatched up my school bag and dumped out all my books and folders. Graduation was only a couple weeks away and I was at the top of my class. I wouldn’t be needing any of my school things after today and I didn’t have another bag. It was going to have to work until I could buy something better. I leapt toward my closet, flinging drawers open in my rush. I didn’t really stop to look at what I was grabbing. A few pairs of underwear, a pair of jeans, an extra bra and a few random tee shirts was all I had room for. I jerked on my favorite pink hoodie over the lace tank and cut off shorts I was currently wearing.  Luckily I hadn’t taken off my slip on sneakers. The entire time I scrambled around my room, I was keeping an ear out for any movement on the stairway. So far so good, I didn’t hear Psycho Step-Mom stirring.

After grabbing a hair brush, a toothbrush, both my fake and real hidden stash of cash and my wallet, I was good to go. I took a deep breathe to calm my frazzled nerves and slow my racing heart. This was really happening. I stood in front of my door, giving my room a final once over. I think I had everything, and if I didn’t, it wasn’t that important. Grabbing my favorite knit cap and my sunglasses to cover my sure-to-be black eyes, I yanked open my door, and tiptoed towards the top of the stairs. Tentatively, I peeked around the corner, releasing a small squeak when I saw that my Step-Mother hadn’t moved. I hope she was only unconscious because I wasn’t stopping to check otherwise. Steeling myself, I counted to three and then bolted down the stairs, leaping over her prone form near the bottom. Dashing out the door and running down the drive, I never looked back.