Payb Takes Book 2 (COMPLETED)

#A4Day6- Don't Look Back

Sharing another drabble I submitted for AMACON4. 

Warning: Angst kung angst.
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Richard watched while Maine stood in the middle of the grassy field surrounded by tombstones. Her head was down with her silky hair cascading over to cover her face and her frail body dressed in a simple black dress rocking with sobs.

She didn't move for almost an hour she just stood there over his grave while she sobbed and cried.

Sobbed and cried…

Finally, after almost two hours of waiting and worrying that she might pass out from the heat of the sun she unmindfully endured, Richard walked over to Maine and handed her a handkerchief.

He looked down at the gravestone that read:

Ivan Miranda
1993-2016

While she wiped her tears. She took a deep breath and finally spoke, her voice weak and tired.

“He was good to me, you know…”

Richard didn't speak. He found her statement hard to believe.

“He was. For the first few weeks that we were together. He took her care of me and made me feel good about myself again. He made me happy and promised to take care of me and the baby.”

Richard stood beside her wanting to hold her but couldn't, needing to comfort her but couldn't. He stayed still and let her go on.

“He promised to take care of my baby even if he wasn't his. How can any woman resist that? I was alone and scared and weak and… and... fucking stupid…”

Richard closed his eyes and took a deep breath breath, fighting back the tears, biting back the words. She must have this. Let Maine have this. Let her talk about him.

“He was there and I needed someone to be there so I believed him. I trusted him. I loved him.”

He clenched his fist as those last words shot through his heart like tiny darts.

“Then he lost his job and he started drinking and taking drugs. He came home drunk and high every night and started looking at me differently. He called me names and blamed me and the baby for the bad luck he was having.”

She started sobbing again and this time he couldn't resist the need to hold her so he did. He draped a comforting arm over her shoulders and held her close.

“He… He would yell at me. This is all your fault, bitch. You and that demon child cursed me. You don't love me. I know you don't. You're still into that Richard guy, are you?” Maine recalled Ivan's words.

His guilt resurfaced at the mention of his name. If only he wasn't such a coward. If only he wasn't so god damned selfish. If only he was ready to be a father.

She continued telling what Ivan used to yell at her. “You just needed someone to fuck you. Well, I can do that. I can fuck you hard. Come here.” Maine's sobs grew stronger and she could barely say the next part of her story but she continued.

“Then… Then… He would pull me a… and… he would force himself into me and he would… he would deliberately ram hard into me until I cried… until he knew it hurt.”

Richard clenched his free hand into a fist so hard that his knuckles turned white and his nails dug into his palm. He bore them deeper to numb the pain, to quiet down the guilt, to control the anger.

Maine sobbed and cried once more and he let her get it all out.

“Then he would hit me. He would slap my face and punch my arms. He would kick my leg and pull my hair. I wanted to run but I had nowhere to go. I had no one because you left me. You left and didn't look back". She finally looked up at him with a condemning look in her brown eyes. A big black and blue circle rounded her left orb while the other had a swollen brow with stitches on them. Bruises and scars now dominated her pretty face. “You. Left. Me". She repeated.

“Maine…” Richard paused and swallowed the painful lump in his chest and throat as his own tears started to fall incessantly. “I’m sorry. I'm so sorry. I was weak. I was selfish. I was a fucking asshole. I'm not sorry.” Richard dropped to his knees and cried begging for her forgiveness.

She didn't even look down on him instead she continued her story while he sobbed at her feet. “Ivan locked me up and left me with very little food and water. I feared for my dear Christopher's life everyday.” She said as she rubbed her round belly. “And I prayed hard for someone to save us… for all of it to be over.”

She took a deep breath before resuming. “God must have heard my pleas. When the police came to our house, broke the lock and told me he died in a car crash while driving under the influence, I cried. I cried not because I mourned him but because I am free… We are finally free. We had no one else but each other but we are free".

Richard got back up, with wobbly knees, to his feet. His handsome face now tear streaked and his eyes full of remorse.

“I'm here now, Maine. Let me take care of you and our son.”

She stared at him with determined eyes. No pain. No fear. No sadness.

“But we don't need you now.” Maine said in a cold voice. “We survived months of hell with that monster. We don't need anyone else to take care of us. I should have done that before when you walked away from us. Goodbye, Richard.”

Maine wiped her tears, turned her back against him and walked away.

“Maine, please…” Richard called her back but this time she was the one who didn't listen. She was the one who didn't look back.