A Numb Nutshell

Chapter 9 ~ Get Him Out

As I kneel here, everyone just as confused as I am as to why my father is in our presence, Matt breaks the silent glares in the room. "Erin, hunn, why on earth haven't you gotten a restraining order yet? You've thought about it so many times, and your mom-" he cuts himself off. I can feel him looking at me with hurt in his eyes, knowing what he was about to say.

I slowly stand up, releasing Matt's hand as I do so. I take a step forward, tears starting to poor down my face. Unsure what to say next, I take another step.

"What could you possibly want with me now, Klark. You're a drunk, you have been since I was 5. You abandoned mom and me when I was 7, Debra was 4, she hadn't even started K1 yet. You were the reason mom had a miscarriage at the end of her first tri.. we didn't even know if it was gonna be a girl or boy. You abused my mother, and thought it was completely fine. You.." I stopped and took a breath. I took another step forward. "You killed her when I was 13, Debra was at granny's, but me? I was in the other room when you started beating her. I heard it all. From the name calling, to her begging you to stop, to you smashing her favourite flower vase that YOU bought her, over her head. You thought it was funny. You thought she would be okay. Those weren't tiny cuts on her.. DAD. Ha.. you don't even deserve to be called a father. You're a dead-beat Klark. You shouldn't even be here. What, did you break out of prison just to tell me you love me? Lemme guess, guards are about to barge through that very door with guns loaded, telling us all to 'hit the ground'. Want me to call them for you, give them a head start?" I'm almost at arms reach in front of him by now, tears pouring down my face.

Klark opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out as if I've said everything he wanted to say. I look at Daniel, Jack and Molly, who are wide eyed, probably in shock. Quite frankly though, I don't blame them. I'm pretty surprised with myself, I never expected all that to just spill out.

My face is still damp from the occasional tears that have been falling. Everyone in the room is standing still, the only sounds being made are my slight sobs of frustration and pain, and everyone breathing as quietly as possible. I think I startled them all, but quite frankly.. I startled myself. I've never talked about what happened to my mom since the day the cops took him away in the back of their car.

I take a deep breath and break my glare from the being I used to call my father and slowly look around the room. Everyone seems to have the same looks on their face.

Fear.

Sorrow.

Hurt.

Anger.

Worry.

Everyone at first. Then, everyone except for Matt. Once we made eye contact, his expression changed to his soft look of comfort. He opened his arms just enough for me to see, and that's when I cracked.

I started with a slight tiptoe towards my best friend, slowly speeding up too a bashful run, although there's only so far I can reach, still being cuffed to the table and all. That's when I came crashing into his chest, like a wave on the beach. Immediately I melt to his form, doing what I should have done since the first night I've seen the inside of this building; The first night being at my Grandmothers house in years; The first night my mom was officially gone...

Cry.

And cry I did.