The Cost of Silence

The Cost of Silence chapter 7

Chapter 7

I was right. My mom was sorry that she missed it. I found that out as I was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, waiting to be let in to see Stella. My mom ran up, tears running down her face. "oh my god, Amy!" she said, running up and hugging me. I almost hugged her back, but something held me back. I knew that that something was, too. She could have stopped this from happening, if she hadn't been off screwing that

one guy.

When I didn't say anything, or even acknowledge her existence, my mom stopped hugging me and looked at me, tears in her eyes. "Amy, honey, talk to me," she begged, "I'm so sorry that this happened to you girls. I had no idea, I, I..." my astonished look shut her up. so she wanted me to talk to her? Okay then. "of course You had no idea!" I said, "you were never around to see it! You were always off fucking your boy toy!"

I was mad at my mom for not being there to stop my father from hurting Amy, but the look on my moms face told me that I might have been just a little too harsh. Just a little, if that. "I'm so sorry, Amy," she said, "I should have been there. But I couldn't handle your father. You know what he's like..." unbelievable. I decided that I had definitely NOT been too harsh on her. "yeah, I do know what he's like," I said, trying not to cry, "more then you did."

Realization showed on my mothers face. "Amy, honey," she said slowly, "did your father...did he....rape you, too?" I just stared at my mother for a long minute, and then I got up and walked away. I needed to see Stella.

Stella had a mild concussion, a broken arm, and bruises everywhere, along with the physical and emotional hurt of being sexually abused. However, she was finally conscious, and had apperantly been demanding to see me. Why someone didn't let me in to see her until now, I didn't know why.

I walked into the room she was in, and burst into tears when I saw her laying there, so little, innocent, and broken. It broke my heart just looking at her. Yes, my mother should have been there, but it was my fault, too. I didn't protect Stella, either. And now she was paying the price for it.

"AMYYY!" she yelled when she saw me, trying to sit up. I walked over to her and held her down. "no, Stella, you have to rest," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Stella looked horrible, frankly. But I could tell she was trying to be strong. "I'm sorry Amy," she said quietly, shocking the hell out of me. "Stella, why in the world are you sorry?" I asked, confused. I should have known, though. I had been in her position before.

"it's my fault," she whispered. I shook my head and grabbed Stellas hand. "no, it's not, I promise," I said, squeezing her hand tight. I didn't want to ever let go. Stella wasn't going to admit that it wasn't her fault, though. She seemed dead set on thinking that it was. "no, Amy," she insisted, "I should have stopped him. I stopped him before."

I froze. She had 'stopped him before'? That meant that he had at least attempted to...rape her before. It was hard to even think about that, let alone talk about it, but I had to.

"what do you mean, you've 'stopped it before'?" I asked quietly, "tell me everything that daddy's done. As much as I wanted that creep locked up, and I definitely wanted to help Stella, I really didn't want an answer. Well, I got one anyways.

"daddy liked to come into my room at night, a lot," she explained quietly, her four year old body shaking, "Sometimes I would hide, and he'd leave me alone. But sometimes he would touch me, and hurt me. He told me that it was 'our little secret' and that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. Especially not you or mommy." she stopped talking for a minute and let a sob escape before continuing. "but today, he was throwing things, and breaking stuff, and he threw me at a wall. Then I woke up here, and I hurt all over!"