Outer Space

Chapter 18 - Mommy No! (Flashback)

    "Mommy? Mommy where are you? I'm going to be late to school mommy." Jemma said as she walked through the halls of her childhood home. Jemma had just celebrated her sixth birthday over the weekend and she was still reeling from the excitement. The best part was that her dad came back for a little while. She loved when her dad came back.

But now Jemma knew that since it was a Monday, it was time for her to go back to school. Her mommy usually woke her up on the mornings of school days but for some reason today she didn't. When Jemma had finally had the strength to open up her eyes this morning she looked over at the alarm clock that she practically forced her mom to buy her. It read 9:13. That was weird, Jemma thought because for school her mommy would wake her up at 7:30 on the dot every morning.

"Mommy?" Jemma yelled again, still getting no response. "Mommy I don't like hide and go seek. It's not fun." Jemma whined. Where was her mommy? She was supposed to be at school. She couldn't wait to tell her friends about her birthday party and all the cool presents that she had gotten. She couldn't wait to brag about the big surprise that her dad gave her.

Jemma decided that she would check her mom's bedroom first. Maybe school got canceled and that's why she didn't wake her up this morning or maybe her mom was taking her out for an extended birthday weekend. Yeah, that must be it, Jemma thought. Her mommy was going to surprise her by taking her out for the day.

When Jemma opened the door to her mother's room it was empty. Her mom was not there and her bed was made. That was weird. Usually in the morning after they were both ready the two girls would have a little extra time so Jemma's mom would let Jemma come snuggle up in bed with her before they had to leave. But her bed looked as if it hadn't been touched all night. Actually, as Jemma looked around she noticed how clean the room was. She always thought that her mom leaned more toward the slob side than the neat freak, but maybe she just cleaned up this morning as she awaited Jemma's waking up.

"Mommy!" Jemma called out once again but this time she was just irritated. She didn't want to play these games.

Jemma walked out of her mother's bedroom and looked around once again. Where else could she be Jemma pondered? But all the thinking seemed to remind her that she hadn't peed yet this morning and she was beginning to feel like she was going to explode if she didn't get to a bathroom fast.

She walked her way over to the bathroom and was surprised to find that the door was closed. But she didn't have any trouble opening it, seeing as it was unlocked. What Jemma saw when she walked in that bathroom was not at all what she was expecting.

Her mom. She was there. She was collapsed on the floor covered and surrounded by blood, her own blood. Jemma couldn't comprehend what was happening but she felt her legs become warm and wet and she felt her throat begin to hurt.

She had no idea how long she was in that bathroom for. She had walked up to her mother's lifeless body and tried to shake her, she had screamed, "Mommy! Mommy!" Over and over again. At one point she remembered looking down to see her hands along with her pajamas covered in the same blood that her mother was covered in.

Jemma felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pull her away from her mom. She didn't let up the screaming. She kicked and punched as she waved her limbs around in every which way possible.

Jemma was taken out of the bathroom and at this point, she had no idea who was behind her, she had no idea of whose arms she was in. But she also didn't care. She wanted to go back to her mommy. She wanted to hug her mommy again. She wanted to look at her mommy again, even though what she had seen already would be forever engraved in her mind.

"Shh... shh... you're okay, you're okay Jemma. Breath for me okay, breath." At first, she still was unsure of who was holding her, of who was speaking the calming words to her, but she eventually recognized the voice. It was one of their neighbors. He had always been nice to Jemma in the past. He had come over a few times before and sometimes when Jemma was running and playing in the hallways he would walk by and be nice to her. His name was Isaac she was pretty sure.

Isaac hugged her and did his best to comfort her. They were in the living room now and if Jemma turned her head she could still see the bathroom and she could easily spot the red, bloody handprint that covered the door. It was her handprint, she must have tried to grab the door in her attempt to escape Isaac's grasp.

..........

Eventually, more people began to flood into her apartment. Her home was filled with people in uniforms. Now she was just scared. Her mommy told her that the police only came when you did something bad but she didn't do anything bad, did she?

"Hey Jemma," Isaac said to her. He hadn't left her side at all since he arrived and deep down she was so grateful to have someone there that she was at least partly familiar with. He was better than all the strangers that were walking about, her mommy told her never to trust strangers.

"Jemma," Isaac repeated, "I think this nice lady wants to talk to you. What do you think? Can you talk to her a little bit?" She didn't want to. She never wanted to speak again, not to these people. She didn't know these people. They weren't her mommy. She wanted her mommy.

So she shook her head no, but that didn't stop the so called nice lady from talking. There were so many people who talked to her over the next couple of days. They all sat her down to try to get her to say something, anything. The police officers, shrinks, social workers, foster parents. She hadn't seen Isaac since the day she found her mom. She wondered where he went off to.

The only people that she wanted to talk to were her mommy or daddy but those police officers told her that her mommy was gone. They had used the words passed away. She hadn't known what that meant at first but it didn't take much to find out. Someone also told her that hey couldn't find her daddy or that her daddy didn't want to come.

Jemma listened to everyone around her, she became the one six year old that never had a word to say. At least that was until she met a little boy. He was a boy that had the same sad look in his eyes that she held in her own. He would wake her from her nightmares and tell her that everything would be okay, the same way her mom used to do when she had a bad dream. He brought her back to reality or whatever reality she had left.