When we turn around, I'm taken back yet again.
"Please won't help you. No one is going to help you." And I knew he was right. Even when people had come to the house, they wouldn't help us. We were the definition of helpless. No matter how many people I told, or tried to tell, there was no fix. The only way out of this would be to turn 18 and get the hell out. Then I would have to go to the police and get Max out, too. Just thinking of her living here by herself pained me. I winced as he moved to hit me again.
A knock at the door stopped him. He looked at me with angry eyes, probably assuming that I had something to do with it and CPS was here. Little did he know that I gave up on that a long time ago.
We travelled slowly downstairs and I knew I'd get in trouble for it later but I sat on the stairs, waiting to see who had come to our door. My dad hesitated before grabbing the doorknob, twisting it, and pulling the door back. Standing in our doorway was an older woman with a clipboard in her hand. My mom came up behind my dad, wearing her signature sickly sweet smile as she wiped her hands on a dish towel.
"May we help you?" My mom always took care of it when there were people here. Her sweet Southern charm would give them no shadow of a doubt that we were a loving family. So my dad stepped aside, letting my mom take over. My dad glanced at me on the stairs, a warning look in his eyes.
"Yes, actually, I'm with the county federal office and I was just doing a routine checkup on the property and I saw that you guys actually have a violation of overgrowth in the back. I am required to file this and you will have 14 days to trim it or a fine will be issued. You guys seem like sweet people though so I'm sure we won't be having a problem."
"Oh, of course not. We'll get that taken care of right away," my mom answers as my dad gives me a look and I curse to myself, knowing he's going to make me take care of it. He's too lazy of a motherfucker to actually do anything on his own.
After exchanging goodbyes, my mom shuts the door. My dad stalks up to me. "Looks like you've got a job to do." He starts walking past me but stops, turns, and grabs my face. "Oh yeah and if that was another person here to check up on you, we would've had an issue and I want you to keep that in mind." His voice is low, his face directly in front of mine.
The next day, I was laying on my bed when he came in with a pair of cutters, tossing them on my bed. "We don't have a saw?" I ask and he shakes his head. I knew we had a saw, he was just being a dick. He wanted me to cut back the bushes and trees all by hand.
"I want it done by dinner time." And with that, he leaves. I glance at the clock, its 9:44 AM. The temperature is listed right beneath it. 84 degrees. I groan in frustration before moving to change. I change into a tank top and a pair of shorts, usually what I wear to football practice.
When I get outside, my nightmare gets even worse as I gawk at the manifestation that is the bushes, the sun beaming down on me. I gulp. Where do I even start? With a shake of my head, I begin cutting at the bushes. Not even 10 minutes later I was dripping sweat and had pulled my shirt off so I could breathe. The lady said 14 days why is he making me do it in one? Though, I already know the answer.
He simply loves to torture me.
When dinnertime reached, I had gotten mostly done but I knew he wouldn't be satisfied. In fact, he would never be satisfied. As I cut the last of the bushes, I began to concoct a plan in my head to get out of this. How could I report them without being caught? Just then, my dad came out. Without saying a word, he inspected the bushes. His eyes lit with fury and he came over to me, grabbing my arm. He pulled me into the house and all the way to the front door. Then he opened it, pushing me outside. His shove was so intense, knocking me onto my bum.
"Don't come back unless you're ready to work like a man." And with that, he shut the door on me. I heard it lock as I laid there, stunned. He had never kicked me out before. He had beat me senseless but never this. This punishment was almost merciful compared to everything else he's done to me.
I slowly stood up, making sure I hadn't sprained anything in the fall. My body was surely to be sore tomorrow but nothing seemed injured. But now what the hell was I going to do? Where was I going to go?
I don't have money for a hotel and I have no friends that I can go for some couch surfing. After looking thoughtfully at the house, I turned around. Standing at the end of the driveway was a small brown-haired girl with a shocked expression.
Shit. Amanda must've seen everything. Now I have to tell her and knowing her, she won't it go.
"Mandy. What are you doing here?" I ask as I approach her cautiously. My voice almost breaks her out of her trance and she meets my eyes.
"I, uh, came to check on you cause you weren't in school today." She glances back at the house and then back at me. "Are you okay?"
"Yes?" I say but it comes out as more of a question. Mandy doesn't look convinced. "I'm not going to able to fool you, am I?"
She shakes her head with her lips pressed into a hard line.
"Okay, I'll tell you. But can we go somewhere else?" She nods her head in understanding.
We ended up walking to the park. When we found a bench to sit at, she looked at me expectantly so I could continue.
"My dad is abusive. He has been since I was little. That's why I get bruised up, not football." I take a deep breath as she just looks at me solemnly. "But Mandy please do not get involved. I don't want him hurting you, too. And I have a 5 year old sister, Max. I can't leave her. If the police come and take her away from me, I don't know what I'd do."
"So you're just going to endure the abuse?" I sigh, looking down at my hands in my lap.
"Just until I'm 18. Then I can move out and report them. That way, I can take Max rather than her going to some stranger." Her hand finds it's way to my shoulder. Warmth fills my chest.
"Where are you going to stay tonight?" This makes me gulp.
I shrug. "I have no idea."
She looks up at the trees, thinking to herself for long moments. "Come to my house. My parents will be out late tonight so I can get you in without them knowing. In the morning, I can just sneak you out."
"Mandy, I can't ask you to-"
"Shut up. You're not asking and I'm not either. You're coming." And with that, we left the park to go to her house. We spent the whole night talking about things and I told her some details of my abuse and why I had gotten kicked out. She didn't want me to go back but I had to. Max was still there.
So the next morning, I went home by myself once again. When he opened the door and saw me standing there, I pressed my lips together in thought before speaking. "I'm ready."
"Oh, are you, now?"
A deep voice snaps me back to reality. "If I were you two, I'd follow me before things get ugly." I meet Bryan's eyes and fury lights within me. But I can't act on it, not now. He turns around, walking down the hall and towards the elevator.
I tighten my grasp on Mandy's hand as I pull her towards the door. I don't turn to her as I whisper words to her. "Mandy, whatever happens, I want you to make sure Max is okay." Mandy gives my hand a squeeze.
"We're going to be fine." After a few more moments of walking, we step into the elevator alongside Bryan. Once the door closes, he turns to us, gesturing at our hands held together and white-knuckled.
"Move on fast, now do we?" He asks Mandy before turning to me. "Let go and stand in front of me. No cameras are going to see me." I give Mandy a look before letting go. I step forward, in front of Bryan. It's not long before I feel his pistol against my back. I stare straight ahead. The elevator dings as we reach the fourth floor. "417." Bryan announces and I nod, walking towards the room.
We walk in deadly silence and when we get there, Bryan uses his keycard to get us in. I try to lean backwards so he doesn't see or feel my gun but I already know it's too late when he freezes and smirks. Without a word, he reaches into my waistband and removes my gun. I curse to myself.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." He says to me as if I'm a toddler that snuck candy from the candy jar. Then he shoves me into the room as I hear Mandy gasp behind me. I fall flat on my face which makes Bryan laugh. He tugs Mandy into the room and I look up at him with a glare.
I want to tell him not to touch her but that will only make the unstable man more unstable. He was like a bomb waiting to go off. One of us was going to get hurt by the end of this. And I'll be damned if I let that be Mandy.
Bryan grabs us roughly, pulling to wooden chairs that he had put next to each other. He shoves us into the chairs and grabs the rope he had put on his dresser. I had been tied up before. But I was more scared then than I am now. I've grown since then. I was more scared for Mandy than I was for myself.
After he ties us both securely to the chairs, he starts digging in my pockets. "Have to make sure you don't try to pull anything sneaky." The only thing that he's able to fish out is my phone. Then, he turns to Mandy. My blood boils as his hands roam her pants, checking her pockets too. Mandy gives me a look, as if saying that it's okay. But this is far from okay.
He pulls out Mandy's phone, too. Then he walks over to the window. "Wouldn't want officer dingo tracking you guys now would we?" He opens the window, quickly tossing the phones far away from the building. I hear sirens in the far distance. "You kids behave. I'm going to go have fun playing cat and mouse with the cops."
I want to call him a sicko. I want to talk back. But I know better. When I would talk back to my dad as a kid, I only did it when I knew it couldn't get any worse. This situation could get a hell of a lot worse. He could go after Mandy. Or her family. Or mine. I couldn't risk it.
So I watch in angry silence as he winks at us before leaving the hotel room. As the sirens near closer, all hope I had felt begins to fade away.