excerpt:
We all try in our own ways to be free….
Prologue
I stood staring at the house while hidden deep in the bushes across the way. I remembered this place. It was one of the few memories I hadn’t forgotten or forced myself to ignore. We hadn’t lived there long before I had been sent away to stay with Uncle Keith and Aunt Larissa, only about eight months. I knew my mother Karen was still in the house with my younger sister Kira; I had seen them leave it earlier. My mother must have taken her somewhere because my sister hadn’t gotten out of the car when Mom came back. I kept myself still, rooted in the bushes, afraid to move, terrified that my Uncle Keith was watching the house, waiting for me so that he could grab me and return me to the hell that I escaped from once again.
Uncle Keith had had me for almost three years. Three long,brutal years, and my mother had never come for me, not even to see me. Once, I had managed to call her in the beginning, buthe had come in and taken the phone. After a short conversation, Uncle Keith hung up with my mother, and I had gotten beaten so severely that I never tried to call her again. I knew he and my mother talked often, and why wouldn’t they? Hewas her brother. When my mother sent me to live with Uncle Keith and his family, she told me it would be until the wedding. She was marrying Kira’s father now that his wife had died and didn’t have the time for me. I had asked why Kira could stay and not me, but instead of an answer, I got a slap and was told to go to my room with a cold hiss.
I cried when I was sent on the plane by myself. I had only been ten and had never been away from my mother. I cried when my Aunt Larissa picked me up at the airport. I had cried in the dingy room in the basement that I had been given. I was still crying when my Uncle Keith came home. I found out quickly what my uncle felt about my crying. He told me that if I wanted to cry, he would give me something to cry about, and he did. Other than an occasional slap, I had never been hit before, so I wasn’t prepared when the strap came down across my back. I still had the scars from that beating.
I had been allowed to stay in my room until my back healed enough to move without the wounds reopening, but as soon as Aunt Larissa told Uncle Keith that I was all right, my servitude started. I cooked, cleaned, and wasn’t allowed to leave the house. When people came over, I was sent downstairs and told not to make a sound, locked in my dingy room until they were gone, and it was time for me to clean. My Uncle and Aunt had two children. Two children who had no problem treating me just as their parents treated me. I was never family to them, just someone to do their dirty work. My Uncle was a monster, and they knew it. They knew and didn’t care because with me there, they weren’t subject to his temper; everything came to me.
Shaking my head, I fought free of the memories threatening to drown me. I needed to take the chance and go to my mother. She'd let me stay with her once she knew what Keith had been doing to me. I knew she would. Running across the quiet street, I hurried to the front door and knocked. My heart pounded in my chest as I frantically scanned behind me. When the door finally opened, I was in full-blown terror and launched myself at my mother, wrapping my arms around her and trying to stop my tears.
“Mommy.” I sobbed, unable to believe that I had made it. I was safe.
Instead of the welcome, I expected my mother snarled. “For god's sake, Vanessa, get off of me.” Stumbling back at the push she gave me, I watched through my tears as she wiped her shirt, her disgust evident. “Look what you did to my shirt. Do you know what this costs!”
“I’m, I’m sorry.” I whimpered in confused shock at the anger I could feel vibrating off of her.
“You should be. Now get inside before the neighbors see you.” She told me as she turned her back and walked away.
It took a moment for me to get up. Everything seemed to be frozen at the cold greeting. Numbly, I climbed to my feet and carefully closed the door before following her. Taking a seat at the counter in the kitchen, I pushed back my hair at her stare of obvious disapproval. “Mom I…”
“Oh, for Christ's sake, Vanessa, do you know the inconvenience you’ve caused me. “She said, interrupting me before I could finish.
My eyes went wide. “But, Mom.”
“Don’t you but mom me. I had to cancel several events this week to stay home and wait to see if you showed up here. You’re just lucky that Jackson’s out of town this week for work.” Jackson was her husband, but why would it matter if he was away? “The last thing I need is you showing up here and bothering him. He’s a very busy man and doesn’t have time to deal with your temper tantrums.”
“Mom, you don’t understand….”
Copyright © 2023 Angelique Jones - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy