Chapter 17: Shattered Dreams
“Mom?”
“Cinderella!”
I felt sick. Mom’s normally strong angry voice was nothing more than a faint whisper. “Mom!” I screamed.
“Your father’s here.” She whispered. “He’s drunk. I locked the door but he won’t stop pounding. He’s trying to break it down. Please come home. He won’t hurt me if you’re here.”
I could hear my father’s evil voice slurring profanity through the door. I couldn’t really understand what he was saying but I did hear him scream my name. I’m pretty sure my heart stopped in that instant. Momma sounded so scared and I knew she was probably right about Hank. He wouldn’t hurt her if I were there. I dropped the phone to the ground and ran. I couldn’t let him hurt her, not again. She couldn’t die because of my temper. I felt sick. I had to stop it. Hank was mad at me. This was my battle.
Forget about the song, forget about the fancy dress, forget everything. It was only a matter of time before Hank got in the house and after what he did to her the last time there was no telling what would happen. I shuddered at the thought and ran from the ballroom as fast as I could. I didn’t mean to cause a scene, but I know there was more than one pair of eyes watching me as I escaped.
The only time my thoughts strayed from my mother once the rest of that night. As I flew out the doors I wondered if Howie had seen me go and what he must be thinking. I wondered if he might come after me and I prayed he wouldn’t. He would surely try to come with me and having him there would only complicate things.
I ran through the hotel lobby and when I got outside I realized for the first time that I had no way to get home. “Fuck!” I yelled earning a few surprised looks from the people around me. Even Driving like fucking Batman it would take nearly 15 minutes to get home. If I had to wait for a cab and then try to convince them to hurry, Mom would be dead long before I could reach her.
I fell to the ground losing all control of my emotions and cried. I had no control. No control over anything, not me, not my parents… My body started trembling and I felt as if I were going to be sick until I heard someone call my name. Shit! Howie was trying to stop me. But when I turned around Howie wasn’t there at all, it was Leighanne that had come running out the door behind me. Her face paled. “What happened?” she gasped falling to my side and throwing her arms around me.
“If he gets inside before I get there, he’ll kill her. I have to stop him.”
Part of me couldn’t believe I was admitting that, but I never have been able to keep anything from Leighanne. The thing about this was, that I never talked about what my father was really capable of doing to my mother and I. It was a defense mechanism I guess. If I didn’t say it out loud then I could pretend that it couldn’t really happen. But now I had. I’d physically said the words and it terrified me more than I ever thought possible. I looked around starting to panic. “Somebody call me a fucking cab!” I yelled.
I looked at Leighanne who had tears in her eyes as well and she let out a little gasp. “The limo!” she said. She ran over to the valet and after a moment returned to my side. “The limo is parked here at the hotel. It will be faster than waiting for a cab.”
I couldn’t believe Leighanne was helping me like that. I mean I knew she was sweet but the way she was thinking was like she really understood what was going on. I was barely able to whisper a thank you but I’m sure she could see how relieved I was. I threw my arms around her not only to thank her but because I was desperate for any reassurance I could get.
Seconds later Leighanne was shuffling me into the limo. I didn’t realize at first that she’d climbed in right behind me or I never would have let her come, but I wasn’t thinking straight. I heard her tell the driver that we had to get back to Hanley as fast as we possibly could and a tiny piece of me relaxed when he took her seriously. He obeyed traffic laws through Lexington but the moment we hit the highway he punched the gas.
That drive home was the most agonizing 15 minutes of my life. Leighanne and I sat in the back of the limo both with shaking bodies and tears spilling from our eyes. God only knows what my father was doing to my mother right now. “What if I’m too late?” I whispered.”
“Don’t say that.” Leighanne whispered back squeezing my hand tightly. “Maybe she called the police after she called you.”
Shit! Why hadn’t I thought of that? God I’m so stupid sometimes. I thought for a moment? Would my mother have called them? Before my brain could even think the answer, my head was involuntarily shaking. “Momma would never call the police on him.”
“Then we’ll call them.” Leighanne said.
I watched as she frantically looked around for her phone but it was nowhere to be seen. Apparently she hadn’t picked it up after I dropped it. Great. Oh well, its not like Sheriff Shithead and Deputy Dumbass have ever done much to help us before. Why should tonight be any different?
As we reached the Hanley town limits I got really nervous. If he had even touched my mom I was going to put a stop to it once and for all. I was ready to kill the fucking bastard and I didn’t care if it meant life in prison. I looked at the prim and proper beauty sitting next to me and I knew I didn’t want her to see what I knew we were walking into. I especially didn’t want her to be in any danger. She looked scared already and we weren’t even there yet. “Leighanne?” I said grasping her hands tightly. “Trust me when I say that no matter what, you do not want to get out of this car.”
“Cin! You can’t go in there by yourself.”
“Promise me! Lock the fucking doors and don’t step one foot out of this car! Hank is a bastard. He WILL hurt you if you get in his way.”
Leighanne took a sharp intake of breath. I could only imagine what might be running through her head. Slowly she nodded her head. “I promise.” She finally whispered.
I looked at her and forced the best smile I could. I took the locket from around my neck and placed it in Leighanne’s palm. She went white as I handed it to her. “For safe keeping.” I said. “I don’t want to break it or have that bastard steal it or something.”
The limo pulled into the trailer park and as we drove up to my place I could see that the door had been broken in but I didn’t hear and screaming. I was sure he had killed her. “Leighanne!” I said trying not to let my voice shake, “As soon as I get out I want you to go and get the police. Just turn right out of the trailer park and drive about 4 miles to Main St. Take a left and you’ll see it on the left about 2 miles up the road.” Leighanne nodded. “Just tell them I sent you. Tell them that Hank’s at it again and Cindy needs help. They’ll understand.”
Leighanne nodded one more time as tears flowed down her face. I started to jump out of the car and she grabbed me pulling me into a tight hug. “Be careful.” She whispered.
Shit! It was almost as if we were saying goodbye forever and I was marching to my doom. I smirked. It was a little melodramatic. After all, it was only Hank. Yeah he was a bastard and yeah he was dangerous, but I knew how to defend myself, I know I can take him, especially if he’s drunk. I gained a little of my confidence back and walked into the house. “Momma?” I yelled.
I heard her scream, “Cinderella! No! Don’t!” and I barely caught a glimpse of her terrified figure being held down by my father before the lights went out.
I don’t know how he did it, but it happened so fast I never saw it coming. I don’t even know how long I was unconscious. The only thing I do know for sure is that the real nightmare began when I came to. I recognized my bedroom but had no idea how I’d gotten there.
I’d obviously been hit in the head when I came through the door. With what, I don’t know, but it fucking did some damage. My head hurt so bad that I could hardly move and my vision was blurred from the blood that was trickling into my eyes. I laid there for a moment not sure if I could sit up when I felt someone’s hands gently pushing the blood soaked hair out of my face. “Not so tough now, are ya Princess?”
I may have had a severe concussion but I wasn’t messed up bad enough to forget that voice. I forced my eyes to focus and realized that Pete was straddling me. The strangest combination of panic and rage overcame me and I tried as hard as I could to crawl out from underneath him. When I began swinging my arms I was met with a sharp fist to my face. “Don’t fight it bitch!” he yelled, “You’ll only make it harder on yourself.”
I was already really weak from the blow to the head and that fat fuck must have weighed nearly 400 pounds. I was hurt and I was scared and I was pinned. I was fucking pathetic. So terrified that I couldn’t even scream for help, I couldn’t stop him. All I could do was watch as he pulled a butterfly knife from his pants pocket and slit my fucking brand new dress from bottom to top.
My muscled tensed as the cold metal blade ran along my skin threatening to slice me open if I flinched. My stomach churned when I felt his hands on me and I found myself whishing I would throw up all over him. Maybe then he might get off me. But just like the rest of my body, my stomach wasn’t listening to my brain.
My nightmare got worse when Pete slipped his hand under the only piece of clothing he hadn’t ripped off me yet. He moaned a little as he pushed his fingers deep inside me and I began thrashing wildly. Oh God how could he do this to me? How could I have let this happen? I kicked and I fought as hard as I could and I managed to free my right arm. Unfortunately I’m a lefty and my right arm has never really packed much of a punch so my hitting didn’t do any good. In fact all it did was piss him off.
He pulled his hand free from me and began smacking me around again. “I told you not to do that.” He warned but there was no way in hell I was going to go down without a fight.
I grabbed his arm and bit into it as hard as I could. I don’t even want to know what kind of nasty diseases I could contract from doing that, but for a moment he jumped back screaming in pain and I kicked him off of me. I jumped up off the bed but the moment I stood I nearly fell to the ground I was so dizzy. I tried to stumble my way out the door but Pete tackled me to the ground and apparently he’d had enough games this time. He kicked me in the stomach forcing all the air from my lungs and then beat me until I was unconscious again. I only blacked out for a second but the damage had been done. He’d managed to get his pants down and was holding his knife to my throat. I guess he was waiting for me to be awake when he fucking raped me. The sick bastard.
When I woke up I immediately began fighting again. “Do you want to die tonight?” he whispered coldly as he pushed the blade into my throat lightly drawing blood.
I froze except for the tears that ran down my cheeks and the blood that was still dripping from my head. I didn’t want to die tonight, that much I knew. I couldn’t help the whimpering and I begged him not to hurt me anymore.
I think the begging was what the sick fuck was actually waiting for because as I cried for help he only laughed in my face and then committed the worse act that anyone could ever do to another person. Right then I wished that he’d killed me instead.
It’s funny what your mind thinks about as your being raped. First of all it shuts down. You don’t bother fighting anymore. It’s too late and you know it, so you withdraw from your surroundings. Everything happened so fast and yet moved in slow motion. I wasn’t sure if I even knew what was really happening to me. I do remember thinking that it didn’t physically hurt the way I thought it would and I actually fucking smirked thinking that it was probably because he had suck a tiny pecker. Is that a fucking twisted thought to be having right then or what?
It didn’t really take the pervert that long to finish and he must have really enjoyed it because as he reached his climax he dropped his knife next to my face. The fucker didn’t even realize he’d done it. Fucking idiot! I grabbed the knife and jabbed it into the side of his gut as hard as I could. The man is so huge that I doubt I did all that much damage but I’m sure it still hurt like a damn son of a bitch.
Pete toppled off me rolling on the floor in pain but I was holding the knife so tightly that it stayed in my hand as he fell. He swore up a storm but was hurt badly enough that he didn’t get up. I pulled myself up as quickly as I could and wrapped a small blanket off my bed around me.
I was hurt bad and I knew it. I was surprised that I could even stand but somehow I managed to reach my bedroom door. As I pulled it open my father heard Pete’s cries and came running down the hallway. He stopped when he saw me standing there with a fucking bloody knife in my hand. “You crazy bitch!” he said, “You fucking stabbed him didn’t you.”
“I’ll do worse to you if you don’t get out of my fucking way.” I said hoping he wouldn’t notice how unsteady I was.
He laughed and then took a step toward me so I threw the knife at him. It landed in his chest somewhere near his shoulder and he drew back in shock. “God damn it Cinderella!” he yelled and then drew a gun from his waist.
I heard the shot go off and immediately fell to the floor. I knew I had to have been shot but somehow I didn’t feel any pain. Everything went dark but I wasn’t dead. Not yet anyway. I felt my father fall to the ground at my feet and took some satisfaction in the fact that if I were making the trip to the other side tonight then at least I would be taking him with me, or at least I hoped it.
The last thing I heard was my mother’s terrified screams and then another gunshot. After that all was silent. One final thought ran through my brain and although I couldn’t say the words, in my heart I told my momma I would see her in heaven and then told my father to go to hell.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey everyone! Just a quick warning... This chapter is pretty graphic (violence/sexual assult) so if that's not really your thing, just skip it and wait for the next one. You'll still be able to piece together enough of what happened without getting all the details. Otherwise, I'm really curious to hear what you think. I've read many stories with this kind of thing in it but have never written it myself. Hope I pulled it off.
