Crushed (2 page)

         
The next morning I called my friend Lisa who works at our local police department
and told her what happened. She and her partner Brett came right to the hotel
and drove me over to my mom and Rick’s house. The second we pulled up into the
driveway I felt like I was going to die. I was starting to shake, I was seeing
spots in the corner of my eyes and thought I was going to vomit all over the
back of the police car.

Lisa
walked me in, holding my hand while Brett stood behind us for “reinforcements”
I think we all knew it wasn’t necessary, Rick might be willing to hurt me when he
thought we were alone, but I knew my mom was home and he wouldn’t do anything
to mess that up. When we got to the door, instead of walking in I knocked.
Waited several moments and then my mom opened the door. I felt the bile rising
once again. She looked perfect. As usual. Hair perfectly coifed, pearls on and
a “home sweet home” apron over her dress. This wasn’t a woman whose daughter
was here to collect her stuff the day after her boyfriend assaulted her. No,
this was the woman who lived a perfect life and chose said boyfriend over her
child. Something hardened in me right then.

“Hey
Sheryl” I said, with my best polite voice “I’m here to collect my belongings
and then I will be right out of your hair.

I
took a step into the house and noticed Rick that slime ball with a smile on his
face watching the Dodgers game. I wanted to hurt him. He knew what he did to me
and he knew he was lying to my mother. He didn’t care

I
went into my room and started packing, I wasn’t even sure what I was grabbing
at first. I kept thinking of that dirty man sitting 400 feet away in the other
room. I just wanted to get out of there. I grabbed very few clothes instead
deciding that the things that belonged to my dad were more important. I was
just about done, when I glanced down into the bedroom waste basket and noticed
that someone had crumpled a photo and thrown it away. I bent over and picked it
up and saw that it was a picture of me and my dad at my last softball game
where I was given the MVP trophy. Someone scratched my dad’s face off the photo
and had written the words “slut” above my head.

I
knew it was Rick. I looked over at Lisa, who looked pretty shocked that someone
would defile a picture of a dead man and his daughter. I handed her my suitcase
and then Brett the larger one and asked them if they would walk ahead of me. I
was thankful in that moment that Lisa was my friend, because I knew what I was
about to do would have gotten me arrested with anyone else.

I
walked into the living room, my mom was sitting at the edge of the couch,
looking uncomfortable clearly she just wanted me to get out.

“According
to George Mason’s will Sheryl, Lacey and I own the house. Lacey wants nothing
to do with it, and I couldn’t stand to be in this town with either of you for
another moment so I am going to call the realtor and rent it out this week.
Your stuff will be boxed and sent to storage where you will be contacted to
come and pick it up. Any personal belongings of dads, mine or Laces’ are going
into another storage that you will NOT have access to. As for your money that
dad left you, I hope it lasts you a long time because as of today I am done
with you. I will never step foot in your home again. I will not be sending you
Mother’s day cards, I will not call to sing to you on your birthday and when I
get married you will not be invited. I’m going to keep living, that’s what dad
taught me, to be strong, to be brave and to love the right people.”

“You
are my mom, I loved you so much I thought your job in life was to protect me
and last night I needed you more than in any other moment before. You chose
someone else over me, you chose that.” I said gesturing wildly to Rick who had
stopped watching the game and was now turned facing me with an angry look on
his face

“My
dad was the greatest man alive, he was kind, he was handsome and he loved
something fierce he would never ever hurt another person and you and I both
know that he would never hurt me in the way that you have hurt me”.

I
paused unsure of what to say next

“One
day I am going to have babies, and I am never going to be able to bring them to
meet their grandma, I am going to tell them stories about their Grampy, but you
no longer exist. I don’t understand what would make you believe that I, your
own daughter would flirt with your boyfriend, you know what dad told me about
boys. I don’t even date you of all people should know that I am careful. I’ve
never even had sex and you knew this.” I heard a gasp come from Rick “you
should have chosen me mom. You were supposed to choose me”.

I
looked one last time at my mom who now had her head bowed, fidgeting with her
hands and I could see tears dripping down her face.

I
walked towards the door, but before I left I walked over to Rick’s prized
Dodger baseball collection. On the side of it, there was a signed collector’s
bat. I picked it up and smashed the large cabinet to pieces, glass and
collector’s items crashing to the floor. Rick came rushing towards me but
before he could reach me, I swung the bat right into his face the loud crunch
of it breaking filling the room and blood began to gush through the hands that
were holding it.

“You
fucking bitch” he spat

I
looked at him

“Yeah,
you got that right. That’s for taking the only parent I had left away from me.
Enjoy Rick, some of this stuff might be ruined”

Before
anyone could say anything I walked through the door.

Brett
and Lisa were both bent over laughing.

A
slight laugh escaped my lips, right before the tears started to fall.

         
Lacey was always really good with her money. She had a great job where she
worked as a publicist for a television studio in LA. She rented a house in
Bradbury, which meant she only had to travel about half an hour to get to work
every day. She considered living in LA when she first moved out here, but dad
told her he didn’t want to have to worry about her every day. People who don’t
live in California think that LA is this really great town where all the rich
people live. They don’t realize that most rich people live as far away from the
city as they can possibly get.

         
Jason has been Lacey’s boyfriend for about 3 years now. She met him the first
year she moved down here. He works for his brother Ryan, who at the time was a
new up and coming actor. Jason was really hot. He had brown hair, green eyes
and was super sweet to Lacey. He and I hung out a lot when she came up to spend
her vacations with us. She didn’t do that much after dad died. Jason was like a
big brother and he was perfect for Lacey.

         
They lived together most of the time, Jason lived with his brother Ryan, if he
had to travel. I was worried that going to stay with them would cause issues,
but I was kind of relieved that Lacey had offered for me to come up there. I
needed her.

         
The drive from Lakewood to Bradbury isn’t long, about 29 minutes or so, but it
still wasn’t a trip we made often. Lacey moved away for a reason. I never
really understood why she didn’t stay home, but I figured one day she would
explain it all to me.

         
I pulled up to the big house at around noon. I sat in my car for a few minutes
unsure of moving. Just needing to have quiet for a few more minutes. Before I
had a chance to talk myself out of being here, the front door flew open and
Lacey came running out with Jason right behind her both wearing cheesy grins.

         
“You made it” she said throwing my driver side door open

“I
made it” I said unbuckling before she could rip me out of my seat

I
stood up to hug her. Lacey had always been tall. She was built like dad, but looked
just like our mom. She was beautiful. Light brown hair, piercing blue eyes and
always thin.

         
“I am so glad you are here, let’s get inside and get you situated” she said,
pulling me towards the front door.

Jason
nodded at me walking past me to get my bags from the car

         
When we got inside I noticed right away that it was covered in Jason’s sports
stuff. He loved basketball and baseball. He was one of the few living people
who truly understood the sacrifice I made when giving up softball.

There
was a long sofa against the one wall, another on the far wall of the room and a
huge big screen TV across from the bigger one.

         
It was a fairly large house. Not as big as some of the other’s on the street,
this was a very expensive town to live in. Lacey got lucky when she found it.
Most of the town’s residents were celebrities or rich in other aspects. She
didn’t really socialize a whole lot with the people who lived on her street,
but she knew some of them.

         
We got inside and Lacey led me to the couch, urging me to sit down.

“Okay”
she said “let’s have everything in detail. What happened this morning?”

As
I was telling her Jason came in from the hallway and sat down across from us.
He didn’t look happy when I told him about Rick smiling as I said my “dramatic”
goodbye to my mom.

When
I reached the end of my story, and told them how I smashed Rick’s Dodger
collection with his prized bat, and then his nose they both started
hysterically laughing.

“That’s
daddy’s girl” Lacey said, she stopped laughing and looked at me with sadness in
her eyes “God I’m sorry Emmy, I didn’t- I mean I shouldn’t have said that. If
daddy hadn’t died, you wouldn’t have ever had to go through any of this. I am
so so sorry sweetie” She said starting to cry, reaching over to take my hand.

“It’s
okay Lace, honestly I am okay. He didn’t get very far. I am just thankful mom
came in when she did. I am sad that she didn’t believe me, but we both know mom
isn’t strong enough to take on someone like Rick. I just couldn’t forgive her
for that. Not yet.” I explained

         
“I know Emmalyn, but you are 18 years old, you just graduated high school and
your step father tries to rape you. Your mother.
Our mother
should have believed
you, she should have left him right then and there and called the cops but she
didn’t. She’s selfish Em. She won’t ever change.

She
paused

         
“Did I ever tell you why I decided to move away”? She asked me, moving a bit
closer

“No”
I said

Lacey
looked at Jason, who nodded his head in approval for her to go on.

“I
was going to live at home and go to school” she started “I didn’t want to leave
you and dad even mom. One day I came home from hanging out with Becky and Liz
and mom was sitting at the kitchen table with a boy I had never seen before.
You and dad were at one of your games or something, so I knew he wasn’t there
for one of you. When I walked into the kitchen she asked me to come in and sit
down. As I did she introduced the boy as Aaron Jennings. She told me that he
was from the local church and was on his way to Harvard in the fall. Clear
across the country Harvard.”

         
“She was talking, raving about this boy sitting across from me, who had his
palms flat on the table looking down like he was nervous. He was wearing a
freaking bow tie, who the hell wears bow ties anymore?” Lacey was laughing

“I
don’t know” I answered

“Well
anyway, it took me a second to realize that she wasn’t just
raving
about
him, she was trying to
sell
him to me. Like he was a damn dog or
something. I looked at mom and asked her what the hell
this kid was
doing here and mom says ‘I want you to start dating him, it’s time you think
about your future Lacey, and you can be married by next summer and start having
babies when Aaron graduates. He will make more than enough money, so that isn’t
an issue and you can all fly back out here during the summer and be with us.”
Lacey paused

“What?”
I asked her confused about her story. “You mean mom was trying to arrange a marriage
for you, what the fuck?”

“She
was, dad didn’t know anything about it, and I knew it the moment mom told me
not to say anything to him or to you about Aaron. I think she thought that I
was a whore, we all know I had a lot of boyfriends in high school. But at 19
she thought that I should be thinking about getting married and having kids.
Forget the fact that I was on my way to UCLA, she wanted me to give that up and
follow Aaron. A guy I met 5 minutes before. I freaked out, threw down the
kitchen chair and told mom to go fuck a dildo. I was pissed” Lacey recalled

         
“Um, I would have been too” I told her now reaching over to hold her hand

“You
know Emmy that Mom and I were always so close when I was growing up. You had
dad, and I had mom. We always did so much together, we were best friends. Then
a few months before dad died something in mom went really wrong. She no longer
wanted to hang out with me. When we did she would tell me that I was starting
to get chunky, or that my hair should be kept up more often, leaving my hair
down made me look wild and free and that I would never find a respectable man
to take me if I didn’t clean up. Like I was a dog that needed to be adopted or
something” Lacey’s voice dropped quiet

         
“Dad didn’t want me to move away, when I told him what mom had been doing, and
about Aaron he and mom had a huge fight. Screaming and yelling, I had never
heard anything like it. I felt like I was causing them to break, they had been
so in love for so long. That night dad and I were sitting outside after you had
gone to bed to read or something dad told me something shocking “Lay, I am
going to tell you something that Em doesn’t know yet, and she can’t know just
yet…. Your mom and I….we aren’t happy, we haven’t been happy for a long time.”

She
stopped talking. Tears streaming down her face

“Dad
told me that he had been seeing someone else for about a year, which actually
made a whole lot of sense because he and mom were hardly ever in the same room
together if you remember.” She looked at me

“I
do remember that, but I never thought dad would cheat on her” I said

“I
don’t think he really wanted to, but mom was changing and fast. She would get
hysterical over the littlest things. She would make fun of dad, or tell him
that he loved his job more than he loved his family. I didn’t understand it,
she never did it when you were around. I don’t think she wanted to ruin him for
you, but something changed between the two of them that final year and it made
mom worse.” She patted my hand

“When
Dad died, mom didn’t tell me right off the bat. She called to ask me if I
wanted to come home for the weekend. When I told her that I had plans with
Jason, she said ‘well your father is dead so if you think you can pencil us in
let me know and she hung up on me.”

         
“I called her back and she told me that dad was killed in a car accident. She
said she was sorry for not telling me the right way and I found the whole thing
to be very odd. My mom telling me my dad was dead like it was no big deal, a
random inconvenience in her.”

“I
realized that it kind of was. She and dad had been so far apart and she was so
angry with him so often, that I think she really was just far from caring. I
know that isn’t true. She had a total meltdown as soon as I got there. Again
not something she wanted to do in front of you. We all knew that his dying hit
you the hardest, there was no doubt. Mom asked me to leave school and stay
home, I told her I couldn’t, that you didn’t need me. I think she wanted to try
and control someone again, and we all know you are not one to be controlled”
she stopped giving a hard laugh

“This
is true” Jason said. I forgot for a while that he was here

“Anyway”
He went on “your mom should have had your back, and it was really fucked up
that she didn’t, but not a total shock. It doesn’t matter anymore. Rick
didn’t…. He wasn’t successful in what he tried to do to you that’s what matters
most, and you are here now. You don’t have to go back there. Stay here for as
long as you want, we are happy to have you. Lacey was talking about getting you
a job with her, it’s all going to be okay from here on out.”

Lacey
looked at me and smiled “yup kid you are stuck with us, we will take care of
you. You can start over here, out from under the thumb of the drama queen
herself.”