One… two… and a half bottles. That’s one less than last time, so maybe it won’t be so bad? The sound of a crash has me running to the other end of the house. I grit my teeth as I enter her room, there on the floor with blood running down the side of her head, is my mom. Of course I’m scared, but I’m a little bit numb to finding her like this lately.
I check her pulse and put her in the recovery position my friend had shown me, and then I call 911. It seems to take forever before they’re finally pulling up. The flashing blue lights make me retreat into my shell as I move out the way for the paramedics to attend to my mom. One of them asks me a question and I shake my head, no, there’s no one else here. They ask if there’s someone I can call to come and get me and I don’t even have to think.
“Yeah, my friend just lives down the bottom of the street. I can go stay at theirs until my dad get’s back,” I say with a shrug.
I should be more affected, but I just want to get out of here and to my safe place. I yearn to be able to just live with Hunter and his family. I’ve known him since I was old enough to walk, and his mom, Arlene, has always been there for me, they both have.
It’s just a matter of time before I get taken away from here. I pray for it every single day. I love my mom, but even at twelve years old I know I’ve lost her, and my dad is too busy with club business to even care about what’s going on around him. He checked out on us a long time ago in favor of the club. Whenever I try to bring it up he shouts and tells me I shouldn’t be running my mouth off telling everybody our business, like the neighbors and club members don’t already know that my mom’s an alcoholic and he’s a waste of space.
What I didn’t know at such a young age is that the club has the system in their pockets, and they will turn a blind eye to the likes of me being left to fend for myself with an alcoholic for a few bucks or a favor. What a messed up world we live in.
One of the paramedics walks over and wraps me up in a blanket, I relish in the feel of their arms around me, even if it is only for ten seconds, it’s ten seconds more than I normally get.
I shake my head to rid it of the memories and trail behind Sam through the hospital toward her mom’s room.
The next couple of hours go by in a blur, I give Sam some space to go see her mom on her own, and in that time she speaks to a doctor. Cindy’s going to be okay eventually but they’ve had to put her into a medically induced coma and of course that sounds worrying, even if she is being brought out of it soon.
Just after I’d left Sam to have alone time with her mom, I text Lewis. It was the only thing I could think of to do, I don’t know anybody else in Little Hollow. He arrives half an hour later, much to my surprise.
“You didn’t have to come, I just wanted to let you know that I probably wouldn’t be around to go riding with you tomorrow,” I say, trying not to look him in the eye as he sits down beside me.
“Of course I didn’t need to come, but I wanted to be here.”
He squeezes my knee and as his hand lingers there, I have a strange feeling wash over me. It kinda feels like my brother just touched me inappropriately, it feels weird and my skin prickles with unease.
I shuffle sideways and his hand drops. “Thanks for coming, I’m sure Sam will appreciate it.”
A throat clears and I look up into warm brown eyes. Connor? What’s he doing here? I turn toward Lewis and I have my answer.
“You called him?” Lewis nods and I look at Connor. “She asked you to leave, Connor. You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not here to cause trouble. I just need to know she’s alright, then I promise I’ll leave.”
I scan his face, I’m sure she asked him to leave out of confusion, she was upset and didn’t know what she was doing. Maybe in her time of need she’ll allow herself to just feel instead of over-analyzing things?
I sigh. “We’ve been allowed to stay in a family room across the hall from where they’ve got Cindy. I’ll take you to her but if she starts freaking out, you need to leave. Got it?”
He nods and follows me toward the room she’s in, asking me questions. I stare straight ahead of me as I relay the information that Sam has told me and when we reach the room, I clear my throat holding out a bottle of water to him.
“I told her I’d get her some water, give her this.” He hesitates before taking it out of my hand. “Well, go on then. You made your bed, now go lie in it.”
I smile at him sarcastically, am I going behind her back again? I sigh and make my way back to the waiting room, seeing Lewis waiting where we left him.
“I really did think I was helping,” he says, shrugging.