Part 28 (1/2)
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At that moment, Alison came through the front door and called out to me. With the knife in hand I ran to the living room, to the front door, and Jack met me there. Alison stood at the door, seeing the knife in my hand. Jack didn't say a word, nor did he hesitate. He ran past me and pushed Alison out of his way, and then rushed out of the front door. Alison called out to her daddy and ran out after him. I followed her and grabbed her when we got outside so that she wouldn't try to run too far after him. Jack ran down the street and then disappeared around the corner.
Alison s.n.a.t.c.hed away from me angrily. She looked up at me, afraid.
”Why did Daddy run away? Why do you have a knife in your hand? Kristen, I'm scared.” She was only eight years old, but she'd known that something was wrong.
”Alison, everything is okay,” I told her. ”Right now I need you to be a big girl for me.”
”But Kristen,” she whined.
”Please, Alison,” I pleaded. ”I need you to go into your room and close the door. You know our favorite movie?”
”Yes,” she said. ”Peter Pan.”
”That's right,” I said. ”Peter Pan, because you've got a crush on Peter, don't you?”
I was trying to distract her and make her forget about what had just happened. I forced a convincing smile.
She giggled and nodded. ”Peter's cute, and he can fly.”
”Yes, he sure can! Tinkerbelle, too!”
Her innocent eyes began to sparkle, and she laughed. I knew that she was starting to become distracted. Her mind was on Peter Pan. She wasn't worried about what had been going on. We walked back into the house and I moved her along towards her bedroom. As we walked by, I sat the knife down on an occasional table in the living room. I shoved Alison along so that she wouldn't notice as we pa.s.sed by.
She said, ”I love Tinkerbelle.”
”Me too,” I told her. ”So, I need you to go into your room and close your door. Like a big girl, I want you to put your Peter Pan movie in the DVD player, like I showed you before. You remember?”
She nodded with the same smile on her face.
”Okay. That's my big girl. Can you go do that for me, right now?”
”I sure can,” she said as we went back into the house. ”Are you and Nick going to watch Peter Pan with me?”
”Why don't you go ahead and get it started? I will go check on Nick. Remember, he's sick. Stay in your room while I check on him. Don't come out until I come in there to watch the movie with you.”
”Kristen, what if I have to go pee?”
”If you have to go pee, just yell out the door first,” I told her.
She looked up at me dubiously and tilted her head.
”Go ahead!” I forced while tickling her.
She laughed and struggled to get me to stop tickling her. I kept tickling until I saw that she was amused and not suspicious anymore. She then dropped her book bag on the floor and wiggled away from me, still laughing.
I let her go. As she ran down the hallway that led to the bedrooms, I said, ”And don't bother Nick, because he's not feeling well.”
”Okay,” she said. She ran off to her room without stopping, and she shut her door just as had I asked her to.
When I heard Alison's bedroom door shut, I shuddered. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Mom? Where are you? I wondered.
I looked out the window to see if, by chance, Mom was pulling in. There was no sign of her. She had said that she was right around the corner. She must have just been leaving her job.
I quickly grabbed the knife off the table and put it back in the kitchen sink. I knew that I had to go to Nick, even if Mom wasn't here. He could still be alive. He could probably be saved. Maybe it wasn't too late.
I was afraid to go in there. I didn't want to see my little brother dead. I didn't want to see him naked and hurt. I slowly approached his bedroom door. Earlier, Jack had shut the door, which made it even harder for me. I slowly turned the k.n.o.b and pushed the door open.
To my surprise, Nick was on the floor. He was not on the bed with his face down in the pillow anymore. He was lying on the cold, hardwood floor, wrapped in his blanket. He was whimpering softly with sticky tears and drying mucus on his face. He had probably been crying so hard and for so long that he didn't have enough strength to cry anymore. He was just whimpering, looking weak and sick.
I knelt down on the floor beside him, and I smelled Jack's overbearing scent on him. No wonder Jack had made him take showers with him before Mom got home.
I placed my hand on Nicholas' forehead. He was burning up. I wrapped him tighter in the blanket, in the hopes that he would sweat the fever out. I felt him s.h.i.+vering violently under the blanket.
”Kristen?” he cried out. ”I don't feel so well.”
I felt a chunk rise in my throat, but I swallowed it back down. ”I know, Nickyroo,” I said. ”I know, baby. Just lie here in my arms.”
His large brown eyes looked up at me, pleading. ”Did you see Daddy?”
”I'm sorry, baby,” I said. It felt like tears were going to fall, but they didn't. There was only hate and anger. But I held onto Nick and looked into his eyes. ”He is never going to hurt you again. I won't let him, ever again.”
Nick closed his eyes and let his head fall back into my arms. I held him like he was a little baby.
”I'm sorry, Kristen,” he said.
”No, baby, no. It's not your fault. It's that monster's fault. Jack is a monster. He hurt you, and now he's going to go where bad people go when they hurt people. You understand?”
Nick tried to nod. That's when Mom ran into the bedroom and, before she could ask what was going on, she saw with her own eyes. I didn't say a word, and everything that she had already suspected, and possibly had already known in the back of her mind, was finally exposed.
Mom shook her head in what seemed like disbelief. It didn't take long for her tears to start falling. She called out to Nick, and he looked over at her. Alison must have heard Mom come through the door, because she came out of her room, ran over to Mom, and hugged her. Mom was still crying and staring at Nick.
I acted quickly and went over to Alison. I took her hand and led her back to her bedroom while Mom tended to Nick. Alison whined that she wanted to see Mom, but I told her that Mom needed to give Nick his medicine, and that she needed to stay in her room until she was told to come out. I sat with her and watched one scene of Peter Pan with her until she felt she'd had enough attention, and I could then leave without a fuss. All the while, it hurt me inside to have to be strong and not cry. The anger was overwhelming me. I wanted to confront Mom with what I had seen.
When I went back into Nick's room, Mom was helping Nick to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and dressed.
”Where is he?” she asked me.
”He ran away,” I said. ”He ran down the street and around the corner.”
”Well, he couldn't have gone far,” she said.
”He may have gone to John's house,” I added.
”Call Jonathan and Mariah for me,” Mom demanded.
I shook my head. ”We need to call the police.”
”Kristen! Do as I say! Call John's parents right now, and tell them to get over here!”
When John's parents, Jonathan Sr. and Mariah, arrived, they all went into the living room to sit down and talk. John and his little brother, James, were here as well. Nick sat down next to Mom and leaned on her shoulder. Mom wanted to ask that James be excused, but Nick insisted that James needed to stay.