Chapter 30 (1/2)

“Mom!” I cried, immediately moving towards where they held her.

The girls with their hands on my shoulders weren’t expecting me to move, and I slipped out of their grip with ease. I only made it halfway when the two women caught up and grabbed me, pulling me back to them. Mom gave me a guilty look.

“My Clyburn, I’m sorry. I sent all the security away to help find you. I never thought… they’d come back to our home. I drank something, started getting sleepy and the next thing I knew I was being dragged here.”

“I discovered a smuggler’s path in and out of our house. It’s how I left home so often, I told Tinya about it…” Hannah started and then shook her head. “If you think this will get me to cooperate, then you don’t know me very well!”

“Oh? She’s your Mother. She’s not some father figure absent from your life. She gave birth to you,” Tinya responded teasingly.

A fiery light shone in Hannah’s eyes. “I don’t care about her at all!”

“Ha-Hannah? You’re not involved in this, are you?”

Hannah ignored Mom, glaring at Tinya. “What do you want, Tinya? What do you plan to do to… her?”

Tinya chuckled. “Straight to the point, it’s what I love about you. It’s really very simple. I don’t plan to do anything. The question is, what do you plan to do to her?”

“…”

“We’re going to send a message to the world. Man-lovers like this woman won’t be tolerated. I know you hate her. You’ve told me as much. Now you can do whatever you want to her. If you do what I ask, then you can stay in the Primrose. I’ll even let you keep… that brother you kidnapped as a pet.”

“You… you did this?” Mom covered her mouth shaking her head in disbelief as she starred at Hannah. “You kidnapped your brother from me? You’ve held him here?”

“From you?” Hannah’s lips turned into a sneer as she glared at Mom. “That’s rich, coming from you, Mother.”

“Hannah, you don’t have to do this!” I broke in.

Tinya giggled. “If you don’t, you’ll just join her. We’ll beat you to death. Hmmm… I bet I could make it look like Clyburn beat you both to death, and then shot himself in the head. We all know men or so violent, after all.”

“Shut up, Tinya. You wouldn’t dare-”

“If I can’t have you, you might as well die! I won’t lose anything else to a man!” Tinya shouted.

“Wait… I remember you… that stupid maid!” Mom’s face turned disgusted as she interrupted. “How could you? How could you do this to my family? We brought you in. We trusted you! How could you do this to-”

“to you?” Hannah jumped in, stepping towards Mom, her body movements bristling. “I’m the one who kidnapped Clyburn. As to how? The answer is easily! Originally, I just wanted to kidnap Brother for payback. You spent so much time with him, and gave Madison and me nothing! I hated him… and… and I hate you!”

“Hannah…” Mom looked at the distorted face of the daughter she thought she knew and looked lost.

“Of course, Brother was just some selfish little man-child, scared of the world, clinging at Mommy’s apron strings… or so I thought.” Then Hannah smiled strangely. “Then he started to change. I didn’t know what to think. Suddenly, Brother was looking at me differently. He acted perverted. It excited me, but then Madison had to keep getting her nose in the way. She wouldn’t let me play!

“Still, I thought everything was fine… my brother was just more interesting now, but that wasn’t good enough for my mother!” Hannah threw up her hands as if she was giving a speech to all of the gang members present. “You were losing control of him. My little brother was starting to think independently. So, what did my mom do? She fucked him! She screwed him until she was all he could think about!”

There were one or two gasps, but most of the women present just continued to stand still and watch curiously through the show Hannah was putting on. It was clear how she had captivated the hearts of all of these women and made them followers of her gang.

She had a certain panache for the theatrics. I recalled a latent memory of mine that when she was twelve or so she was in the theater, however, she had suddenly dropped it two years ago. That might have been when she joined Primrose.

“That’s not what happened…” Mom started.

“Oh, but Mom, you don’t even know!” Hannah said. “You don’t know just how much your Clyburn had grown up! I know! He’s told me things he’ll never tell you!”

“Hannah!” I couldn’t help but call out.

“Don’t worry, Brother, I won’t tell.” Hannah walked up to me until her lips just brushed my ear and then whispered. “It’ll be our little secret.”

“Hannah… I’m not angry,” Mom spoke up, interrupting Hannah, who was nearly holding me. “I’m just disappointed. I thought you were a better girl than this.”

Hannah rolled her eyes and stepped back. “Sorry to disappoint you, Mother. But if we’re sharing our feelings now, I guess I might as well tell you… you’re a bad Mother.”

“Hannah!”

“And a whore…”

Mom’s face turned hateful for a moment, her teeth almost approaching a snarl.

“You kept dad all to yourself, even though it was a lie. You forced him to sneak around with women behind your back because you were too proud and selfish to share. You got him killed. You were trying to do the same thing to Clyburn!” Hannah snapped. “You don’t deserve my Clyburn.”

“He’s mine!” Mom took a step forward, causing several of the women to move defensively. “I’ve birthed him and taken care of for his entire life. I love him more than you’ll ever know! What have you done for him?”

“I’ve done everything for him. I brought him away from you!” Hannah snarled. “Look around you? Look at my Primrose! Clyburn had everything he needed. Free from the government interference. He had food. He had shelter. Thirty beautiful women to warm his bed every night… me… I would have shared. I knew from the beginning I could only ever enjoy Clyburn in spurts!”

There was murmuring as Hannah suggested the entire gang was there for my pleasure. It was becoming increasingly difficult to tell where the lies ended and the truth began. Hannah seemingly had changed her stance fluidly several times within the last day. The only thing I knew for certain coming from my sister, was that she clearly wasn’t stable right now. She had been backed into a corner, and now she was letting everything out violently without remorse.

“Hannah… you’re sick…” Mom’s words caused me to clench my fist.

Mom wasn’t wrong, but once again, she didn’t have the right words to say. Hannah was boiling right now. I could possibly have calmed her down. However, Mom was just a cold glass of water. When it was tossed on the oil, the effect was obvious. I couldn’t see how to fix the situation. The one who caused it, Tinya, seemed content to watch the meltdown.

“Mother, what would you do?” Hannah’s voice was low, she wasn’t looking at anything particular, looking somewhat like she was lost in thought.

“What?”

“What would you do?” Hannah lifted her eyes to me, her expression turning cold, and nodded. “For him.”

“Hannah? I don’t… I don’t know what you’re asking…” Mom cautiously approached, the other women letting her go. “Hannah… let’s just go, okay? Let’s take Clyburn home. Okay?”

Mom spoke those words like she expected Tinya to just back off and let the three of us walk out. It’s possible she was too distraught and distracted to think clearly herself. With Hannah staring blankly in a corner and her voice lowered, Mom seemed to think that Hannah had finally blown off her steam. To Mom, Hannah finally finished rebelling and ended her tantrum, so now things could just go back to the way they started.

However, Mom was naïve in a lot of ways. From thirty-five years of experience, I didn’t become a savant. My life ended a mess, and my second life didn’t seem to be in much of a better condition. One thing I knew though, was that there were some things that you couldn’t go back to. The world changes and people can’t just hit a button and restart all their relationships over again. I had to live with my mistakes, as did my mother and sister. There was no going back, only moving forward from this.

Mom reached out to grab Hannah’s shoulder. A second later Hannah spun her fist slamming it into Mom’s face. The thirty women watching roared to life as my mom stumbled back falling on to a crate which cracked under her. I tried to move forward, but all of the women immediately lined up into a circle like this was a high school fight. Some were even yelling ‘fight’. I was reminded once again that most of these girls were just teenagers. I couldn’t manage to push my way through, thus I could only watch on helplessly.

“The answer is anything… Mother…” Hannah grinned scornfully. “I’d do anything for Clyburn. Even if that means getting rid of you! You’re no longer needed anymore. He’s mine!”

Mom’s face morphed from shock as she touched her bruised chin, to derision, and finally anger. “Hannah! You’re an awful child. I never should have had you!”

Mom immediately sprang back up and lunged at Hannah. Hannah met her face on, and the two women began to slap and hit each other. Mother got Hannah into a headlock and started pulling on her hair. It was absolutely ridiculous; my mother and sister were attacking each other. Years of family angst spilling out in a single moment. It wasn’t the right time, the right place, or the right situation, but I could tell neither of them was thinking clearly.  Hannah was pushed into a corner by Tinya, and Mom was confused and taking out a week of frustration and sleepless nights worrying over me on Hannah.

It was only at this moment that I realized that every eye was focused on Mom and Hannah. Didn’t that mean no one was paying attention to me? In fact, in the entire room, I had the most freedom of movement. I could have fled the building and likely no one would notice. That was ridiculous though, I wouldn’t abandon my mother and sister to whatever Primrose would do. I suspected that whoever won the fight, the Primrose would still toss both women in lock up.

Thus, my eyes wondered for something I could do to end this. If I could pull a fire alarm, that would certainly cause issues. Or, better yet, I could-

My eyes immediately fell a single person standing nearby, only partially hidden in shadows. She was the only person not looking at the fight, but at me. She gestured me over, and I immediately snuck over to her, making sure to stay behind the crowd. As soon as I came in range she grabbed me and pulled me behind a crate.

“Clyburn, you’re in one piece.” Brooke looked me up and down, her face looking slightly relieved.

“What are you doing here? Did you know where this place was or did you follow Mom?”

“A little of both,” Brooke responded quietly. “We were already suspecting this place might be where they were, but we didn’t have proof. Fortunately, I put a tracker on your Mom. The police are outside ready to move, but what the hell is going on?  What is this mess?”

Brooke’s voice was hard to make out over the shouting and screaming. It felt like an extreme fighting match, with spectators yelling for more blood. Except, that blood was coming from two of the people I held the dearest.

“Mom and Hannah, they’ve lost it!”

Brooke nodded thoughtfully as I explained what happened. “I thought this might happen.”

“What? How could you guess my mom would fistfight my sister!”

“I’m sorry, has your Mother ever acted like a rational woman!” Brooke gave me a stare. “Plus… with the baby…”

I shut my lips as I remembered the countless times she’s always acted spontaneous and random. Mom had once mentioned that she had been a bit of a wild girl. That was a complete understatement! She hadn’t grown up at all, she was still wild. So was her daughter for that matter. It’s genetic! Suddenly, my eyes widened as the last part crashed home.

“The baby! She can’t be fighting with-”