LIFE.. TERMINATED
It wasn’t that she came from a perfect family, she didn’t. It wasn’t the fact that she had perfect parents, again, she didn’t. Barely educated, rebellious and struggling to keep her world from going into complete chaos she fought tooth and nail to stop the evil all about her... yet, like a thick fog, it was consuming everything about her.
Her father and mother both loved her, though life had led them down the wrong path, her mother killed by drug lords as dad cried unable to pay the huge drug bill they both accumulated. Her father always admitted they were both ′ probably going to hell’ when they died.. Mom almost laughingly agreed, shooting up another fix into her arm.
Two days later from that moment, the drug cartel showed up at their trailer... Mom realized there was no more time, the blank look on her face as they injected a fatal dose of drugs, holding both me and my dad back as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and in a release of her no longer struggling body, in a slight sway on her knees... she fell forward, dead. Her father cried so hard, as they went to leave.. cursing them as he grabbed up her mother, clutching her lifeless body. One man turned back and aimed the gun directly at his teen daughter.. his voice, cold as ice,
“I should kill you, or maybe ‘her’..”
“No! Not my daughter! You try and harm my daughter, I’ll kill you..”
The gun swung from the teen girl, to her father, it was even before she could launch herself to save her dad.. The guns sound rang in her ears as now through the shock, both her parents lay dead...
The door closed as she stared wide-eyed at the fact both her parents lay lifeless before her.
“Nooo!” she screamed flying off the couch where they thrown her to her parents side. Realizing her father was not dead just yet, she pleaded for him not to die.
“Know I loved you.. (cough). Sorry we weren’t the best parents.. but we loved you...”
“No daddy.. Don’t die! please hold on. I need you... No!” She spoke as a pool of blood covered her arms wrapped around him.
“I promise... No matter what happens, I’ll be there for you..”
“No daddy.. Stay with me.. PLEASE, no...”
“I promise I’ll always be there to protect you...” He said with a smile that was suppose to be reassuring,
“Don’t die daddy..” She clutched at him, tears streaming down her face.. And in that moment, his body went limp, his breathing stopped as his head moved slightly and his eyes went still.
“NOOO! DADDY! COME BACK! No, you can’t die!” She stated in a deep morning of loss, her mind registered the lack of life in the bodies of both her parents.
The police came, neighbors clamored outside the trailer as cops swarmed into the trailer. Somebody was cleaning the blood off her face and arms, then a short time later, one lead her outside, and placed her in the back of a car. From there she watched as both her parents bodies were removed by stretcher, as cops asked questions of everybody. [It would be the fear of that evil, as to no one was talking. Oh, they all knew, many had bought drugs, but not one would speak..]
Sitting in a room with a bed and sink, locked behind a security door, they came in and asked her questions, she too knew if she talked, she would be joining her parents.. They offered her many assurances she would be kept safe if she spoke up.. She knew none of them could secure her safety.
Two days passed, she was numb inside, staring at the wall as they had drawn a conclusion as to what had happened, the corner’s report spelled it all out, they just needed to confirm ‘who’ it was. She ignored their request, again. Another day passed, and her father’s sister who lived across town had showed up at the suddenly opened doorway..
“Christine... Oh baby, I’m so sorry.” The woman said wanting to close the distance, but the raw blank look stopped the forward engagement. The look had turned the woman almost irate. “What have you people done here? Why is she alone? Both her parents are dead and she’s ‘locked-up’? What, you idiots going to charge her with the crime!?” She spat at the officer behind her.
“Miss, easy. Nothing like that. We’re protecting her..” A office stated.
“Protecting her? Where’s this protecting her, she alone! She lost! She’s in pain! She shutting down, leaving her alone like this. You idiots!” The woman yelled at his statement. She barely heard the conversation between the two of them, and realized someones hand had latched onto her wrist and tugged her to her feet. She was being lead down a corridor and passing many people, some trying to dissuade her from doing this in their walk, daylight struck her face.. She liked the darkness much better as she was walked to a awaiting car. There was movement, as traffic began to swarm around them. She just wanted a dark room and to be alone..
Lead into an apartment, shown to her new room, she sat on the bed as this woman hadn’t shut up since grabbing her hand. It would be two days before she even realized who this woman was. It was a toilet she was searching for, finally realizing the woman’s face in the small hallway, carrying clothes for her. Both women stopped, staring at each other, Christine entered the bathroom, closing the door as if to avoid the confrontation. On the toilet, twenty minutes as she wondered how she had wound up ‘here’, slowly placing the face in the hallway. With a reluctance, flushing the toilet, she opened the door, the woman hadn’t moved a single step the whole time. It was her own stomach that broke the ice between them as a loud growl emitted. Both were surprised, as ‘someone’ had to speak.. The thoughts of the room she’d just left made her body react, as the woman called behind her heading back to it,
“There’s food in the kitchen, ..when your ready...” The door had already closed as she crawled up on the bed, curling up onto a ball, as flashbacks of her parents death brought on a deeply emotional sob and a cry that would last for hours. Her fathers last words echoing, “..I’ll always be there to protect you.”
It was like a robot’s movement, she sat up.. walked to the bedroom door, opened it and ventured to find the kitchen. The pain of her own stomach growing more painful by the minute. She wasn’t thinking about food, but of survival, her eyes sought out the refrigerator. Opening it, as the woman just watched from the couch, didn’t flinch, or even speak. Yet, glad to see this appearance, let her manage the struggle herself.
Nothing in the cold box looked interesting, why did she even need this? And yet her eyes sought out ‘something’ that would help keep her alive.. Why would she want to live? It wasn’t till she opened the freezer door that something attracted her eyes.. Ice cream.
It was weird, her arm had reached and grabbed it before she even realized she held it, and her other hand was helping to open it.. Was she actually going to put this in her mouth... and there was the taste of it.. Her mouth began to chew at it, before she could refuse these actions... Her stomach gurgled loudly as the first swallow hit bottom... In three bites, it was gone... Her left arm had again got out another one.. Her brain rebelled at these actions ‘Why are you betraying me, I control you... Don’t need that, put it back!’ She had three ice cream sandwiches in her hand, closing the door, instantly heading back to the room per her minds orders. In passing, she noticed the woman looking at her. The door shut, her mind had quit rebelling, as her mouth gnawed on the ice cream bars, wrappers lay on the floor and again curled up in a ball on the bed as her stomach gurgled for hours after that. Somewhere among the strange sounds, she again fell asleep.
