The Night

Chapter Five

        One afternoon, I fell asleep on the couch with my homework.  My mom was out, probably seeking a new hook-up.  I hadn’t had time to clean up the house, to cook, or to do anything else.  I think I was dozing for several hours, and then I awakened to the sound of the front door slamming loudly. Oh no.  I swiftly looked around me and of course everything was a disaster.  I didn’t know what to do.  Obviously I couldn’t get it all up now, should I run?  She was going to catch me any second.  I stood there in this stupefied uncertainty until I decided to bolt for the back door.  I started moving but then I heard the unsteady footsteps behind me.  She sharply called my name. “Crystalina!”  Usually she just called me “Crys” or “Crystal” so she had to be infuriated.

            Hesitantly, I turned around.  I just wanted to leave but I know that it would only make things worse-believe me, I’ve done this before.  Her face burning with a drunken rage, she said “Do you mind telling me why the hell this house still looks like this?” She gestured with both hands to the terrible mess.

            “I-I’m sorry, mom.  I fell asleep…”

            “Don’t make stupid excuses!” She bellowed.

            “I’ll start on it immediately.”

            “Someone’s coming over soon and I have to go get ready.  So you’d better get this done.”

            I hated this.  Frankly, it wasn’t fair.  But what could I do?  I embarked on clearing the dirty dishes and picking up the trash.  I was going to put some strawberry smoothie-stained glasses in the sink when I slipped on something…and of course I broke them.

            A clattering of heels came descending down the stairs.  I scurried to clean up the broken pieces but it was too late, for then came the avalanche of screams and expletives.  I kept apologizing as I tried not to cry but the tears came anyway.  Of course that only made things worse; she hit me and that was when I had had enough.

            I stood up, wiped my hands on my cropped pants and calmly went to leave.  But she yanked me by the hair and grabbed my shoulders. “Oh you’re not going anywhere!  Finish this now, or so help me…”

            I let all those words pass right through me.  I wasn’t listening; I couldn’t.  I felt so numb.  I didn’t know how much longer this could go on or how much longer I could deal with it.  Maybe someday she’ll find someone who would stay and make her happy again but I doubted that.  The longest any guy had stayed with her (excluding my father) was about a year.  All of them had been awful too.  I planned to sneak out after mom’s guest came so I could be with Victor.  I wished I could be with him all of the time because he never hurt me and I didn’t think he ever would.

            An hour or two later, some bearded man came to the door.  He gave me the creeps from the eager look on his face and from the way he looked at me.  Mom was delighted to see him as was he, considering the fact that he picked her up and swung her around.   Then they started flirting to the point that I became grossed out so I crept away.  I wasn’t over my sadness yet.  I still felt so hurt and so traumatized even though I was used to being treated that way.  Mom and the man were too busy to notice me so I left after I served them their dinner.

            The sun started going down so I knew that Victor would be here soon.  I still felt so empty, so unloved, and so sad.  I didn’t even know what to say to him.  I felt so foolish, so desperate to tell someone what I was going through.  I waited for him under the tree by the tiny pond where we often spent time together.  Finally he came.

            “Hey, Crystal!” He beamed.

            “H…Hi…”I trembled.  Ugh I was horrible at hiding my emotions.

            “Uh, are you alright?” He took a step closer.

            “Yeah, yeah I’m fine!” Something in my voice cracked.

            “No, I don’t think you are…” His voice was barely a whisper when he rushed over to me and wrapped me in a hug.  “What’s wrong, Crys?”

            It was no use trying to hide it anymore, so I broke down and told him everything.  He had nothing to say; he merely held me and rocked me back and forth while he smoothed out my hair.  He kissed my cheek as he continued to hug me.  “It’s going to be alright, girl.  I promise.” I don’t think anyone had ever hugged me for that long in my life.  I felt so safe.  I felt home.  Burying my head into his chest, I deeply sighed.  “Thank you, Victor,” I whispered.

            “For what?” He looked at me, smiling.

            “For this! I feel so much better now.”

            “I’m glad,” his fingers slid gently through my hair, soothing me.  “And, Crys, I am so grateful for you.  I was so lonely before.”

            “I’m sorry,” I breathed.

            “But darling, that doesn’t matter anymore.”  He drew my face up to his.  “If I had to be alone for another 150 years until I could meet you I would do it.”  His dark eyes stared into mine with complete sincerity.  My eyes fluttered shut because I didn’t know what to say and then I felt his lips tenderly touch mine.  This beautiful moment…I wanted it to last forever.

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Hey, guys, I hope you've been enjoying my story so far! I'm new on here (I only joined less than a week ago) so I appreciate the fact that this has gotten over 300 reads (except I don't know how many actually read the whole thing or merely skim over the first page).  So also please feel free to vote if you enjoyed this and/or comment if you have any suggestions.  Thanks for reading! :)