The Family: Ties That Bind (VOL. 2)

Chapter 25

I came awake with a startle. A pair of hands shook me by my shoulders and I forced my eyes open, blinking them until they'd focus on the world around me and the woman stirring me from my dreams. 

"Matilda. Matilda, wake up. We need your help,"  Deetz whispered then looked over her shoulder at her friend, Dwight, who was hiding behind the lace curtains and watching out the window.

The afternoon sun had dimmed into a soft, yellow, hue that bathed what it could reach of the room. The rest of the quaint space was flooded by cool, grey, shadows. I didn't realize I fell asleep, but judging by the fading sunlight, I must've been out for a few hours.

She held a finger to her lips. "They're right outside. We have to be quiet,"

My brain was still in sleep mode and I couldn't be sure if they were actually there or if I was still dreaming and their presence nothing more than a figment of my imagination. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and sat up in my seat. A rocking chair was not the most comfortable place to nap and my lower back was letting me hear about it loud and clear.

"How are you...what are you–" The remembrance of what I'd been dealing with since last night resurfaced before I could even finish my sentence. Thomas wasn't in my arms anymore.

I flew out of my seat without another thought and shoved them both aside. My eyes scanned the room in a matter of milliseconds, searching for my child, and finding him curled up on the middle of Loretta's bed with his limbs nestled close to his body and a thin blanket draped over his legs. I threw a hand over my forehead and expelled a breath. Loretta must've found me asleep with him and moved him to the bed instead so he wouldn't roll out of my lap. Gave me the fright of my life is what she did. I didn't know I could move that fast.

"Are you okay?" Dwight asked, drawing his auburn brows together and following me over to the bed. Thomas's condition reminded the same: a concerningly high fever, coughing fits, wheezing when he breathed, and all the other persistent symptoms that had me biting my nails. The sight of Thomas in such a state must've concerned Dwight too because he rephrased his question. "Is little man okay?"

Both of his questions were too difficult to answer so changing the subject was the way to go."I thought you were all dead."

Even though I said what I said to change the topic, it was the truth. After Bubba went into the barn and didn't come running out calling for backup, I figured the plan I devised has failed. His mother told him to finish them off and he'd do it without hesitation. We might've been working on showing compassion, but that wouldn't have stopped him from following his mother's orders. The handle of a broom in Drayton's hand would've been waiting on him if he dared disobeyed. I watched Dray beat the living fire out of Nubbins before so I understood why Bubba would do whatever he had to in order to avoid being the next on his hit list.

"So did I for a bit there." He raised his eyes upward and my own followed them to a gash spanning the curve of his hairline and down the side of his face. Ruby droplets of blood wept from the fresh cut. He had been mutilated recently.

I slapped a hand over my mouth, unable to keep from gasping at the grotesque injury. Grabbing one of Thomas's burp cloths covered in dry puke, I used it to dab at the wound. It didn't appear to be a life-threatening injury, but he'd need stitches. "Did Bubba do this?! Or Nubbins?!" I had to ask. They both worked together to make Bubba's makes but who did which part of the harvesting and sewing was beyond me.

He grabbed my hands and pulled them away but held onto my fingertips. I stared at his hands holding mine. It'd been so long since anyone who I didn't have a deep-seated fear of had touched me. "Don't worry about it. He didn't cut me too deep," Dwight reassured me while giving my fingers a squeeze. "I'll be fine as soon as we get the hell out of here. We're sitting ducks in this house."