Running on Insulin

Chapter 64

None of us slept well that night. Samantha had a couple of nightmares, no doubt fueled by getting beaten up by that kid at school, and the upcoming visit to the prison. We were all up and ready to go, having eaten breakfast and made sure everything was set, by 9, when Marie came to pick the three of us up.

"Good luck," Josh said, as we left.

"My god, Samantha! What happened?" Marie asked when she saw Samantha's black eye and the way she was carrying herself, being careful not to move too much so as to not hurt her side anymore.

"I got in a fight at school. I lost," she said to Marie.

"What do you mean, you got into a fight at school?" she asked, looking between Tyler and I.

"I stood up to a bully and he didn't like it too much. So, he beat me up. But this is nothing. My birth father was way worse."

"Has she been seen by a doctor?" Marie asked us.

"We were at the hospital yesterday. You'll probably get a report or something. The hospital social worker came by, because she'd heard Samantha was back."

We piled into Marie's car, and like the day before, Samantha and I sat in the back. Tyler sat up front with Marie.

It was nearly a two hour drive to the prison, and during the drive, Samantha dozed off on me. She'd taken another pain pill in the morning, and they seemed to knock her out.

"Is she okay?" Marie asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

"She's in some pain. The doctor prescribed some pain meds. They knock her out, but for the most part, she's alright," I said.

"Poor kid," Marie said. "Stanley's going to love this." She added sarcastically.

We pulled into the prison and went through the visitor protocol, all of us getting searched - we told them to be careful with Samantha and her ribs.

They led us to a room little cubicles with a glass wall and phones, all separated by dividers. They told us which one to sit at, and said Stanley would be in in a few minutes.

Samantha didn't want to sit down, so we just all sort of stood around. The guards led Stanley in, and Samantha stepped behind Tyler. I saw her clutch his jacket as she literally hid behind him.

He motioned to Marie to pick up the phone.

I couldn't hear what he said, but Marie responded: "We did bring her, Stanley. She's behind her father."

"I'M HER FATHER!" I heard him yell over the phone.

"No, you lost your rights when you confessed to killing your wife. As you well know. We came at your request," Marie said, calmly. Tyler's hands were in fists.

"Sam, honey, come out from behind Tyler. Let's get this over with, okay?" I said.

She nodded and stepped out from behind Tyler.

Stanley smiled when he saw her. It was not a friendly smile. She took the phone from Marie. Tyler took a step towards Sam, to be closer to her.

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Samantha POV

I didn't want to talk to Stanley, but I knew I had to. And if we could just get this over, I could get out of her and go back home. Anywhere but here.

"Hey kid. Looks like you wound up in pretty much the same place. Nice shiner," he said.

"They didn't do this. I got into a fight at school."

"Well obviously you lost that one. Figures. Stupid girl."

I rolled my eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, you little shit."

I glared at him through the glass.

"You think you're pretty brave, huh? Well, I may be in here, but you forget, I have friends outside these walls. You better sleep with one eye open, kiddo. You may legally be their kid now, but I'll always be your father. Like it or not. And parents keep an eye on their kids, don't they? Parents always look out for their kids."

I didn't like the way he was saying that. I just stared at him. I could feel myself starting to shake. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped and dropped the phone when I looked around.

"That's enough, Samantha," Tyler said. "It's time for us to go."

He looked through the glass at Stanley and picked up the phone.

"You've done enough damage, Deitz," he said. "You said you wanted to see her to say goodbye. I'm not letting you terrorize my daughter anymore. You had your chance. You blew it. We're leaving. You can't contest anything, because we met your conditions. You didn't."

Tyler hung up the phone and led me from the room. Jenna and Marie followed.

"You're okay, Samantha," Tyler said to me. "He can't hurt you anymore."

Tyler didn't hear what he said. I was in trouble. Because Stanley had something up his sleeve. And he was planning on using it. I couldn't get the words out to tell them, though. I was still shaking from what he said. And the tone of his voice.

We got into Marie's car and as much pain as I was in, I snuggled as close to Jenna as I could. I was still shaking and I think Jenna could tell, because she was being really gentle and soothing.

"Do you guys want to stop for lunch on the way back?" Marie asked.

"We probably should. Samantha hasn't eaten since breakfast," Jenna said, rubbing my shoulder.

"I know a nice place," Marie said.

"You okay, sweetheart?" Jenna asked me. I shrugged. Which hurt.

Tyler looked back at me and Jenna and smiled at me. It was a sad sort of smile. I tried to smile back.

"You did good, kiddo," he said to me. "You did really, really good."

Tears started falling from my eyes. I turned my head into Jenna's shoulder. 

"Shhh, shhh," Jenna said, soothingly. "You're okay, sweetheart." 

I sniffed.

"No. I'm not," I said. "I'm not okay."