Mommy

Chapter 15: Drunk

Alex let both Anna and I sleep, seeing that we were both severely injured and that 'we were the ladies, and it would be a respectable thing to do to let us get our beauty sleep.'

I didn't understand the concept of beauty sleep, but I was tired and I didn't let that stop me from finally getting the rest I needed.

Alex said that Carson would be back not much later and that he would be able to 'handle it' and 'watch guard' until then. I accepted his request, and Anna allowed me to sleep next to her on that small bed.

Her thin, nude body under that single sheet was cold, but it brought me a sense of comfort to be sleeping next to someone that genuinely cared for me.

She gave me more of a motherly feeling than my actual 'Mommy' did.

Although it wasn't the best sleep, it was the safest sleep I knew I would get around here—with Anna and Alex watching over me. The thought almost made me smile.

I woke up late in the afternoon, almost completely forgetting where I was or what happened yesterday. It surprised me that I slept through almost the entire day as well.

I only remembered everything from before once I saw Anna's pale body and tasted the blood under my tongue. I sighed in annoyance and grief. My body ached.

Alex was leaned up against the bed, beside Anna, seeming to be dosing off in an attempt to stay awake. Carson was back, and he was sitting across the room, his eyes barely open. Scratches and deep red and purple marks covered his neck, his hair ruffled and his clothes wrinkled. I could feel my throat run dry and my stomach twist in a knot.

I felt horrible, awful, terrible for him--I can't believe Mommy would do that

him.

To Carson—he didn't deserve it.

He caught me looking at him, and his face reddened--his eyes flickering away in embarrassment. He grumbled under his breath, refusing to look anywhere but the floor or the wall. He was ashamed of what happened to him, am shamed of how he was forced into something like that.

I remembered the way I felt, and I understood him.

I tried to scoot out of bed, wanting to go to Carson when he placed his finger over his mouth once the bed began to creak with my movements. I stared at him, my eyes darting to the floor. I wanted to get up.

"Don't move," he whispered, fear dotting his tone. I was confused—assuming it was about waking up the others until I noticed Alex wasn't asleep, and neither was Anna.

They were sitting in their futile positions quietly, as though they were asleep. But I could see the scrunch of their face as they listened in. Their breathing was very shallow, taking silence to the next level.

I raised a confused brow. I thought it might have been Mommy—but I couldn't hear her coming up the stairs. And I never saw them fake being asleep before.

I didn't know why they were doing that until I heard something audible downstairs. It was a door opening—the front door.

A leap of hope fled through me, and a flush of excitement ran through my cheeks.

Was Mommy leaving?

Would we be able to escape?

But all of the hope drained quickly away once I heard the voices. They seemed to be coming from three or four older men— and I realized that Mommy wasn't leaving.

Carson seemed to know who they were by the expression on his face, and I watched as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in annoyance.

I heard drunken laughing and cussing from downstairs, the sound echoing around the entire house.