Ellie Dixon

The Truth Always Comes Out

Shane and Rick had driven out eighteen miles to take this Randall guy away from the farm. After a week our visitor was finally ready for transport, so he was being transported. They were going to give him a bit of food and water before releasing him. Shane, Andrea and mum wanted to kill him, but the majority won so that's why Shane and Rick went to set him free.

Dad had noticed my flinch; I knew he had from the way he was acting. He hadn't said anything, but he'd watch me very closely whenever I was with someone, watching for how I'd react. Whenever mum was around though, he wouldn't care so much. He really thought that Isabella Gomez loved me, treated me well, respected me. If he did find out the truth, he'd blame himself for leaving me with her, so I never wanted him to find out.

Shane and Rick had left the day before. I was sitting on the porch steps, waiting for Sophia to come back from the bathroom. I noticed mum walking over to me. My chest tightened as I avoided eye contact. "Ellie, come with me." She said while about ten feet away from me.

I looked up to her. "Why, mama?"

"Because I said so." She replied, already sounding annoyed. I didn't say anything else as I stood up and started walking towards her. When I was close enough, she turned around and we started walking. We walked out of camp and towards the barn.

 Andrea passed us and I made direct eye contact with her. "Andrea, help please." I whispered, mum was about five feet away, so she didn't hear what I said.

She glanced at mum then back at me. "It's up to her how she raises you. Sorry, kid." Andrea said before she continued walking, my last hope of getting out of this just walked away.

Across the field and over to the forest we went. When mum crossed the threshold of the forest, I ran to catch up to her. "Where are we going?" I questioned.

"You'll see." She responded. Me and mum walked in silence for about ten minutes before she started speaking. "I grew up in the neighbourhood, you know? Back when I was little, we called it the ghetto. My dad left; you know that... He left like pretty much every other dad in the ghetto did. He visited Maria when she had Rosita, he met her a couple times over the first ten years of her life but then gave up. It was just me, my mama and my sister. Maria dragged Rosita all over the country, so it was just me and my mama. You know how your abuela was."

"But abuela loved you." I said quietly.

"You don't know how it was before you were born. I treat you the way she treated me. I had the same type of friends she had. Mama only started treating me good when you came along so she could take out everything on you instead of me... I let her, I joined her, I became her. Before you and your father, Ellie... I was abused, by past boyfriends, by my mama, your abuela. But I was going to get out. I was gonna be a lawyer. Get out of the ghetto. Find myself a good man. Stay the hell away from my mother. Everything would've worked out." Mum explained as we kept walking.

"What happened to becoming a lawyer?" I asked.

"I fell in love. Me and your father were like peas in a pod. I dropped outta school, we'd just screw around, go on dates, do drugs, drink... It was young screwed up love." She answered.

"Daddy did drugs?" I questioned.

She whacked the back of my head. "Stay focused."

"Sorry, mama." I apologised.

"But then I got pregnant with you. Your father tried to convince me to get an abortion, he didn't want a kid, said he hated the idea of becoming a father. But I was naive enough to think that you'd make our relationship better, so I kept ya. He hated it, hated you, especially when we found out you were a girl. We argued a lot, but he stuck around. When you were born, and he held you for the first time... I knew that he loved you more than me. In that moment I could tell by the way he looked into your eyes. He never looked at me like that." Mum informed me.