The Man Next Door

Chapter 4- My story

As his arms wrapped me tighter against his chest, years of emotions built up in my chest making it hard to breathe. As tears began to fall, i threw my arms around his waist feeling my knees buckle. He sat us on the steps with me on his lap while i sobbed for what felt like hours.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I nodded. He picked me up and placed me on the couch, where my little gray kitten lay napping on the couch. Adrian went into the kitchen and came back with a steaming cup of coffee. I gratefully took it feeling chilled. He sat next to me waiting for me to say something.

"I-i-it wasn't always bad. He was a good man before." My voice cracked as i spoke. I quickly cleared my throat. "Everyone knew he beat me, but no one could prove it. Even if there were marks, they went away within a few days and he never let me leave in that time. So I learned to live with it. When i would go to school days later, they would ask why i haven't been there for many days. I made up excuses. Most would be that i was sick, or my father was sick. Sometimes my father would call in with an excuse and say we were visiting family or some bullshit like that. When they asked me, I lied. I told them i had a great time seeing my aunts and uncles. I slipped up there, my father said i went to visit my grandparents. I tried to lie, but they called my father and asked about it. He beat me when i got home. I missed a week of school. After that, my father made me tell the lies. I got good at coming up with excuses, but all the teachers knew my father, the town drunk, leaving bars at closing, not coming home for days, leaving me alone to fend for myself.

I went to the grocery store a few times with a few dollars. The clerks knew. One paid for everything i had, which was only bread and butter, and bought me enough to last a month! My father was furious the fridge was stocked when he got home. Accused me of sleeping with the clerk for the groceries. He beat me again and threw me down the basement stairs. I was down there for a week. I was 15 and by then i gave up on going to school. My old teachers stopped by to ask me if everything was fine, i told them i was great, but my father couldn't find a job and i had to work to afford the rent and a few groceries." I took a deep breath and realized the tears had stopped.

"Where was your mother?"

I sighed. "She left when i was 3. My father used to beat her and she couldn't take it. I guess she figured i could take it better than she did. I did, but when i was 17 the beatings grew steadily worse. I had a broken rib and a cut on my stomach. I couldn't go to the doctors because they would ask too many questions. I healed my own wounds and nursed myself back to health. My father came home at 3 in the morning after my rib healed and pulled me out of bed. 'I found a way for you to make more money for us. Get your ass downstairs and meet your new employer, he wants to see you and have you start tonight.' he said. I was in a pair of boyshort underwear and a cami. He pushed me downstairs and i looked in the living room. He pulled me up by my hair and threw me onto the man on the couch. 'Your new employer. He wants to pay you big money for a few favors here and there.' He chugged his beer and threw the can at me. The man he threw me on was a well known man throughout the county. He was infamous for turning young, pretty girls into prostitutes. He ran his hand down my body and groped and gripped and squeezed everything on me. He picked me up and threw me over his should tossing a wad of cash to my dad. 'For your help in finding this pretty little thing.' He carried me up the stairs and raped me. My father stood at the door watching, laughing. 'You're so pathetic,' he laughed, 'This man payed big for you so get into it.' After he finished and left, i went to the basement to the gun cabinet. I pulled out a 9 mm that was my mother's. I went into his room when he was passed out and i kicked him in the face. He woke up and i pointed the gun at him. He begged and pleaded for me to not do it." I looked at Adrian to see his jaw clenched and teeth grinding. "I didn't. I didn't kill him."

He looked at me surprised. "Why not?" he asked.

"I shrugged. Why not? Why should i let him take the easy way out and just die instead of suffering. I shot him in the leg and went to the kitchen and called 911. When the police came, Mr. James was the first to arrive. He took my statement. I told him everything i could remember about my life, about the beatings. He never said a word until i told him about that night. He looked at me and grabbed me in a hug. He apologized for my fathers stupidity and perverseness. He's been a surrogate father to me since then."

Adrian took my hand and gave it a gentle kiss. "Baby, I'm so sorry that happened to you. What happened to your dad?"

"He was arrested for endorsing prostitution, child abuse and negligence. He was given life in prison plus 500 years. I knew the judge since i was a baby, he threw the 500 years in there for full measure. I still get letters from my father. I haven't opened one of them. I never will."

"You never have to worry about that anymore. I'll be here for you. What happened to the other man?"

"My father's jail buddy. He was found on 50 counts of rape, prostitution, and child molestation. He will be getting out about the same time as my father."

"I'm glad you're okay. I'm glad you made it out of his grasp."

He held me tighter against him. As he held me, I got the sense that he understands everything i went through, like he experienced a lot of the same things. I started weeping again for the lost girl i used to be and the little boy Adrian used to be.