In My Blood

Chapter 4

Chapter Playlist:
Cold (but i'm still here) by Evans Blue
Cry Pretty by Carrie Underwood
Show Me a Sign by Alter Bridge
Run to You by Bryan Adams

X.x

Renae told them everything. Everything that had happened within the past month. The wrongs she had experienced at the hands of others. False saviors. People who were supposed to protect her... Instead they were the ones who had destroyed her.

Luda Mae, Hoyt, and Tommy all sat around her wide-eyed, listening while she tearfully told her story, taking turns handing her tissues. Uncle Monty was nowhere to be seen, and right now she wasn't in the frame of mind to ask where he was. Even Tommy was patiently sitting there. She noticed he would only look at her when she wasn't looking at him, but the fact that he was even in the same room as her was definite progress.

"Honey," Luda Mae asked patiently; she held Renae's free hand between both of hers. "Did you call the police?"

Sniffling, Renae nodded, "I went to the hospital after it happened. The police were there. They took the evidence, I was set up with a lawyer," She wiped her eyes, "They told me even with the evidence, the likeliness of me winning the case..." She folded the tissue with her one hand, "There were no witnesses. He has no record; not even a parking ticket. It doesn't look good for me; college drop out, low income..." The tears started up once again. "They're gonna think I did this. The courts won't believe me."

Both Luda Mae and Hoyt knew that this would be the most likely outcome, as horrible as it was. The way the justice system worked, sometimes the victims walked away with even more scars than they went forward with. They knew well how these things went. They'd dealt with similarly frustrating run-ins with the law when it came to Tommy, though not with the same situation as the one Renae was going through.

"So, what're we gonna do now?" Hoyt asked. He knew what he wanted to do; what all of them wanted to do, but that would have to wait. Just a little bit longer.

More tears welled up in her eyes, "I don't know." She wiped at her face, sniffling. "Everything has gone to shit now, it just seems like this was the start of it all. "

"What do you mean, dear?" Luda Mae squeezed her hand, trying to understand.

"..." Renae tried to say it, but had to force down the lump in her throat before she could speak. "My dad kicked me out."

"What?!" The exclamation came from both Uncle Hoyt and Luda Mae, and out of the corner of her eye Renae could see Tommy's equally shocked eyes staring at her from underneath the mask. Renae nodded in reply; that was all she could do.

"Now why in God's name would he do that?" Luda Mae asked, unable to mask her surprise.

Renae couldn't look any of them in the eye - the fact that what she was about to say had actually happened was too horrible to bear, especially her own father telling her this. "He thought it was my fault," She tried to keep her voice level, focusing her eyes on the floor, "He called me a slut, told me I was asking for it..."

"Why I oughta-"

"Hoyt," Luda Mae shot him a look to remain silent for now, and surprisingly, he complied. Mae turned back to the younger woman, squeezing her hand tight. "You know that ain't true, don't you? That's the most awful thing one can say to someone in your situation." The way she said that, Renae wondered if Luda Mae herself had been through something similar. "What happened next?"

"He picked up a bottle of wine as I was runnin' to my car..." A fresh flood of tears once again came forth from her eyes, "He threw it at me, put a crack in my windshield. My daddy told me if anyone ever did somethin' like that to me, he'd kill them himself," She couldn't hold back the sob this time. Her own father; what had she done to make everyone abandon her? "What did I do?" she wailed, covering her face with her free hand. She was too carved out on the inside to feel embarrassed that she was crying in front of everyone; it hurt her very soul, "What did I do to make everyone wanna hurt me?"