Note from the Author-

Chapter 5: The Man From The Past

I laid waiting for my dad in the back seat of his car. It seemed like it would take years for him to return from being inside the drug store.

The darkness swallowed the bright sky. It was maybe eight or 9 o'clock and I laid in silence waiting for his arrival.

Suddenly, the rear window of the car was shattered by a baseball bat. I felt paralyzed by fear and the glass carving into my skin. I shut my eyes tightly and counted to five for it all to be over.

It was something my mom had taught me. There were nights where I'd occasionally scream from my mind creating horrid images in the darkness.

My mom would come inside of my room, keeping me in her embrace and tell me to count to five and all of my chilling fears would be gone.

But this time it was different I counted to five and the man with the bat looked at me with his cold stone eyes.

I was petrified. I wanted to hide but I felt stuck in the darkness with this strange man.

My father finally came back but when he did I was unconscious. All I remember was waking up in the hospital room hearing my mom and dad arguing in the hall.

I sobbed harshly until my mom and dad came in. My mom told him to leave but he didn't. "Sarah, this is my daughter too and she deserves to have both of her parents by her side, I am not leaving!"

She rapidly stood up and clenched her teeth at him, "You are in no position to make any decisions concerning my daughter. You are the reason she was close to death!" Her words frightened me.

My dad stood still with his mouth closed and then after a minute he went towards the exit of the room and grabbed the handle tightly. "I'm leaving, Sarah and I'm not coming back. If she is your daughter then you can take care of her yourself. Make sure Laura knows that when she gets home and see's that her dad isn't there it's because of you."

With that he was gone. Tears welled up in my mother's eyes and she threw her wedding ring onto the floor. "Piece of shit, I wish I never married you!"

I looked at the silver diamond ring spin until it stopped. In that moment I knew that my world was going to crumble. My mom took my face in her hands choking on her tears, "Laura, don't you ever give your heart to anyone. They'll betray you in the end."

I didn't know what to think or what to believe. I was eight years old. The amount of pressure was too much for me to take in all at once.

Ten minutes later I see a man in a suit greeting my mother. She falls into his arms hugging him. My suspicions grew and I kept my watch on them.

As they spoke I noticed his hands sliding down her lower back and the lust in his eyes. They began to kiss.

She betrayed me was all that I could think. She fed me with hypocritical lies about my father and then stabbed me in the back.

Why was she tearing our family apart? I ran out of the room and the stitches started to tear off. I didn't care. All I wanted was for my mom to know that I hated her.

"Laura, baby what are you doing over here? The doctor said to lay in bed until tomorrow."

I screamed at her accusing her of being the reason why my life was falling apart.

My mother was startled and the man beside her as well. He looked awkward and ashamed.

I ran as she called my name and took her wedding ring off from the floor into my pocket.

From that day on my anger with my mother continued to grow and I kept her disgusting affair a secret.

My dad showed up a few days later after the incident. He was no longer the dad I knew. He was different.

Booze continued to take away the guilt he had from every mistake he ever made. I was eight but I wasn't stupid. I made sure to keep my mouth shut around my drunk of a father.

But one day he eventually caught them. That's a memory I'm not ready to remember.

I wiped the salty tears from eyes and jumped from my bed hurrying down the stairs until I reached the bottom.

It was him. It was the man. The man who deserved what my mother got.

I was furious. What was he doing in here? He had caused enough damage to my family what else did he want?

This must have something to do with Dianne. She was provoking me to erupt in explosion. "Why is he here?" I shouted.

She smirked evilly, "Do you have a problem with his presence?"

I couldn't take this any longer. The anger she wanted gave in. I ran into her kitchen and forced open her pantries and cabinets taking her plates, bowls, and silverware into my hand.

I began tossing them at every angle in her kitchen and dining room. Her face was overwhelmed with fury.

"Stop those are my China dishes! Stop it at this instant!"

A monster possessed and devoured my soul. The innocence was taken from me.

"How does it feel, Dianne? How does it feel to have everything you care about destroyed?"

The man stood from his seat in absolute silence walking over to me.

The hair on my skin wanted to stand but the anger ceased my fear. "Don't you dare take one more step towards me. You ruined my life. You stole everything I loved away from me! I'll kill you if you take one more damn step!"

He was calm and captured me into his arms. I was disgusted and infuriated. The anger lost and the sadness finally broke.

I sobbed over my yells. Minutes later the police arrived.

They took me outside and I stood there in silence. I was mute. I couldn't find the words to explain what had happened.

I hardly even knew what that man was doing with Dianne. Were they together? I was befuddled.

My eyes spun until they found Dianne. She was speaking to a cop in a bogus nice tone.

I couldn't hear anyone but Dianne and her lies. "Her mother is dead and her father is in a rehab facility. What she needs right now is to be in a caring home like mine, not a psych ward that will swallow her entire sanity."

The cop had pity in his eyes and agreed not to take me. I was baffled. Isn't this what she wanted? For me to be gone.

No, I now finally understand what she wanted. She wanted to torture me with her own hands and verbal abuse as she always did.

I looked into the eyes of the police man, "Please get me out of here."

He sighed and ignored my request. "Answer one question, dear. Did your father murder your mom or did the innocent man take her from you?"

I felt an oversized lump in my throat. I couldn't answer that. The denial wouldn't let me.

He asked once again and I nearly puked. I fell to my knees and sobbed a sea.

I mourned my mother's loss as I always did but this time with the murder's image stained in my mind. The painful memories tried to unfold but I shut my eyes tightly and wept.

My frigid cheeks were touched by warmth. I opened my sore eyes to see a blurred worried face and blonde hair.

"I'm here, Laur, I'm here."