Circling Back To You

Chapter 12

Then

tw: domestic abuse, semi-graphic depiction of injuries

Nath

Midnight is pooling in puddles on the street, broken only by the dim glow from street lamps, when I hear it. The click of the front door, the snap of the lock.

I sit up straight in my bed like a guard dog, my heart dropping like a stone would fall from a crevice into an ocean, drowning my senses with an emotion that I sharply regard as dread.

For a few seconds, it's quiet, and I almost let down my guard and think that my mom has come home for the night, and it's safe. According to Mia and Lola, she went out around 5pm with the explanation of going to see a friend. None of us knew of this 'friend', but when the clock struck 10 with no sign of her coming back, Mia called and confirmed that she would be staying the night with this elusive friend of hers. "Good on her." She had said. "She needs to get out of this house for a little bit."

I had nodded along with Lola at that, not having the heart to worry any of them about the trickling flow of unease coursing through my brain, the stream of paranoia that has now caved into a flood. Because it's my job to worry, to protect. It's their job to stay safe and stay out of it.

After a brief period of near silence, I'm about to lie back down, concluding that it must be my mother because she never makes noise, and my father always does. Until I hear a crash.

Grabbing a handful of my curtain and flinging it to the side, I twist my window open, lean out as far as I can and curse silently to myself. Next to the old car that me, Lola and mom all share is a shiny Volkswagen, parked haphazardly half-crashed in the driveway. His car.

Another crash sounds from downstairs, this time followed by the distinct crunch of broken glass, a furious roar echoing up the stairs.

Thought cutting out and adrenaline rushing in, I run straight down the hall and throw open Lola's door. "Lola, take the girls and get out. I'll hold him off as long as I can." I say urgently to my sister, who's already standing, clearly having not slept either. "Use the back door and take our car."

"No!" Lola says defiantly, staring me down like I'm insane. "I'm staying. I'm not letting you deal with this alone, Nath, I'm sixteen now, you don't have to protect me anymore!"

"Sixteen or sixty, I'll be protecting you as long as you live, now get Mia and Julie and leave." I hiss insistently, registering every passing second as a second wasted.

"He'll kill you, Nath!" Lola glares at me. "O vienes con nosotros o nos quedamos." (Either you come with us or we stay.)

"No podrás salir si me voy." (You won't be able to get out if I leave.) I snap, resisting the urge to grab her and bodily throw her out the window. "You have to take them away. You're the second oldest, Lola, you have to keep them safe. Do you want Mia hurt? Do you want Julie hurt?"

"Well I don't want you hurt either! What will you do when we take the car? How will you get out?"

"I won't!" I raise my voice. "I need to be here for mom. Now get the girls and go!"

"No! I can't leave you alone with him, not anymore. I can help, I'll stand up to him, I'll fight-"

"Just fucking do as I say, Lola!"

"What's going on?" A terrified Mia asks, standing in the doorway of her own room, her hand in Julie's.

"Lola's taking you two to a friend's house for the night." I say firmly.

"No I'm not!" Lola yells.

"I'm going downstairs now." I say almost threateningly. "I won't let him break all our shit. Take them and leave, Lola, I'm not asking."