Scars (Edited)

You Were Right

   The baby had just fallen asleep when Stephany hears a click from upstairs; Victor has just left.  A day and a half of being locked in the basement and Stephany is usually fatigued from lack of food but this time she had her hidden canned food to get her by.  She looks down at her baby as he sleeps in the bassinet without a care in the world.  Again, Stephany finds herself crying as she thinks about the life they could have if only they could escape this house and that damned man.  Standing over Ryker crying, Stephany is unaware of the knock on the front door and the lady standing on the rotting wood of the front porch wrapped in a faux fur coat to keep warm against the cold wind.  The lady on the porch knocks again, just once, before the door (which Victor never locks) swings open by its self.  Curiously, she steps into the house and looks around.

   The kitchen, which has served many times over as Stephany’s safe haven, is littered with broken and dirty dishes and the fridge is propped open with an old boot.  Her nose wrinkled in disgust, the lady draws farther into the house, gripping her coat close for comfort.  With each step she takes she comes closer and closer to the door that keeps Stephany from freedom.  The sound of crying reaches the ears of the lady and she stops dead in her tracks.  Where the sound could be coming from in a house as empty and as run down as this she did not know.  Surely she had the wrong address because there was no way the person she was looking for lived here. Maybe the man at the corner store lied to her… The crying grows louder as she finally finds the courage to continue on and the basement door stands towering over her like a big, wooden bully.

   At last, Stephany had heard the footsteps coming from the house above and she rushes to put her plan into action because, surely, this had to be her husband home from whatever it is he does when she’s locked downstairs.  Grabbing the can opener, Stephany tries hard to stop her tears as she hides to the side of the stairs.  The door creaks open and Stephany holds her breathe as she listens carefully to the person coming down the steps.  Step by step the person (who is much lighter then Victor) comes hesitantly down the stairs.  As their shoes touch the bottom step, Stephany lungs forward with the can opener and the person gives off a shrill, girlish shriek.

   Standing in front of the terrified young mother, the lady in the faux fur is frozen in her place as her eyes meet the identical ones of Stephany.  “Steph?” Margret asks softly as she takes in the appearance of her prematurely aged baby sister.  Stephany’s golden hair is littered with strands of white and the dress that Victor had forced her into almost two days ago hangs off of her like a coat on a rack. Recognition flashes in Stephany’s eyes and the can opener slips from her fingers as she collapses to the floor in a flood of tears.

   “You were right, Margie.  You were so, so, so right,” Stephany sobs suddenly as her sister wraps her up in her arms.  “I should never have married him, Margret.  I should have listened to you and mom and dad.”  As Stephany grows a little louder in her distress, Ryker stirs in the crib and begins to cry.  Margret, having not noticed the crib in the far corner of the room, stands up and makes her way over to look in at the nephew she hadn’t known she had.

   “Is he yours?” She asks her sister and the younger woman nods. Reminded of her baby, Stephany holds back her tears and goes to pick him up.  “He’s beautiful!” Margret exclaims as she takes in the healthy appearance of the babe and the sparkle in his blue eyes.  Stephany simply nods as sad thoughts of her numerous miscarriages flint around her mind.

   Shaking her head to clear her melancholy thoughts, Steph looks up at her sister. “Can we leave, please, before he gets back?  I don’t need any new bruises or worse.”  Margie’s eyes narrow at this. Did Stephany just say what Margret thinks she said?  Has that man done anything other than lock her in the basement?  Margie’s eyes were silently asking her questions as she thought them and Stephany slowly shakes her head as she grabs the diaper bag out from under the basinet.  “Not here.  Please let us be far from here before you start your questions.  I have no idea what time Victor will be home but I don’t plan on being here when he arrives.”  With those words, the two women rush around the house gathering clothes for Ryker and Stephany both as they rush to leave.  Margie had made up her mind as they packed, Stephany was moving in with her and Victor wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near her or the baby.  If she had to, Margret would involve the police.  Her husband, Josh, has friends on the force, if anything, she’ll ask him what to do.