Where I belong.

Part 7- Mrs. Smith cares

"You poor baby. Look at you." Mrs. Smith examined Linda.
"Will she be okay?" I asked.
"She will be fine but the scars on her neck look pretty bad."

I looked at Linda.

"Linda...did he try to kill you?" I sobbed.
She ignored me.
"Linda, you can talk to me. Those scars on your neck. Was he strangling you the night before?" I continued.
".....Yes..." She sobbed.
"Why didn't you tell me, friend?"
"He didn't mean to hurt me."
"Linda, he threw you infront of a moving truck."
"I loved him." She cried.
"You loved him?"
"So much, Gwendolyn. I know he loved me back."

This was really bad. This was painful. I had no words. Neither did Mrs. Smith. I never even knew Mrs.Smith cared so much. She allowed Linda to stay at the farm until she was better.
---------------------------------------------------
My ride on the bus was painful. In fact I needed to see that van waiting for me when I got off.

To my surprise, it wasn't there. I felt my heart sit on my throat. Where was he? I needed to see him and talk to him. I was really heartsore.

It was getting really dark. I had no time to go back to grandmama for lunch, I missed the afternoon bus and caught the evening one. Who would I turn to? All I was surrounded by is the night sky and crickets,stars and the moon. Nobody else in this silence.

"I waited for you this afternoon. I was worried." A voice said.
"I'm sorry. I missed the bus."
"You look down. What's wrong?"

I started sobbing and he walked to me and hugged me. There was something familiar about his scent.

I pulled away from his arms "I have to get home. Grandmama is probably wondering where I am."
"I can give you a ride. You won't make it home like this."
"Okay." I gave in.

We said nothing the whole ride home. He stopped outside my house.

I never imagined myself doing this but I started the conversation in tears.

"My friend has been abused all this time and I couldn't see it. Right under my nose. She's been having it so bad he done almost killed her. She's so in love with him she doesn't realize he was damaging her. I understand that this is difficult for her. The only man she loved was the only one hurting her the most. Now he's dead and she has to deal with that too. I can't begin to imagine what she's going through." I broke down.
"Why didn't you spend the night with her."
" I have to come home to grandmama and my boss's wife has taken her in until she is well."

There was silence before he could ask
"May I come in?"
"Yeah sure. I will fix you a cup of tea."