Chasing Arizona

Independence Day

I couldn't resist! Please let me know what y'all think.

Arizona

Mama was crying again.

I could hear her sobbing through the thin walls as she sat in the living room, surely trying to smother the sound with the handkerchief that Aunt Rose had sent her for their last birthday. I wasn't sure why, it was only the two of them home. The sounds of their fight had echoed through the halls but luckily Essee and X were gone, just like I was supposed to be. I had a bad feeling though. I hadn't been able to shake it the entire time I was out with my friends so instead of fighting it I had made an excuse for having to get home early and asked to be dropped off at the front gate.

I could hear dad stomping around  upstairs, cursing and throwing things as him temper raged on. I wanted to move from my perch where I was hiding in the cupboard but again, that gut feeling was telling me not to move. I was frozen as I heard him come thundering back down the stairs.

"Didn't think I would find out, did you Lily-Pad?" I heard him sneer at her and then the sound of something hitting a wall. I winced, worried about Mama. My fingers itched to pull out my cell phone but I knew Mama wouldn't ever forgive me for calling the cops on dad. I'd offered a million times before but each time she had turned me down, claiming I just didn't understand.

"Dumb ol' Gavin. He'll never notice if I clear the search history on the laptop or if I stash away a little money." I scowled, Mama wasn't the type to hide money or delete computer stuff. Half of the time she had to ask me how to close the browser, let alone clear an entire search history.

"You're trying to leave me again, aren't you, bitch? I bet you're trying to find him. Gonna run off and play happy little family with your savior." I flinched. What did he mean by again? From what I could remember, Mama had never tried to leave. Gavin was losing his mind. I could hear Mama whispering lowly likely trying to calm him down in order to make him think rationally. The sound of flesh hitting flesh reached my ears only seconds later. Her stuffed scream was enough for me. I couldn't hold back anymore. The girls were gone, they wouldn't see Gavin get arrested. I could do this for her, for us.

With trembling hands I patted my pockets for my phone, listening to Mama plead with him. I couldn't find it!

"Oh, no! Gavin think of the babies, my girls!" Mama screamed suddenly, fear lacing each word -- she was desperate. He was laughing now. I found the hard edge of my phone and began to yank it out of my pocket as quickly and quietly as possible. I couldn't help Mama if I got caught.

"I don't give a single shit about the brats that you gave birth to, Lily. Not mine, remember?" I managed to get it free and was glad to have full bars. Thank goodness. I began to dial the numbers as fast as possible but missed with my shaking fingers.

"This is what you get for spreading your legs for just anyone. Filthy whore. Now, you're finally going to pay."

And before I could press the call button, the sound of a gun going off echoed through the house twice. And so did my scream.

*

Present Day

*

Arizona

The bar was crowded unlike any other night of the week, filled with out of towners that had flooded the bar at precisely six o'clock once it was "acceptable" to be seen in a bar -- I had been stooped on my perch since about noon, only managing to barely slide in when Dax opened. Chubby's had been around for barely a year, but I had made it my home since the day the doors had opened. It was an old skating rink turned honkey tonk, and Dax, the owner, had filled it with an eclectic collection of furniture to fill in the empty space. There was an old jukebox in the corner of the space that only worked on occasion and played pretty much nothing but Willie Nelson songs.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, Arizona?" Berkleigh Terrell asked, her soft voice at odds with the rough and tough exterior of the bar. I knew she wasn't being nosy, Berkleigh wasn't the type -- raised as a proper lady by her mother and father, Pastor Kinder and his beautiful wife, she was simply asking out of curiosity. I peered up at her through my mass of blonde hair, smiling seriously when she blushed crimson and fought to keep from shuffling off shyly. Berkleigh was notoriously shy, but no one dared to mess with her. Dax, her husband, would kick some serious ass. Instead of answering, I simply nodded and tipped my glass at her for another refill. She scurried off not seconds later with a concerned smile and a promise to return with my drink.

I did have somewhere to be. Tennessee's rehearsal dinner was set to start in about ten minutes according to my watch but I was in no mood to be around all of those loved up couples tonight. I was beyond happy for my baby sister -- Tennessee deserved to be happy after the things she'd put up with when it had come to her first husband, Yates. Out of all of us I hadn't expected Essee to be the one to end up staying with an abusive man, no she'd always been too headstrong. Now though, she was free of her ex-husband and about to marry the love of her life, Stetson Daniels.

So why wasn't I going to my little sister's rehearsal?

Because tonight was the anniversary.

It had been nine years since the night I had discovered the bloodied bodies of both my mother and my father, a tragic accident that at first was ruled a murder suicide. A consequence of my father's temper and mother's submissive nature, they claimed.

Of course, I now knew why he'd done it. Because we weren't his. Because Mama had never loved him. Because she had intended to leave him. 

By only I knew that truth, not even my sisters knew that I had been there, hiding, too chicken to do anything to help our Mama. Too scared.  They didn't know that when I had crept out of my hiding place, I had been the one to find them. Nor that every time I closed my eyes, Mama's lifeless body was all I could see.