Journey's Child

31

When I got to the cottage door I couldn't bring myself to go in. I felt like once I walked into the cottage, my last day here would be over and my vacation would end. It had been a good day and even with all the bad stuff, it had been a good vacation too. So many people and things had happened to us in Drakes Harbor. Our lives had been forever changed by the accident, but most of the changes had happened here.

I realized that I was afraid of how we would be when we went back home and didn't have the beach and Thad to fill our days. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew I had to go inside. Like my mom always told me, we have to move forward Gilly, we really don't have any other choice; so I did what I had to do, I opened the door and went inside.

*

I felt it and knew it at the same time - something was wrong. I wanted to call out for my mom, but the bad feeling stopped me. Instead, I quickly headed down the hall. When I got about halfway I heard a strange sound coming at me from my mother's room. I couldn't tell what it was but it jabbed at me, pushing me forward. My heart was pounding in my chest. I ran to her door and froze. My mom was lying on the floor on the far side of the bed. Her bare feet stuck out and that was all I could see of her.

"Mom?"

There was no answer. I'm not even sure I actually made a sound. My heart was stuck in my throat and I was paralyzed. In the few seconds that went past, I felt every bad emotion I had ever had.

Tom was sitting on top of my mother. His arm was raised above his head and his fist was covered in blood. We stared at each other in silence until I heard my mother moan. All of the feelings that were flooding through my brain, zeroed in on getting help for my mother. Tom's wild eyes and hateful sneer stormed my mind with panic.

I turned and began to run back down the hall. I knew he was hurting my mother and I had to get help. As my hand grabbed at the door knob, I heard Tom's footsteps coming after me. I burst through the door and into the dusky gray night. I yelled "Help me!" into the cold air, but there was no one to hear me. The cottages were all dark.

My ears were filled with the pounding of my own heart. The need to find someone to help us pushed me to the only place I knew - Thad's house. I ran so fast, I tried so hard, but I couldn't outrun Tom. I made it up the path to the first turn where the cottages and beach dropped out of sight and where Ben had given me my first kiss. I didn't look back once but I knew he was getting closer. I felt his hand hit my back and I fell, rolling over and over, off the trail and onto the rough, overgrown brush.

*

The night's darkness surrounded me like a black veil. It pushed against me roughly, forcing me deeper into the damp ground. The darkness pressed into me, tearing at my clothes and overpowering me. Everything became hazy and I was floating through a thick, confusing fog. I lay dazed and only slightly aware of the night's attack on me. Pulling, ripping pain piercing through me with icy blades - the night swallowed me.

Then there was nothing...