Sweet bliss

02. Lost causes

*******TRIGGER WARNING*******
This chapter deals with some heavy and sensitive topics. Read at your own risk.

Driving was time consuming and not very attention grabbing. I'd made it to Las Vegas by the time my decision had caught up to me. Due to the late hour in the afternoon I had decided to leave I stop on the edge of a road and lay down in the back seat. I'd been able to pack a pillow and a single blanket to sleep with. Once I was wrapped up securely in my cocoon of warmth I start to doze off.
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No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the door open. I slammed against the wooden frame, over and over, tying my hardest to get something as little as a crack. I can hear screaming  coming from the living room. My blood runs cold and my strength returns. Finally I backed up and saw I had a trophy from one of my soccer tournaments. I smash it against the door and it finally gives way.

I bolt out of my confinement and over the splintering wood. My feet hurry along the carpeted floor, slick with an unknown liquid. As if I was in auto pilot my feet carried me to the living room. When I ran around the corner I saw something out of a horror movie. My dad stood in the centre of the room, furniture was upturned and broken. Scattered around the small space, my older brother lay unconscious in one corner while my dad had my mum in a head lock.

He held a knife to my mothers throat and looked up when he heard me gasp. He has tears streaming down his enraged face. "I have to! I don't know another way!"

"Dad...please I'll help you find anoth..." But before I could finish he slid the knife across the delicate skin on my mothers neck. What started as a small red line, gushed and pooled at my fathers ankles. My mothers lifeless eyes stared back at me, and I wanted nothing more then knowing that she was okay. 'Of course not.' I scolded myself mentally, 'No one would survive that. No one."

Finally coming to my senses I turn on my heels and run to grab my families home phone. I call the police and tell them what happened, hoping that they'll understand that my dad is sick.

I walk back to our front room and realise that my dad is still standing in the middle of the room. This time with a look of horror. "Di..did I do this squid?" He turns his gaze to match mine. He looked so innocent and terrified that it was hard to do what was next. I nodded, tears pricking my eyes.

"NOOOO!" His screams fill the room that was once void of all sound. "I..I..can't do this." He brings the knife to his wrists and slices deeply. It was now my turn to scream. My brain went into a frenzy as I tried to comprehend what was happening in my surroundings. Searching for any immediate danger. Not understanding how this happened, I was able to get out bandages and wrap his wrists tightly to keep the blood from spilling out the two open wounds.

Not a moment later, police officers and EMT's rush through my front door. They rush to my side as they examine the damage he's done to himself. In a flash of lights he was taken off on a stretcher, my brother following closely after. They were slow to take my mother. A uniformed woman came up to ask me questions about what went on.

"Miss you have to understand that my dad, he's...he's sick. He has medicine that helps him be normal. I think something happened, maybe he ran out but he didn't mean to do it. I saw that he didn't mean it. He was sorry. I promise he needs his medicine it makes him feel better. It makes him normal. I don't want him to go to jail. He can't go there, I'll go for him. Please keep him out of there!"

The lady gabs my arm and pulls me into a hug. "It's okay Hun. I'll try my best to put him somewhere that's be good for him. I give you my word." I sob a quiet thank you into her shirt. When I pull away there is a dark stain on her shoulder where I had been crying.

"I'm sorry about your shirt." I really was sorry for getting it all wet.

"Darlin' hush now. It's fine you've been through a lot tonight, I don't care about a shirt I can wash." I give her a small smile before everything fades.
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I bolt up in the back of my four door car, my mind fuzzy except for the memory that had made an appearance in my dream. As all of my memories of the last year come back, so do all of the memories of yesterday. My eyes widen with realisation, I'm still in an abandoned parking lot in the middle in Las Vegas, at night.

Flinging my covers off, I scramble to the front seat and start my car. I shove the keys into the ignition and start the car. I zoom out of the lot and take to the road again. After a couple more hours I made it to L.A. Maybe this will be my new start. No more bother, no more thinking of my parents, and never going back.
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