A Fresh Start

A Bad Surprise

(Two weeks later. Anna is better, but she has to be on crutches)

I wake up, and I see that I have a text on my phone. I pick up my phone, and read the text.

Unknown Number

Anna, I just want to let you know that Caleb isn't dead. I took him at the hospital, and paid someone to say that he's dead. I have him. Just thought I'd let you know. I love you!

I begin to get scared and worried. Is Jacob going to be okay? Is he okay? I feel extremely bad, now.

"SEAN!", I scream.

Sean comes running in, and he's quite frantic.

"What's going on?", Sean asks.

"Read this!", I say, and give Sean my phone.

"Oh no.", Sean says as he reads it.

"We have to go to California, like now!", I say.

"Anna, the last time I let you go to California, do you remember what happened?", Sean asks.

"Sean, please! I need to know if Jacob is okay!", I say.

"Alright, fine. Get ready, and we'll head out today. Do you want me to see if we can get last minute plane tickets?", Sean asks.

"Sure.", I say.

Sean leaves the room, and I begin to get ready. I put on a black shirt, jeans, and converse. I take my pain meds, and hobble over to my crutches.

In the kitchen, I see that Sean has two plane tickets in his hands.

"I got the tickets. You ready?", Sean asks.

"Yes! Let's go!", I say.

We arrive at my stepmom's house five hours later. I begin to bang on the door, because I need to get in.

"Come in!", I hear my stepmom yell.

We both come in, and I don't see Caleb anywhere.

"Where is he?", I yell.

"Where is who?", my stepmom asks.

"You know exactly who. Now, where the heck is he?", I ask.

"Again, where is who?", my stepmom asks, oblivious to the question.

"Where the heck is Caleb?", I ask, angry.

"Oh! Caleb! You have a visitor!", my stepmom yells.

Caleb comes running in, and he is surprised to see me.

"Anna!", Caleb exclaims.

I pick him up, and give him a big hug.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?", I ask, concerned.

"I'll tell you later.", Caleb says.

"Mom, why did you do this?", I ask.

"To teach you that you need to take better care of kids.", she says.

I know she did not just go there. Please tell me she did not just go there.

"Mom, you don't have any room to talk. After what you put us through, don't even think about going there.", I say.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are talking to me like that?", she asks.

We're about to fight. I can see it now.

"Mom, I will fight you. I don't care if I have crutches or not.", I say.

"Okay. Let's go.", she says, and stands up.

I drop my crutches, and walk over to her. I take out a pocket knife to show that I'm not playing around here.

"Anna, if I were you I would put that up.", my mom says, and takes out her gun.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore.", I say.

"Why are you doing this?", my mom asks.

"What do you mean?", I ask.  

"Why are you trying to fight me when you know you're going to lose?", my mom asks.

"Who said I'm going to lose?", I ask with a sarcastic tone.

She replies by slamming me to the floor. I let out a scream, because I hurt my leg.

My mom rolls her eyes. "That didn't even hurt."

She then throws a punch at my face, and I can't do anything about it, because of her pushing me to the ground earlier. She grabs a gun and points it to my head.

"Caleb! Christian! Don't even think about saying or doing anything. I don't care if you move or walk or whatever, but don't say anything or do anything to try to help her.", she says.

Sean walks over to Caleb, because he's crying. I'm really sorry that he has to see me this way. I then realize something. She never told me to not talk. I'm going for it.

"What do you want from me? If I give it to you, will you leave me alone?", I ask.

"Anna, you especially need to shut up. And, I want you to stop ruining my life. Is it really that hard?", she asks, even though it was more of a statement.

I'm not exactly sure who's she's going to hurt if I talk, so I decide to keep my mouth closed. I can't have Caleb or Sean getting hurt. If she had stated that she was going to hurt me, then that would be a different story.

Hours have passed, and I'm beginning to lose hope. The gun is still pointed at me, and Caleb is still crying. I want to call the police right now, but I know I can't.

After what seems like an eternity later, we finally hear sirens. My mom takes a baseball bat, and hits my bad leg.

"Alright. All of you, go downstairs. Now. And, you better pray that the cops don't show up.", my mom says.

Sean runs over to me, and picks me up. Caleb follows us and we all go downstairs. Sean gently lays me on the floor, because he knows that I'm in a lot of pain. Sean then holds my hand, because he knows how scared I am.

About two hours later, we finally hear the police.

"Hello? Is there anyone down here?", the police asks.

"Yes! There's three of us! But, we need a medic!", Sean exclaims.

"Alright! They're on their way down. You're safe now, I promise.", the police says.

The medics come down, and they help me on a stretcher. Sean carries Caleb, and follows us to the ambulance.

"Alright, can you tell me what happened?", the medic asks when we get on the ambulance.

"Yeah, so I was knocked down on my bad leg, and then I was hit by a baseball bat on my bad leg.", I explain.

"What was wrong the leg before you got knocked down and hit?", the medic asks, and puts an oxygen mask on me.

I let out a sigh. "I was in a really bad car accident, and the leg was being crushed."

I really hope that I don't wake up in the hospital again.