Mommy? (2)

Chapter 6

Shania's P.O.V.

She's back.

The words repeated themselves in my mind, over and over again, and I couldn't shut them out.

Why? Why did she have to come back? Hadn't she hurt Leonora enough? Hadn't she broken Leonora enough? Did she have to show her power even more, did she have to show her cruelty even more?

I shivered and closed my eyes, crying all the tears in my body, crying as if something had snapped in me. I couldn't even keep them silent, no matter how hard I tried to. In the end, the sounds of my crying must have attracted Hiroki because he came running into the room and engulfed me in a really tight and warm hug. I simply fell limply into his arms and let my body be overcome by sobs. Hiroki held me, sitting down on the floor, careful not to make me fall. He rubbed my back reassuringly, and let me cry it out, not once speaking, simply waiting for me to calm down and speak on my own.

We stayed like that for a long time, until I calmed down enough and until I wasn't sobbing anymore but simply crying silently, trying to choke back my tears. I stood up and, taking the phone, that had fallen on the ground when I hung up, and Hiroki's hand, I went to the living room. There I sat down on the couch and, pulling Hiroki into my lap, turned on a random movie. It turned out to be one of the Fast and Furious movies and, even if I didn't like it, I kept it going. It was, after all, a way of focusing on something else. After 10 minutes, however, I couldn't keep it up and I turned it off.

Looking at the beautiful person sitting on my lap, I uttered the words I never thought I would have to.

"Leonora's.... Leonora's in danger," I choked back a sob and forced myself to remain calm and to continue speaking, "Emilie called me, and.... and she said that Leonora said that she's back." Hiroki widened his eyes, immediately understanding who I was talking about.  No one else would put Leonora in danger, except her mother.... and her.

I remember when Leonora had first told us about her. She had ran into my parents' house, tears running down her face and she had crumpled on the floor, shaking uncontrollably and her breathing erratic. I had called Hiroki immediately and he had managed to calm her down, he had managed to make her breathe properly and stop shaking. Then, Leonora had started telling us about her, about what she had to her and to her friend, about how her mother had looked on and simply told her to continue going, to simply keep destroying Leonora's and her friend's minds and bodies. She told us about how there had been a trial, about how she wasn't put in prison because she had money. Money that should have been Leonora's. She had told us about how she was terrified for her life and about how she didn't know what to do. She had told us about how she was ready to give herself up if anyone she loved and cared about were in danger.

I froze, and Hiroki must have read my mind and the fear in my eyes because he paled considerably.

"She wouldn't, would she?"