Untold Secrets

Chapter Six

A year had passed and the only thing that changed was the fact that she hadn't seen Alex in months. Sam had become stricter with their visitations. He claimed that she must be cheating on him with Alex. That's what had triggered this entire fight they were having now.
It was dark, aside from the light that was streaming in through the slits on the wooden door. Norma was holding Norman tightly in her arms, breathing in the smell of his shampoo. Sam bursts through the bedroom door, shoving things around inside the room.
"Shhhh." Norma whispers into Norman's ear. They were hiding inside the closet after Sam had tried to hurt Norman. Luckily, Dylan was at school.
"We're just playing, okay? We're not going to tell daddy where we are." she whispers, stroking his hair away from his face. Outside of the closet, a glass breaks, making Norman jump.
"I know he sounds angry, but it's just a game." she whispers to him.
"I'm not going to let anybody hurt you." she promises, tears streaming down her face. As soon as she finishes reassuring him, the closet door whips open and Sam grabs Norma by her hair, dragging her out.
"Sam, please-" she pleads before she is cut off by his flying fist which lands right in the middle of her back. She plummets to the ground, having lost the air in her lungs. She lays there, gasping for breath while Sam grabs her foot and drags her out of Norman's bedroom. He launches her down the stairs, each tumble causing a different part of her body to ache.
She lands at the bottom, sputtering and gasping for air. Her vision was dark and blurry but she could barely make out Sam's figure walking toward her. Her body was limp as he grabbed her by her arms and dragged her through the house, tossing her down into the basement.
"You're going to stay down here until I say you can come back up." Sam tells her before closing her and locking her into the dark, cold basement.
She wasn't sure how long she stayed down there, shivering from the cold air of the broken window. She stayed in her curled ball on the concrete floor, dreaming of better days.
"Mommy?"
Her eyes slowly flutter open, looking around the dark room. She pushes herself up and looks around, not seeing either of her boys.
"Mommy, over here." Dylan whispers through the broken window. Norma quickly crawls over to the wall and slowly stands up to look at her baby boy through the broken glass.
"Me and Norman snuck some of our food into our napkins for you." he whispers, handing her the napkin full of food.
"Thank you darling." Norma whispers, reaching out to cup his chubby cheek.
"How long is daddy going to make you stay?" Dylan asks sadly.
"I don't know, baby. Is he home?" Norma asks.
"He just left for work." Dylan tells her.
"Okay. I need you to go next door and find Alex or Katie, okay? Can you do that?" Norma asks.
"Yeah." Dylan says, standing up and running off.
He knocks on the door twice and waits patiently. Alex opens the door, kneeling down to look into the six year old's eyes.
"Hey, buddy. Where's your mommy and daddy?" Alex asks.
"My daddy went to work but he locked mommy in the basement." Dylan explains casually.
"And Norman is watching tv in the living room." he continues.
Alex widens his eyes and quickly closes the front door behind him, grabbing Dylan's small hand in his large one.
"Show me where the basement is." Alex says, leading Dylan back to his house. Dylan begins to run along the side of the house and stops to lay on the grass.
"She's through here." Dylan says, pointing at a broken window. Alex lays beside the young boy and looks through the window to see Norma laying on the concrete ground, her knees pulled up to her chest.
"Norma!" Alex calls out to her, making her look up at them. She slowly sits up and crawls to the window.
"Alex, I-I-I don't know how long i've been down here. I need to be let out. I-"
"I'll be right there." Alex tells her, jumping up from the ground. He grabs Dylan and runs into the house, setting Dylan on the couch next to Norman.
"Do you know where the key to the basement is?" Alex asks the young boys. Norman shakes his head, his small fingers picking up goldfish crackers from a bowl.
"In the drawer over there." Dylan says, pointing to the desk in the corner of the room. Alex walks over and opens the drawer.
"But only daddy can open it." Dylan whines with worry. Alex ignores the rule and rummages through the porn magazines and finally finds a ring with multiple keys on it.
"Boys, go next door into my house and lock the door." Alex says, pulling the boys to the front door.
"Go on. As fast as you can." he says, watching them run off to his house. Alex can see Sam's truck come into view, making its way to the house. He runs to the basement door and begins trying each key.
"Alex, hurry. He's here!" Norma says through the door.
Alex heart starts to race as each key fails to slide into the lock. The pressure was on for him, he had to save Norma. He finally slid a key in and unlocked the door, pulling the door open and catching Norma in his arms.
"Let's go." he says, pulling her to her feet.
"Alex-" Norma begins, stumbling behind him. He turns around and sweeps her up into his arms, carrying her out the back door.
"Alex, I-"
"It's okay. You're going to be okay. I won't let him touch you again." Alex promises.
"Alex-" Norma cries.
"I'll kill that son of a bitch if he ever even looks at you again." he tells her as he runs into his own back yard.
"Alex where are the boys?" Norma finally gets out.
"I sent them here." he tells her, pulling the back door open.
"Mr. Alex got mommy!" Dylan says, jumping up and down as Alex sets Norma on his couch. In the light of the room he can finally see just how much damage was done to her. She had bruises all over her arms and had a cut on her bottom lip. Who knows where else she might be injured.
"We need to lay low. At least until Sam leaves again. I don't want any altercations if we can avoid them." Alex explains, locking the back door.
"Where's Katie?" Norma asks, holding Norman close to her chest.
"Don't know." Alex says, looking out the window before closing the blinds.
"You don't know?" Norma asks.
"We had a fight. She left. Here we are." Alex says quickly, closing the rest of the blinds. A knock on the door forces everyone to tense up and look at the front door.
"Go upstairs and hide." Alex whispers, helping Norma up from the couch.
"Alex-" Norma begins with worry.
"Now!" he whispers to her. She grabs Norman and Dylan, pulling them up the stairs while Alex goes to open the door.
"Where are they?" Sam asks angrily.
"Who?" Alex asks, glaring at Sam.
"Move." Sam says, pushing Alex aside and walking in.
"I know they're here. Norma! Get your ass out here now!" Sam shouts, opening every door he passes. Alex grabs Sam's hand and twists it behind his back, slamming him against the nearest wall.
"You get the hell out of my house before I call my squad." Alex whispers into his ear angrily.
"I'll have your kids taken away from you and have you behind bars before your drunk ass can comprehend what's happening." he says, pushing Sam toward the front door. Sam glances back at Alex with a smirk and straightens up.
"I fucked your wife." Sam tells him before stumbling out of the house. Alex freezes with shock, not knowing how to process the new information. He stands in that same spot for ten minutes, just absorbing what has been revealed.
"Alex?" Norma whispers from the top of the stairs. He looks up at her, as if only just now remembering that they were here.
"It's clear. You can come out." he calls out to her. She walks down the stairs slowly, ignoring the silent protest in her body with each step she takes.
"The boys fell asleep in the guest room. Thought it better to just let them be." Norma explains before noticing Alex's sullen face.
"What's wrong?" she asks, walking to him.
"Nothing." he says softly, his dark eyes looking at her but not seeing her.
"Alex." she says, taking his face in her hands.
"What is it?" she asks.
"Do you want to leave?" he asks her.
"What?" she asks with surprise, her hands dropping from his face.
"Leave. Do you want to?" he asks again.
"I-I-I can't just leave, Alex. The boys need a father-"
"Sam isn't a father and you know that." he tells her, slowly gaining life back into his voice and facial expression.
"I-I have to...I have to try and mend things-"
"Sometimes it's easier to leave and start over than to stay and rebuild. Especially if there is nothing left to build." Alex tells her, grabbing her hand and pulling her outside.
"Alex where are we going?" she asks as he pulls her to his house.
"You have to know." he tells her.
"Know? Know what? Alex please, I don't want to go back. Please, Alex!" she begs, trying to pull her wrist out of his grip. He stops and turns to her, making her almost run right into him.
"He's cheating on you." Alex tells her slowly.
"W-What? No. No he...he doesn't...he wouldn't...he-"
"With Katie. He told me. I didn't believe him but now...it makes sense. It adds up. She has always liked him. And she has been going out so much lately. I...I..." Alex trails off, not knowing what else to say.
"You want to go in and look?" he asks.
"I'm sure she is there." he adds.
"No." she says softly, looking at the ground. She looks back up at Alex, her sad eyes being replaced by ones filled with determination.
"Let's go." she says.
"Go?"
"You said you wanna leave? Let's leave. Let's go. Tonight. Right now. I'll grab my things, you grab yours, and we just drive." Norma says, already heading back to Alex's house.
"Tonight? Don't you want to wait? Sleep on it?" Alex asks, trying to catch up with her. She turns back to him suddenly and this time it was his turn to not run into her.
"Look at me, Alex. Look at my body. These bruises and scars." she tells him, pushing up the sleeves on her dress to display even more bruises and past injuries.
"Does it look like I want to sleep on it?" she asks him rhetorically.
"He raped me, spit on me, cursed at me. He used to choke me until I was on the verge of blacking out. Does it sound like I want to sleep on it?" she asks. He stands there, mouth agape as his eyes trace each and every bruise that he didn't protect her from.
"I want to leave. Tonight. Is that alright or do I have to go without you? Again."
He looks up at her, guilt flooding his body as he remembers how many times they had abandoned each other. If they had just stuck together in the beginning, maybe they would've been alright.
"I'm not abandoning you. Not again." he promises.
"Then let's go."