Castles

Chapter 19

"Are you sure this is where he told you to go?" I asked Sheppard for the third time. I had one hand clutching my stomach the other one gripping the door handle. "You said he was drunk right?"

Sheppard looked back and forth. "Yeah... he's always drunk."

I pressed my feet into the floor praying the car would stop. I felt sick.

We passed the big tree at the park and I clenched my teeth. When Max and I were little, it was the only place we could go. They didn't like us leaving the house. Because running off meant making friends. And if we made friends, we might tell them they weren't good people.

"You okay?" Sheppard said. "I feel like you are about to jump from the car."

I forced myself back and tried to settle into my seat. "I'm fine." I pleaded he didn't turn at the end of the road. Because if he turned at the end of the road, that meant one horrible thing.

I rubbed the back of my neck, imagining the worst: blood, bodies, broken glass, and bad decisions.

"Maybe you heard it wrong. Are you sure this is what he told you?" Please don't turn left. Please don't turn left.

Sheppard reached over and patted me on my leg, trying to ease my panic. "Relax. I know my way around this town."

"Okay," I said.

"This looks like a scene out of Texas chainsaw massacre." He laughed. "All we need is the sheriff telling us where to head for the night."

He turned left. And everything slowed. The car inched closer and closer to the one place I hated to see. The place I ran far away from as soon as I could.

Only now I was back—with Sheppard.

He parked on the side of the road because there was a gate—of course, there was a gate, we weren't letting anyone in.

"I'll call him and let him know we're here," Sheppard said, climbing out of the car with his phone to his ear. He looked up at the long driveway that led to my childhood home.

I couldn't believe it. He had to be wrong.

Sheppard finished his phone call and climbed back into the car. "He said he's trying to get outside."

"What?" I looked down at my hands. "That's crazy. Maybe we should leave."

"This shouldn't take too long. He said she's pissed and won't..."

"She won't shut up." I finished his sentence. I could see the house off in the distance. "Because that's what woman do." I lied before he wondered what I meant.

"Maybe I could hop the fence and go knock on the door. I'm sure that would be enough to get him out of there," Sheppard suggested.

I grabbed him by the arm before he could get out of the car. "Stay here. I'll take care of it."

"What? Are you kidding me?" He asked. I ignored him and climbed out on my side. I leaned in before I shut the door. "Stay here. Please just trust me."

He threw up his hands.

I hurried over to the gate and climbed over, landing unsteadily on my feet. I took off, running toward my house. I could hear my mother screaming. She was angry, and she was throwing things, probably our dishes—what we had left.

This was her, she threw fits.

I ran up the stairs. I didn't knock I turned the knob, thankfully the door opened and I went inside.

There were chunks of ceramic scattered across the wooden floor. I hurried through the rubble and followed the angry screams to the kitchen.

It surprised me to see him standing there. I expected to find him hanging on to his last couple of breaths. But he was standing there, dodging every dish and cup flying at him.

"Would you calm down, Em?" He said, he took a few steps closer, and she went for him, swinging the plate. It connected with the side of his head and he groaned, letting out a slew of cuss words. He jumped back realizing he made the wrong move.

"You want to stay gone for days?" She screamed at him, whipping more plates at him. "Well by all means!"

"Mom!" I yelled, snapping her out of her fit. She dropped the plate and looked at me. "What are you doing here?"

I walked carefully across the kitchen floor trying not to cut myself on the glass and ceramic. "I stopped by to make sure you were all right." I lied.

Now that I knew Sheppard better, I knew this man dating my mother was more than that. He was Sheppard's uncle. Sheppard didn't call him Richard. I never made the connection.

"Since when do you show up out of nowhere?" She sniffed me out. Fighting with Richard wasn't on her mind anymore. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything is fine." I looked around. "It doesn't look fine around here though."

She wiped her forehead with her forearm. "No, it's not." She admitted. "I don't know what I was thinking."

I guided her to the hallway. "Why don't you go splash your face with some water and take a minute?"

She nodded in agreement, letting me take care of her mess.

Richard was against the kitchen counter. He didn't say a word until she was out of view.

"Thank you," he said with much relief attached to his words. "I thought she was going to kill me."

I looked him over, he was okay. There was a nice gash on the side of his head but other than that he was fine.

"Do you want me to help clean this mess up?" He said from the doorway.

I shook my head. "We need to get out of here."

I could hear the sink running. She was still in the bathroom. But then the front door opened and Sheppard was calling for me and his uncle.

I ran for the hallway. "I told you to stay in the car!"

He looked around at the mess. "I wasn't going to let you go into this strange house by yourself."

I tried to get him outside before she saw him. I tried so hard.

"Now I am really fucking confused," Sheppard's uncle said to us both. "Do you two know each other?"

I looked at his uncle and then at Sheppard. I didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, do you two know each other?" My mother said from the doorway. She glared at me, her eyes were cold.

Sheppard looked between the two of us. I silently begged him not to say anything. Not to admit a thing. The less she knew the better. He knew nothing about her, he didn't know what she was capable of.

"Why don't you guys just get out of here," I snapped. "Get the hell out of here. So I can clean up this mess."

"Joselyn," she said. "What is going on?"

I lead the two of them to the front door. "Please don't leave," I said under my breath as I shoved them out the door.

I slammed the door in his face pretending I was angry.

"Just go to bed, Mom." I started cleaning up the broken plates. "Sleep it off."

She left me alone for once. I picked up as much as I could before I slipped out the door.

I walked down the long driveway relieved to see Sheppard still waiting for me.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," his uncle said, a smirk on his face.

Sheppard nodded in agreement.