Goodbye, my love // a.i.

Chapter 1

Eight and a half months ago, my parents divorced, after being married for thirteen years. Everyday it gets harder and harder to tell people the reason for my parents' divorce because not only did my parents fight worse than normal couples do, my father was an abusive monster to both me and my mother.

Even after they divorced and my mom and I moved into a new apartment, my father would sit across the street from my school in his old pickup truck and watch me as I got into my mom's car after school was dismissed. After a few weeks of him watching, my mother went to court to put a restraining order against him, attempting to keep him away. Well, let me just say, it didn't work. The last time I encountered my father, I ended up in the hospital with several severe stab wounds in my stomach.

*Flashback*

It's about nine o'clock on a Saturday night. I'm laying on the couch watching the VH1 Top 20 Countdown, when I see headlights approaching the apartment parking lot, not thinking anything of it since we have neighbors that usually come home a little late. After the headlights shut off, I hear a car door shut, the normal. As I continue to watch TV, I hear someone walking up the steps towards our apartment, thinking "Who would be coming here at this time of night?" About thirty seconds pass and I hear a knock on the door, so I pause the television and get up to answer it, just thinking that someone has the wrong apartment. I open the door and before I can look up to see who it is, I feel a hand close around my mouth and I'm shoved inside as the stranger closes the door behind them. As I struggle to get out of their arms, the embrace only gets tighter. I try to scream, but my voice is muffled by the man's hands. I suddenly feel his grip around me loosen, giving me enough leave way to elbow him in whatever place was nearest, which turned out to be his gut. As he releases my mouth, moving his hands to his stomach, I am able to scream. Quickly, as he recovers and stands back up, facing me, I realize that the man is not a stranger. He is my father. I scream again, louder this time, waking up my mother who runs into the living room wearing her pajama pants and a tee shirt three sizes too big for her, obviously not expecting any guests this evening. As her eyes land on my father, I see not only worry, but also fear.

"If you don't leave right this minute, I'm calling the cops." my mother warns him, her voice cracking at the end.

To this, my father starts walking towards my mother reaching inside his coat for something. When his hands find what he was searching for, he pulls his hand out of his coat quickly, revealing a pistol. As he brings the gun back I scream as loud as I can, which doesn't help because he then brings the butt of the gun down on my mother's head, causing her to fall onto the floor, her limp body laying there unconscious. He then turns around to me with a smirk on his face, putting the gun back into his coat and reaching for something else. As he finds it, he says "Ah, my dear child. I have waited for this moment since you started became the worthless child you always were, Ashli."

Suddenly, he brings his arm out of his coat, coming towards me quickly. I then feel a sharp pain in my stomach and fall to the ground, screaming. As I'm laying helplessly on the floor, my father crouches down next to me, the knife in hand, and stabs my stomach again. And again, this time twisting the knife, resulting in more pain. After doing what his sick mind wants to do, he opens the door and walks out, without a word, leaving my mother knocked unconscious and me lying on the floor bleeding to death. The first thought that comes to my mind is, "My phone. I need to find my phone and call the cops." As I try to sit up, pain shoots through my stomach, but I somehow ignore it, knowing I will not let my father kill me today. I manage to crawl to the couch, the television still on, and reach for my phone which is laying on the couch, right where I left it when I answered the door. "Why did you have to answer the freaking door Ashli?" I ask myself. As I grab my phone, I quickly dial 911, telling the operator where I am and what has happened. Within five minutes of calling, I hear sirens approaching the apartment complex, then people running up the stairs, until someone comes rushing through the door, not caring to knock.

"Thank God." I whisper, not meaning for anyone to hear me. As the paramedics rush over to my mother and I, carrying stretchers for the both of us, my vision begins to blur and my head starts to spin. That's when everything goes black.

***

The next day, I wake up in the hospital, nurses everywhere. As soon as I wake up, one of the nurses says, "Oh, good morning sweetie. How are you feeling?" As I try to move my body, I feel a sharp pinch in my stomach, reminding me of the horrific events from the night before. I look at the kind after a minute or two and say, "Alright, I guess," even though my stomach is burning like it's on fire. She must be able to tell that I'm hurting, because she gives me more medicine through my IV, which starts working immediately. I turn back to the nurse and ask, "What has happened since I blacked out?" To which she replies, "Well, we took you emergency surgery for your wounds and cleaned them out, stitched them, then brought you in here to wake up and recover. Since then we've been giving you medicine through and IV and blood because you lost a lot form your wounds." Wow. It takes me a minute to process what she just told me. When I do, I realize my mother is not in the room with me and I begin to worry. Before I can worry for long or ask the nurse, my mother walks into my hospital room, carrying a Wendy's to-go bag and a drink. It must be lunch time. When she notices that I'm awake, she rushes to my bedside and starts crying, saying how much she loves and how sorry she that this happened, which I don't understand because it wasn't her fault.

"Are you okay, mom?" I ask her.

"Yes, honey, I'm just fine. There's just a little bruise on my head, but I'll be okay." She smiles weakly.

"How long will I have to be here?" I ask.

"The doctors said about two or three weeks, just to be sure that you will heal okay." She pauses, then looks away with tears brimming her eyes. As she turns back to me, she continues and says, "We can't stay here. We are leaving Ohio a couple of weeks after you get out of the hospital." She looks away again, a single tear running down her cheek. I pick my arm up, ignoring the horrible pain, and wipe the tear off of her face asking, "Where are we going?"

This time, she looks me right in the eyes and says, "I'm going to sound crazy when I say this, but we are moving to Australia." That's when I think she's joking, but then I see the serious look on her face and realize that she isn't.

"Australia? Mom, that's halfway across the world." I point out. I'll have to leave my school, my friends, or friend, seeing as I only have one, and she's my best friend. Her name is Jewel and we have been friends since we met in third grade.

"Exactly. We need to be as far away from your father as possible, so we are moving to West Sydney, Australia. I've actually been looking at homes there for a couple of weeks now, and because of what has happened, I think it's time for us to go."

*End of Flashback*