Hate

Chapter 13

She preferred to stay in the hallway, unable to cross the door. The police had been gone for a while. They had finished with all their questions. She had told them everything, trying not to omit the slightest detail of what Mario said. Then they left the hospital. She became silent, staring into space. She was biting her nails, pacing. Nurses and doctors came and went around her without giving her the slightest attention. Leaning against the wall, she waited without knowing what she was expecting. Kevin joined her, hands in his pockets. He reached out to touch her, but changed his mind at the last moment.

The young girl tightened her arms around her body, trying to stop the shivers. She could change before being taken to the hospital, but she was still cold. She cast a quick glance through the window of the room. Martin and Jenny were with her.

“Why don’t you go in?” Kevin asked, lowering his head. “She’ll be very happy to see you.”

“I… I don’t think so.”

“If you don’t try, you will not know.”

“Thank you for coming.”

He nodded.

“It was the strangest message left on my voicemail.”

She smiled a little, frowning. She remembered she phoned him when she went back home. But she had no memory of having finished the message or hung up. He told her what he had heard when he returned home. He had recognized her voice, but he found her strange. He knew that something was wrong in this house. Something terrible was going on and he wanted to know what. The message she left somehow give him the chance to find out. He was eager to go there. He had heard the end of Mario’s speech and the splash of water. He therefore decided to intervene anyway. Anika nodded. That’s why I have my phone near the stairs. She had lost it when she fell down the stairs. The police allowed her to recover it before leaving the house for the hospital.

“I’ll try to do better next time,” the young girl replied, biting her lower lip.

“I hope.”

She looked up at him and he did the same. Without a word, he motioned for her and he welcomed her into his arms, holding her against him. He noticed her tremors and probably wanted to calm her down. Still shaking, he told her to see Lisa. He kissed her before letting her slowly go into the room of her aunt. She opened the door, casting a glance. Her cousins turned to her. Lisa was lying on the bed. She opened her eyes when she heard the door. She smiled at her niece, but there was something sad in her eyes. Jenny motioned for her brother to accompany her to the cafeteria to help her. Anika was then alone with her aunt. Lisa beckoned her to approach.

“Are you okay?” the young girl asked, uncomfortable.

“Nothing serious. Thanks to you.”

“It’s rather Kevin you should thank.”

“It’s not him who plunged into the water, isn’t it?”

Anika shrugged. She hadn’t made a heroic gesture, according to her own criteria. She just did what it had to be done. She took her hand and asked Lisa for explanation of what had happened between her and her sisters. She was unable to look at her, but she wanted to understand. Lisa began to cry.

“They were right, but I… I didn’t want to listen…”

“Reason on what?”

Sniffing, her aunt took a deep breath before telling her the whole story. The sisters had organized a barbecue on a summer evening at Anika’s parents when they still owned a house. While France picked up the dirty dishes to put everything in the dishwasher in the kitchen, Mario joined her. He perhaps had too much to drink, but Lisa wasn’t certain. Herself had no longer held count on all the glasses she had taken since the beginning of the evening. He tried to kiss her, but she had strongly rejected him. He didn’t appreciate the gesture. He grabbed her shoulders and accused her of being a “little tease”. She had slapped him and pushed him again. Enraged, he began to shake her and then try to touch her. Then Danielle entered the kitchen, surprising them. Mario was still holding her by the shoulders and pressed her against the counter, preventing her from escaping.

“They told me everything and I didn’t want to listen…”

“Mario attacked my mother…?”

“He was drunk and I know that this is the most horrible excuses. He had lost his mind and I thought my sisters were exaggerating things.”

Anika sighed deeply, trying to remember what happened.

“But France was upset because I didn’t believe her. She took something from my daughter’s hands saying that children shouldn’t play with this stuff. I… I ordered her never criticize the way I raise my kids and we left.”

“The critic…”

“The day I confronted Mario was the beginning of our problems. I’m so sorry…”

The young girl said nothing. She now understood the reasons that had pushed her aunt to accept custody. She thought to have a debt to her sister. Danielle didn’t know all that, still believing that Lisa defended her husband. Anika clenched Lisa’s fingers while the latter laid eyes on her.

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

“I would have told you before. I think every family has its little secrets.”

Her niece weakly smiled. She reached into her pocket to pull out the picture of the three sisters who was on her bedside table. When Lisa saw it, she began to cry again. Anika handed it to her saying she was giving it to her.

“My mother wasn’t angry at you, you know.”

“Oh no?”

“Only sad not seeing you.”

The room door opened, letting Martin and Jenny in.

“Do you still want to go?” Lisa asked her, depositing the photo next to her bed.

“Go?” Jenney launched, frowning.

“Going where?” Martin added.

Anika turned to them.

“I thought you didn’t want me.”

Jenny shrugged.

“Maybe in the beginning,” she replied, looking down, “but I guess I’ll get used to.”

She ended up smiling at her.

“Great!” Martin exclaimed. “I’m really going to have a big sister!”

“Temporarily,” Jenny retorted, pushing her brother, “because it’s only for the next two years.”

“Maybe I could stay longer to bother you, you know.”

Lisa tenderly pressed the hand of her niece while her children took their cousin in their arms.

THE END