The Ties that Binds Us

Chapter 27 "Darkness"

She walked slowly towards my limp body lying on the worn out mattress. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Sarah was right, my adopted mother Carmen was behind everything. She wore white, skin-tight skinny jeans, and red ruffled silk blouse. Her long, blonde hair went straight down to her waist that swayed with her every step. She wore a wide grin on her face but the anger in her eyes couldn’t be masked by her fake smile. The tension in the room was palpable.

When she was just a few steps away from me, she stopped in her tracks. She crossed her arms across her chest and she leaned her weight on her right leg. Henry came back with Sarah, who was still unconscious. She hung limply on his shoulders, her hands swaying gently behind Henry and her leg motionless underneath Henry’s arm.  

“Hi querida.” She greeted me gently though her voice was filled with arrogance and anger. I scowled at her and her mouth twitched and she had a lopsided grin across her face. I struggled to free myself but I the rope was too tight around my wrists and ankles and I was in too much pain to move. “Don’t even try to struggle querida. I might just make it even harder for that it already is. So be a good daughter and keep still for mama.”

“I’m not your daughter!”

“I know. You’re that whore’s bastard child! I cannot believe Luis is still caught up with your whore of a mother. Did she already tell you what happened?”

“Yes. And she was right. She’s innocent and you’re one jealous bitch!” her eyebrow twitched upwards displaying his astonishment and surprise with my audacity. She remained silent for a few seconds and then she began to walk a few steps towards me. As she reached where I was lying down, she knelt down beside me and caressed my cheek. All of a sudden, her hand left my right cheek and she slapped me hard across my face making my head bounce of the mattress. It’s fortunate that there was a mattress beneath me when she hit me hard. If there wasn’t any, I’d probably ended up with a cracked skull.

“Don’t be disrespectful querida.”

“Don’t call me that.” I jerked her hand off my face when she continued to stroke my aching cheek. She stood up once more and instructed Henry to wake Sarah up.

“Wake her up! We need to have some girl on girl time.” Henry, who stood behind Carmen, sauntered towards where he settled Sarah on the floor. A loud slapping sound echoed throughout the warehouse when he hit Sarah. She woke up immediately after Henry hit her and she instantly tried to free herself but like she was also tightly bound. When she was too tired to struggle, she leaned her head down on the floor and she focused her eyes to me.

“Sydney!”

“Mom!” Tears started to fall from both our eyes as we stared at each other.

“Oh how sweet!” she clasped her hands together as if she was pleased with what she saw. “Mother and daughter reunite!” she sat down on the dark wood chair that Henry placed behind her.

“Carmen, please let her go. Let’s settle this just the two of us. She has nothing to do with this issue.” My mother begged but all Carmen did was laugh.

“Oh we’ll settle this alright.” She walked towards Sarah who was still tied on the floor and started hitting her—hard. Carmen kicked her on the stomach, which blew all the air out of my mother who cried in pain. She kept screaming while Carmen continued to kick her all over her body. When she was done with Sarah, I looked up at my mother and saw her covered with her blood, her face dripping red and she was limp and lifeless lying across the floor.

“Sarah! Wake up!” I shouted her name over and over again trying to wake her up knowing that when she continued to remain there motionless she might not wake up anymore. The trauma her body received looked like it was too much for her body to take. “Sarah please wake up!” my voiced shrieked as panic filled me.