Thin As Water

26.

TW: This chapter does contain a few mentions of death threats and guns, please read with caution.

Mrs. VanGrayson froze. The man in the doorway walked forward, the gun levelly pointed at her.

"Back. Up." Corrin VanGrayson spat.

"Cory, I can explain." The woman backed up slowly, laughing a nervous laugh.

"I don't want to hear it, Sharon. How dare you hurt my children?! Our children?!"

"They were asking for it." She muttered.

"Against the wall. Don't move. I won't kill you but I will incapacitate you if you try to run."

"Daddy." Lil whispered, still in shock.

"It's going to be ok, Tigerlily. That woman is never going to hurt you again."

"Daddy, Jamie won't wake up." Lil could hear her own voice shake, and wondered to herself why she kept saying daddy. She hadn't called her father that since she was a child, but to get more control of herself, she'd have to focus, and if she started focusing, she'd hurt more.

"I'll take care of him, Lily. Here." Her father reached over and tossed a blanket to her. "Why don't you go and find some clothes? I'll check on James."

Lil was thankful for the blanket and quickly covered herself before slowly moving over to the bag that James had packed for her. As she passed her brother, she noticed his ribcage slowly expanding and contracting and felt a wave of relief. He's ok.

Lil went to the bathroom to change. She glanced in the mirror at the marks on her back and noted that, while they would leave bruises, they weren't open wounds. No more scars. Thank god. She shakily dressed, and as she did, she realized she was crying. 

Once she had some clothes on, she looked in the mirror. A bruise was forming around her eye where her mother had backhanded her. Fantastic. A morbid part of her almost wanted to laugh at the irony. It's an eye for an eye, I suppose. Though Tina's wasn't from me.

Lil returned to the living room and realized that she was no longer alone with her family. The door opened and several police officers entered.

"Corrin VanGrayson?"

"That's me." Her father nodded. 

"And this is the woman?"

"Correct."

The police officer nodded. "You have proof?"

Her father nodded again. "On my phone. It's not long. I wanted to stop her as soon as possible."

"That's alright, even a bit of evidence is enough."

Corrin slid his phone out of his pocket and Lil shivered as he began to play a video. She could hear herself, albeit quietly, shout Jamie. Around 10 seconds later, the crack of a belt was heard, followed by another.

"I stopped recording then to stop her. I only wish I'd reacted sooner." Her father looked at her, the anger and determination gone from his face. "I should have known. I'm so sorry, Lily."

"It's ok, dad. We didn't tell you. We were scared." Lil felt herself choke up.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance, little bitch!"

Lil jumped in fear. She'd almost forgotten her mother. The woman had lunged forward, but had immediately been restrained by two police officers.

"That's quite enough of that. Sharon VanGrayson, you are under arrest for child abuse and the assault of a minor. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court."