Heartless Savage by Ivy Blake

Chapter Fourteen

Austin

I ran home, paranoid about my mom’s missed call. We barely got to have any time alone because she was either out avoiding Steven or hiding after Steven had had his way with her. It sucked to leave Megan behind like that again but my mother needed me, I seemed to be the only person she had.

I practically kicked down the door to my house because I was so impatient. I felt tense as I walked in, and like a hound, I was on a high alert just in case Steven jumped out of the shadows. He was meant to be out, but he was the type to show up unexpectedly just to throw you off-guard and ruin your day.

“Mom!” I called as I walked around the kitchen and living room with no sight of her. “Mom?’ I was getting increasingly more worried, a bad feeling was stirring in my stomach as I climbed the stairs. My mind flashed back to a couple of years ago when I had found her passed out in her bed, a bunch of empty pill bottles and an empty bottle of wine on her bedside table. The image of her lying there unconscious had scarred me for life, but I was glad that I’d been there to call the ambulance in time or I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t been able to save her.

As I reached the landing I prayed silently to whoever was up above, even though I wasn’t religious, that Mom would be okay.

“Austin, is that you?” I breathed a massive sigh of relief as I heard her voice coming from the guest bedroom. I pushed open the door to see her crouched down by the bed packing a couple bags and suitcases.

“What’s going on?” Anyone with eyes could tell exactly what was going on. Mom was trying to run away, for real this time.

“I’ve already got some of your things in here,” she said in a hurried tone, her eyes wide and alert. “Add anything that you think you might need, but not too much because we need to be quick.”

“Are you sure about this?’ I asked as I crouched down to her level. Her eyes were red and puffy- clearly she’d been crying for a while.

“I don’t know what else to do,” she sobbed, “my friend said we can come and stay at her house. The taxi’s coming in a few minutes.” I nodded my head at her but felt stuck in a trance. I’d dreamt of this day for so long, and I’m pretty sure she had too, but now that it was here I didn’t know how to feel.

When I was younger, I’d assumed that she loved Steven more than me and that’s why she made us stay, but as I grew older I quickly realised that it was fear keeping her in place. Not only fear of what other people would think, but fear for her life and mine.

As instructed, I rushed to my room and grabbed a few things, tossing them in the suitcase without stopping to organize them. There was simply no time and we were both panicking as time ticked by. I didn’t know which friend Mom was referring to, who our knight or lady in shing armour was going to be. I also didn’t know how far away we had to go to be truly away from Steven.

Once we’d packed up our belongings and organised the house so it looked like normal, I stopped to consider all the things and people I’d have to leave behind. My mind drifted to Megan, the girl sitting in her room only a few houses away. I knew it was selfish but I wanted to say goodbye to her properly. Nate and Ross too. It probably meant goodbye to Valley High, goodbye to football, everything I’d worked so hard for. Running away from Steven meant that we had to go as far away as possible, somewhere that he couldn’t find us or it would be death on sight, I was sure of it.

“Are you done, Mom?” I hissed, worried that we were cutting it too fine.

“All good,” she said. As she zipped up her suitcase and carried it downstairs, I heard the sound of a car outside. Paranoid, I looked out the window and was glad to see that it was a taxi and not Steven.

“Car’s here,” I called down the stairs as I also made sure my suitcase was properly shut before running down the stairs to meet Mom at the door.

“Here we go,” she said in a small voice, turning around to give the house one last look. Her eyes were filled with overwhelming sadness and she looked so frail and small that I felt like I barely recognised her anymore. I pushed away guilty thoughts that clouded my mind about all the ways I could have gotten her out of this situation earlier and helped her carry her belongings to the car.

“You okay?” I asked.

“We’re gonna be okay soon-,” she said quietly. Her voice was cut off by the sound of another car nearby. We both looked up and our worst nightmares were confirmed.

Steven.

Everything happened as quick as a flash and my body kicked in to autopilot. The only thought I had in my mind was to save my mom.

“Go!” I hissed to the driver as I shut the door on my mom’s tear stricken and shocked face.

“Austin, no!” she cried, but it was too late. Steven had already parked up and witnessed his wife leaving in a taxi, her son left standing outside the house.

“What the hell is going on here?” Steven bellowed as he walked up to join me. I swallowed hard and tried to make my face and tone as calm and neutral as possible, as if I hadn’t just missed out on my opportunity to leave this godforsaken place.

“She’s going to that conference, remember?” I said, forcing myself to meet Steven’s eyes.

“What conference?” he snarled.

“The ladies one that they do like once a month. About feminine energy and shit,” my tongue tripped over my teeth as a rambled like an idiot in an attempt to cover for Mom.

“That’s the fucking shit that’s getting into her head- got her acting like a crazy woman,” Steven growled as he pulled out his smartphone before furiously tapping and swiping the screen.

I allowed myself to take a deep breath now that Steven’s attention was firmly on his phone. I looked down the road knowing Mom could be miles away by now. I prayed that she had a solid plan to keep as far away from Steven as possible.

“I’m going to do homework,” I said after a moment, realising that Steven had forgotten I was there for once, directing his anger to his little screen.

“What do you want, a trophy?” he spat, briefly shooting daggers my way. I didn’t say anything but crept away quietly even though I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs before I bashed his head in. When I got to my room, I pulled out my phone to see if my mom had said anything. One unread message.

I’m sorry.

I shot one straight back to her.

Surely I can just come there when he’s at work?

I watched the little cloud pop up and disappear as Mom typed out her message. After a minute or so her, the cloud was replaced with a text.

It’s too dangerous.

Tears were in my eyes and my chest felt heavy with lead as I typed out a paragraph convincing her that I could find a way, pleading her to tell me where she was. I sent the message but I kept getting notified that it couldn’t be delivered. Mom had either turned her phone off or blocked me. What the hell did she expect me to do? There was no way I could just stay here. I didn’t know when I’d next talk to her. There was no way to know how long Steven would buy the story that she was at a conference. I needed to figure out my own plan before the jig was up. I hated to admit it, but I knew that this was one thing I couldn’t do by myself.