Runaways by Nicole Dykes
Iwatch Lawson leave, and every fiber in my being screams at me to go with him, to not let him leave here without me. But I know my mother. I know, without a doubt, she’ll have Colin call his cop friends and ruin Lawson’s life.
I can’t do that.
“What the hell were you thinking?” My mother approaches me, and Colin stays in the background, watching me like the sick freak he is. “Do you know how humiliating this is for me? If anyone found out my daughter is opening her legs for trailer trash?”
“He’s not trash.”
She scoffs, looking at me like a stupid child, the way she always looks at me. “He is. And this is humiliating. You are never to see him again. Do you hear me?”
“You can’t do that.” I feel gutted and so damn angry at myself for not realizing that I’m not ever safe. He has a key to my room.
“I can.” She looks over at Colin. “He’s a student in your school, right?”
Colin nods. “Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t go near her when school starts up again.”
I sink further into the feeling of disgust whirling through me. “We were doing nothing wrong. He’s my boyfriend, Mother.”
Her head snaps in my direction. “Not anymore. You’re not leaving this house until it’s time to go back to school after break. And you’ll give me your cellphone.”
I clutch my stomach, thinking about relinquishing my last lifeline. “No.”
She walks closer to me, becoming more and more menacing the closer she comes to me. “Give it to me now or I’ll report your little weekend.”
I shake my head, but it doesn’t matter because Colin walks over to my bedside table, picking up my phone and sliding it into his back pocket.
I stay silent and glare at my mother, who looks at me with a sickening, satisfied look. “No more, Raelynn. I mean it. You and that boy are done.”
“Why do you hate me so much?”
She scoffs, writing me off. “I don’t hate you. That takes effort. I’m just getting you to eighteen, which is my job.”
I completely despise her. “That and getting pregnant so your much younger husband won’t leave you?”
She stiffens, not looking back at Colin, whose expression is unreadable. Her hand cracks sharply against my cheek. Heat and pain overtake my face as I cup my cheek and look at her. She’s never hit me before, but she doesn’t look remotely remorseful. There is only fury in her eyes. “Don’t ever say that again.”
I should just shut up. I’m already in trouble. “Why, Mother? It’s not going well?”
She lunges at me again, but Colin stops her with both his hands on her shoulders. “Honey, don’t let her rile you up. You know that’s what she’s trying to do.” He kisses her temple, but his eyes are on me.
She spins in his arms, resting her head against his chest. I detest them both so much my stomach burns with it. “Your mother will get pregnant. With a much better child than she had the first time.”
I continue to hold my face with my hand. “No child deserves to have either one of you as a parent. It will never happen.”
“You are so hateful, Raelynn.” My mother turns toward me. “I gave you everything, and you’ve been nothing but disrespectful. Trying to ruin everything for me.”
It shouldn’t hurt. I know my mother hates me, and I hate her—to a point. But I also know deep down, I’ve always wanted her to love me. “Don’t have children with him.”
“You need to learn respect, Raelynn.” Colin glares at me. Why he wants a child, I don’t want to know. He’s a sick, sick man. “What your mother and I do is none of your business.”
“And what you do to me is none of her business either, right?”
His jaw tenses, but he doesn’t flinch, and my mother is so far gone in her willful denial, she doesn’t either. “You need to stop lying about him. It won’t do you any good. No one will believe a little slut like you.”
“Please let me have my phone.” My tone is dead and cold because I know it won’t happen.
“No. And I’m taking your car keys too.” My mother goes to my dresser where my keys are, handing them to Colin. “You’re grounded until school starts again.”
She picks up my laptop and then she follows Colin out. Taking all form of communication with Lawson and the outside world I have with them.
I’ve never felt so hopeless in my already somber life.
