32. Noah

32

NOAH

I listened to the voicemails from Brielle on my way home, driving as fast as I dared on the slushy roads.

"Noah, I'm scared. Daddy's really mad right now. Please come home."

My heart banged against my rib cage as I pressed play on the next one. Paul was mad. Why did we have to live at the opposite end of our school zone?

"Noah, why aren't you answering? Daddy's really mad. He's yelling. Please come home."

My hands shook as I pressed the button to listen to her next and final message.

When her voice came through the recording, it wasn't shaking like it had been in the first two. She was full on crying now, and I could barely understand her through the sobs .

"Noah, I think Mommy's hurt really bad. Please hurry. Daddy went away and I'm scared."

I dropped my phone onto my seat, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I tried to prepare myself for the worst.

What had he done to her?

I parked my car haphazardly on the road, then jumped out and rushed into the house. When I got inside, the scene was one that I had been dreading. My mom lay crumpled on the ground, blood dripping from her mouth, looking so broken and bruised. Her eyes were swollen and purple.

"Are you okay, Mom?" I asked, rushing to her side and lifting her head onto my lap. Her eyes flickered open and she groaned.

I looked around for my sister, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I yelled out. "Brielle? Are you up there?"

She appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later. She'd probably been hiding in my room like she always did when Paul was mad.

"Come downstairs right now and get in my car. We need to take Mom to the hospital." Brielle nodded and ran down the stairs in her kitten pajamas, her face as white as the snow outside.

I rushed back to my mom and went to scooped her up into my arms. But then she stopped me, saying, "I don't want to go to the hospital."

I went still, not sure I'd heard her right. "You need to see a doctor, Mom."

"But the police will start asking questions." Her voice was so quiet and raspy.

I sighed, pressing my hands into my knees as I knelt by her side, trying to figure out what I could say to make her finally see reason.

"Do you want this to keep happening, Mom? Because that drive home after listening to Brielle's messages was about the longest drive of my life. A huge part of me thought I was going to walk in on a murder scene. I can't do this anymore. I had to sleep in my freaking car for the last week because of that man. You need to leave him. And you need to get checked right now."

And we needed to hurry. I had no idea what kind of damage had been done to her insides. I could only see the outside which was bad enough.

My mom breathed in a few raspy breaths, and after a long moment, she finally met my gaze again. "Okay."

My heart swelled in my chest with the first piece of hope I'd had for her in a long time. "Okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes. You can take me to the hospital."

"Thank you." It was all I could manage with the wave of emotions choking me. I scooped her back into my arms and gently stood.

"Can you please open the door, Brielle?"

She did as I said, and I was out on the porch a second later, sprinting down the icy sidewalk to my car. Brielle, thankfully, was right behind me, and I had her open the passenger side door so I could set my mom inside.

After buckling my mom in, I turned back to my sister, knowing I needed to look as calm as I could in that moment. If she could see how worried I was about Mom, she'd probably start bawling and I couldn't take care of her like that right now. I had to focus on my mom.

So I bent down on her level and took her shoulders in my hands. "I know I don't have a booster seat in my car, so sit in the middle. We have to hurry."

I sped all the way to the hospital, constantly checking my mom to make sure she was still breathing. She kept on gasping for air, and I worried one of her ribs may have punctured a lung.

We made it to the hospital five minutes later, thanks to the roads being empty enough for me to speed the whole way there. I cradled my mom in my arms as I ran to the emergency room doors, Brielle following closely behind.

The waiting area was empty and no one was at the desk. "Is anybody here?" I panted, having a hard time drawing in a good breath after my sprint. "Please! Someone! My mom needs help!"

The door behind the desk opened and a very startled-looking hospital worker stepped forward. But she soon smoothed her face, probably used to scenes like this.

"How can I help you?"

"My mom's been hurt. I just got home and found her on the floor. She's having a hard time breathing."

I had no idea what Paul had done to her, but if I was ever within ten feet of him again I might just kill him. I gritted my teeth as I imagined taking that smug face of his in my hands and beating the crap out of it.

"And what's the patient's name?" the lady at the counter asked.

"Seriously? You're asking me that stuff? She needs help right now!"

"It's hospital procedure, sir. I have already pushed the button and help should be here soon."

"Her name is Shelley Stavros. Her birthday is..." I tried to remember, but in my state of mind, it wasn't coming.

Brielle stepped forward, hugging my leg. "June eighth," she whispered.

"Her birthday is June eighth,” I repeated louder so the receptionist could hear .

A moment later the doors behind her opened, and two nurses came through with a hospital bed on wheels.

The nurses then instructed me to lay my mom gently onto the bed. "Can you tell us what happened?" the male nurse with swept-back blond hair asked.

"I just got home from my friend’s house and found my mom lying on the floor. My sister was home." I looked down at Brielle and spoke to her gently. "Can you tell the nice nurses what happened?"

She nodded, and when she spoke, it was with a shaky voice. "Daddy was mad. He hurt Mommy."

I couldn't help but notice the dark look the nurses gave each other before turning back to us. "Is your sister okay?"

"I-I think so." Then I turned to Brielle, realizing I had no idea what might have happened earlier this week while I'd been gone. Who knew what Paul had done while I'd been out of the way? "Are you okay, Brielle? Did your dad hurt you, too?"

She shook her head quickly, her eyes wide with fear. "I was hiding."

The nurses seemed to look my sister over for a moment before addressing me. "We'll take your mom back and check her out. It might be best if you stay out here with your sister."

I nodded and tried to draw in a deep breath. I had to be strong for Brielle. "Please take care of her." Everything needed to be okay.

The male nurse’s eyes were sympathetic. "We’ll do our best."

And then they disappeared with my mom through the doors.

"You can come back and see her now." One of the nurses came out to get me and Brielle after one of the longest hours of my life. While they'd been helping my mom, another nurse had asked if she could talk to Brielle some more. She had a comforting countenance and Brielle had been able answer her questions without seeming too nervous.

And from what Brielle said, it sounded like she had truly been left untouched. Thank goodness for that, at least.

My mom was lying on the hospital bed when we came in. She still didn't look good, but she did seem more comfortable and was breathing a little better now.

"Hi, sweetie." Mom's voice came out all raspy. She held out a hand and Brielle immediately ran to her side, wrapping her little arms around her.

My mom groaned at Brielle's not-so-gentle embrace, but after the look of pain crested over her features, she replaced it with a smile.

"You don't need to look so worried about me, Noah," my mom said, her sad eyes inspecting my face. "I'm going to be okay."

"You shouldn't even be here, Mom." I shook my head, feeling my throat constrict. "You need to leave him. You need to never go back to him again."

She pressed her dry lips together and nodded slowly, her eyes falling closed for a moment. "I know."

But where would we go?

I could only think of one option. And it would take a lot of pride-sucking to ask.

Once Brielle had had her long hug from Mom, she held her arms open for me.

I only attacked her with slightly less force than Brielle had. And before I knew it, I was sobbing. "I thought I was going to lose you, Mom," I said through my tears as the image of her broken body on the living room floor came to mind. "I thought for a few minutes that I was going to have to raise Brielle by myself."

My mom shushed me and patted the back of my head gently—the way she had done when I was a kid. "It's going to be okay, Noah. I'm okay. Just some bruising. A couple broken ribs. But everything is going to be okay."

The hospital wanted to keep my mom there overnight to monitor her—worried about some slight head trauma. They tried to tell me it was just a precaution, that they hadn't seen anything when they'd done the scan. I just hoped they were right.

But it was a safe place to stay, so I would try to be grateful for that, at least.

The police and CPS came in later and asked all kinds of questions. And as far as anyone knew, Paul was still roaming wherever he pleased. Which meant he could come home at any time, and who knew what he might do next.

I needed to find somewhere safe for us to stay until my mom was able to help me figure it out. So once Mom was asleep and Brielle was curled up on the chair next to her, I left the hospital to go to the only place I could think of.

The two-story brick home was dark when I got there, and I knew the inhabitants would probably be annoyed at me for coming there so late and waking up the whole household. But for once, I didn't care if they tried to send me away. I was going to do this. My mom needed me to do this.

So I knocked on the door and hoped I wouldn't have to ring the doorbell.

A light turned on in the house, and then another one in the hall. I heard the deadbolt turn, and a moment later, the door creaked open.

My mouth was dry and my hands were trembling as I tried to force some courage into my tired body to face the only person I had left who could help me.

“Noah?”

"Dad, I need your help."