43. Poppy Wells

43

Poppy Wells

K now it’s for the better. Know it’s for the better. Know it’s for the better.

My cheeks, raw and red from all the hits, burned as my tears streaked down them. With my back against the bathroom door and my knees hugged tightly to my chest, my entire body shook from the weight of all the tears pouring out from inside me.

“YOU GIVE THOSE PILLS BACK, YOUNG LADY!”

Know it’s for the better. Know it’s for the better. Know it’s for the better.

After Jasper had walked me back through the forest trail and down my street, I stepped inside my broken home to find my mother passed out on the couch. I didn’t mean for things to get so heated so quickly. I didn’t mean to take the pills. I didn’t…

“THEY ARE MINE. NOT YOURS, YOU UNGRATEFUL brAT !”

I just wanted her to be sober.

Just for a night.

“I AIN’T GONNA TELL YA AGAIN!”

Another sob wracked my frame.

And another.

And another.

Hiccup after hiccup after hiccup.

Air refused to enter my lungs.

I was starving for it.

The tears just kept coming.

I couldn’t stop them.

Useless child.

“You want me to beat this door down, huh? That what you want, Poppy?”

A second later, I heard the swing of a baseball bat.

The entire door shook, the pulse ricocheting down my spine with such force that my body collapsed forwards onto the floor. My burning cheeks kissed the cool tiles, just as my curls stuck to my face. Pushing them out of the way, I scrambled onto my knees and tucked myself away in the corner of the room. I folded my body, making myself as small as I possibly could.

She swung again, that time creating a hole the size of my first in the wood.

My hands instinctively covered my eyes, and I flinched, turning away from the door.

“YOU GIVE ‘EM BACK RIGHT NOW BEFORE I BEAT YA WITH THIS BAT, YOU HEAR ME?”

With shaky hands and chattering teeth, I reached deep into the pocket of my hoodie, pulled out her bottle of pills, and launched them through the gap in the door.

“That’s my good girl.”

The bat fell to the floor.

I felt the noise of it smacking against the wood deep in my bones.

Everything went quiet for a second and I could finally breathe .

The sound of the pill bottle cap hitting the wooden floorboards disrupted the silence.

Pills bumped into each other.

A handful scattered in her palm.

Then down her throat .

“Now, if you steal from me again, I’ll make sure it’ll be your face instead of this door, yeah?”

I didn’t mean to take the pills.

They were lying on the floor at the foot of the couch.

My mother’s body was lifelessly draped over it.

I took it without thinking.

I just wanted her to realize she didn’t need them.

Not when she had me.

It didn’t matter, though.

She wanted the drugs,

she just didn’t want me .

I shook from head to toe, completely and utterly terrified .

I just wanted my mom back.

Why couldn’t I just have my mom back?

Gathering all the strength I had left, I pushed myself onto my feet and pushed open the small bathroom window. I had to get out of here before she picked up that bat and decided to finish me off for good.

I had to.

Scrambling onto the sink, I hooked one of my legs through the window before pushing my head and upper body through it. Clasping onto the drainage pipes, I swung my other leg though the gap before letting go and jumping down onto the grass. Pain shot through my body, but I brushed it off, along with the dirt staining my knees.

And before I knew it, I was running.

All the houses along my street blurred.

I didn’t know where I was going but I knew I had to get away from there.

From her .

I wasn’t going to die.

Not today.