Chapter 5

ELLIE

I froze instantly, as I wondered just how in the world I was having that phone call. It seemed like I was still reeling from the trauma of having been close to getting raped by some fucking pervert.

But then, it was happening to me right there. The one person I had been running from had finally caught up with me. It was quite a moment of truth for me as I was face to face with the one moment I was running away from.

All the traces of the pleasure that Aiden had infused me with had suddenly disappeared in the heat of the fear of the moment that was happening to me so suddenly.

Myriads of questions came into my mind, as I was simply overwhelmed by the heat of emotions that came from the reopening of wounds that I had tried to close with the bandages of time.

But somehow she was about to have me all fucked up again like she had left me back then. The phone was almost falling off my hand as I was trying to get myself to come to terms with the fact that my past hadn't left me, it had been trailing me ever since.

“Ellen…!” She called me back to the moment, as I was called by my full name, with that voice that haunted all the memories of my childhood. “Fuck it, are you high or something? I'm fucking talking to you.”

Her voice came with nothing but gloom and coldness. I had never imagined that a woman could be that cold to her child. She had never spoken a single word to me without cussing or swearing, and that had contributed in no small way to fucking me up as well.

But then… fuck it.

“What do you want?” I asked as I was trying my best not to get intimidated by the woman who had haunted me all my life. It was time to face my fucking fears. “You have the nerve calling me after all these years. How did you even get my number?”

“Quiet little tart…” she interrupted me in her characteristically harsh tone which made me cringe a little. Somehow, the voice that shook the seven-year-old me was still shaking up the teenager that had emerged. “I see you have grown old enough to speak to me in such an insulting manner. But I'm going to be out to clip your wings soon…”

“What…?” I was shivering in fright, as I heard those words as they left the phone to my ears which were ever responsive to that voice that voiced the abuse of my youth. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean what I just said, but,” she had never quit being the abuser that she had always been. It was now a part of her that I had gotten used to. “I'll be out of here in six months.”

“What…? How…?” I muttered frightfully, as that almost sounded like my world had come upon me suddenly. It was hard to deal with the shock that came from that realization.

Wild beasts like her were meant to be locked away from the world of humans, and that was the way it was meant to be. But now, it was the exact opposite, and it was bound to change an awful lot of things.

I wasn't as worried about myself, as I was about my father's wedding to Emily. Their union would be in serious jeopardy if she was coming out. That would be the end of the rosy future that awaited me if the wedding would just click.

“You all thought you would leave me here to rot for twenty years, right?” She mocked on the phone with a kind of laughter that made me cold down to my bones. “Well, sorry I have to make it rain on your little parade, but I'll be out soon.”

I was quiet as that was too much for me to handle all at once. It was simply the worst thing that could happen. Why in the world did it just have to happen right now?

“From my sources, I heard that you and that coward of your father ran away from Coney Island to make for your new dream city, Manhattan.” She had heard quite accurately, but then I was hoping she hadn't heard of Dad's plans to get married to Emily.

Somehow, she just had an instinct to ruin beautiful things. It was almost her second nature to get rid of things that just looked promising.

“You better stay away from me…” I said, as I felt tears creeping out of my eyelids, as I was trying to keep my emotions in check. But my sobbing was heard, and I instantly regretted giving her the satisfaction of knowing that she had made me cry. “You are the worst thing that can happen to a child… you are the worst… I fucking hate you…”

“Too bad that you all are stuck with me,” she replied without remorse, as she chortled slightly. “Cry all you want, but you can never get away from me. You and your cowardly father should prepare for me. I will soon be…”

Suddenly, her voice was interrupted by the sound of what seemed like the voices of the prison wardens as they were trying to get her off the phone.

She had long overstayed her time on the phone, even though she was still arguing with them until the call was hung up. That was so much like something she would do. I could only imagine just how much trouble and would have been while getting her off the phone.

“Fuck…” I whimpered as I lay on my bed in tears. It felt like the world I knew was on the verge of coming to an end. My father's wedding, and possibly, Aiden… “No way…”

It was just unfathomable, as I was trying to get my mind off the fact that I had just spoken with my mother. How in the world was I supposed to overcome that disaster?