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“What do you need?” he asked.
“Water,” I mouthed. “And I want to get up.”
North held his hands out, palms up. I let go of Kota and clutched at North. He hefted me until I was on my feet. I blinked at the bandages at my wrists. I felt more crunching of bandage seams around my ankles. I was wearing a pair of shorts that didn’t fit and a large Nike t-shirt. I wondered who changed my clothes but I really didn’t care. My poor brain couldn’t handle that thought at the moment.
I wobbled on my feet. My legs didn’t want to work. My ankle throbbed. I willed myself to at least stand up straight. Kota rose with me, and wrapped an arm around my waist. North held on to my hands until it looked like I was stable.
North stepped beside me, holding on to my left hand like he was never letting go. Nathan and Silas hovered behind him. Their eyes were wide, mouths drawn, terrified. I mustered up another smile, hoping they would know I was okay. Nathan looked relieved but Silas hesitated, his dark eyes narrowing, unsure.
“Let’s get inside and sit down,” Dr. Green said somewhere behind Silas. “We should talk.”
“I think we need to let her sleep,” North said next to me. “She needs to recover.”
“We need to figure out our next move,” Mr. Blackbourne’s smooth vocals cut through and I shivered with embarrassment. I couldn’t believe he was there, too.
North squared off his shoulders. “What we’re doing is getting her the hell out of there,” he said.
I squeezed at his hand. His eyes glided to mine. “Inside,” I whispered. “I want to talk.”
He smirked at me. “Baby, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you can’t talk.”
I rolled my eyes. “Never stopped me before,” I croaked out.
He and Kota, who must have been the only ones who could have heard me, started chuckling. Silas finally relaxed his shoulders. He and Nathan stepped out of the way. Behind them stood Dr. Green, with Luke, Gabriel, Victor and Mr. Blackbourne next to him. Nine concerned eyes fell on my face and I shivered under the weight of their pity. Heat clung to my cheeks but I was feeling too miserable to protest.
It took a little bit of stretching and a few steps assisted by Kota before I was able to break the stiffness from my limbs. The entire lower half of my body felt numb. I staggered toward the house. Mr. Blackbourne held the sliding door open for me.
I stood in the living room until everyone collected inside. Kota motioned to the large leather chair but I shook my head. There was a large wooden coffee table on the rug in the middle of the room. I slid onto my knees to the rug and sat with my butt on my heels. I felt the bandages against my ankles wrinkle and a pain through my legs. My tailbone radiated equal agony through my lower spine. It was dulled, more like a throbbing ache that eased in and settled into my bones. I couldn’t sit on my butt, I knew, not right now. The ankle was bad enough but tolerable. I folded my hands into my lap and I patiently waited, my eyes challenging anyone to tell me to do otherwise.
The others took positions around the table. Silas, Luke and North sat on the couch. Victor fell into the armchair. The fire was gone from his eyes. I only caught glistening and it looked terrible on him. Kota and Gabriel took up positions next to me on the floor. Gabriel chewed on a thumbnail, as if he wasn’t sure if he should be near me or not.
Mr. Blackbourne stood by the coffee table, his arms crossed against his chest and looking displeased. Nathan disappeared for a moment but came back with a bottle of water to hand to me.
Dr. Green plopped down on top of the coffee table in front of me. He scooped out a flashlight from his pocket.
“Let me check your throat,” he said. He gently placed a thumb on my chin to get me to open up. He shifted the flashlight to let the light glare into my throat. The warmth of the light was surprisingly soothing on my esophagus. I pressed my tongue down in my mouth so he could see better.
“Was it vinegar again?” Kota asked next to me.
I felt I couldn’t talk to answer with my mouth open, but I squeezed his hand and nodded.
Dr. Green let go of me and sat back, swinging his eyes to Kota. “This happened before?”
“Her mother made her drink vinegar and lemon juice a couple weeks ago. It burned her throat for a few days so she couldn’t talk.”
“That’s not all,” North said, in a quiet tone. I fired off looks at him but he ignored me completely. “She was forced to kneel in rice on the hard floor for a few hours a couple of weeks ago, too.”
“And she sat in that stool before,” Luke said. “That was several hours, too. Not in the tub though, just in the kitchen. Just the once.”
North’s face flashed with surprise and he frowned. “That we know of...” He gazed over at me.
There was a stunned silence that fell between them all as they registered the truth. I wanted to tell them that outside of the vinegar and being tied in the bathtub, that the rice and the stool sitting was actually pretty easy. I could handle that. Weren’t they ever punished for doing bad things? Didn’t parents spank their kids? Somehow I felt that it wasn’t the right response. My face flared with heat. I didn’t know what normal was.
Dr. Green pressed a palm to his eye. “Why didn’t you tell us what she was going through?”
“We were working on it,” Kota said. “I didn’t know how bad things had gotten. And I didn’t want to overwhelm her with… with us.”
Dr. Green’s head flexed back. “Kota,” he said. “This is abuse. You shouldn’t have kept this to yourself.”
“She wasn’t fully with us when the vinegar thing happened,” Kota insisted. “And she was around us so often these past couple of weeks, I didn’t realize she was…”
“You know better than that,” Mr. Blackbourne hovered over Dr. Green’s shoulder. His steel eyes narrowed. “Abuse doesn’t disappear overnight.”
“I didn’t know about the rice or the other parts,” Kota said.
“That’s not what I mean. You didn’t tell us the full truth about what was going on. You brought her to us knowing her home life and kept it from us. We might have prevented this if you had told us earlier. Now we’re left without a choice.”
I swallowed. They were talking in circles around me. “It’s my choice,” I said in a whisper.
Mr. Blackbourne twisted his head to gaze down at me. “What are you saying?”
I closed my eyes, swallowing hard again. I knew they didn’t want to hear this but I knew I had to say it. “I have to go back.”
“No,” Gabriel said. He grabbed my hand. He slid closer on his knees near me. His crystal eyes glossed over with tears. “You’re not fucking going back there. I’ll kidnap you myself and take you home with me.”
There was a round of loud talking and it was a mess. I didn’t understand what anyone was saying. I couldn’t attempt to talk over them. I looked desperately at Kota. He leaned in, holding his head close.
I angled until my lips brushed his ear as I whispered. “I have to go back.”
Kota shook his head, pulling away to narrow his eyes at me. “No,” he commanded. “You can’t. Sang, you were in there for hours. Do you even remember what happened?”
I nodded. Of course I did. I remembered everything. I knew the truth. If I disappeared, there was a lot more to lose than if I went back now.
The others were arguing but it was a blur of noise. Gabriel squeezed at my hand, clinging to me. Maybe he would listen.
I leaned into him. “My mother is ill,” I said. “She didn’t eat. With the medication she takes, she’s probably making herself super sick again.”
“She just tied you to a stool and left you to die,” Gabriel said. “You want to go back and save her?”
I felt my body shaking as I forced the words out. “She’s my mother.” That meant something, didn’t it? Wasn’t I supposed watch over her?
He reeled his head back as if I’d slapped him. His hand squeezed mine again. I clutched it back, begging silently that he might understand. “We can’t,” he said, t
hough softer.
“My mother probably doesn’t even remember what she did. I can slip back in.”
Dr. Green’s gentle eyes washed over my face. He pressed his palms to my cheeks. “Sweetheart,” he soothed. “Do you understand what you’re asking? If you go back, she could do it again. She might do worse. We might not make it next time.”
“We will make it,” Kota said. “We’ll be right there. I’m not leaving her again. There won’t be a next time.”
“This isn’t happening,” Mr. Blackbourne said. He started pacing the floor, his hands on his hips. His glasses glinted against the light as he turned back to look down at me. “No, I refuse. I can’t allow it. She can’t stay in that house.”
He didn’t understand. I needed to go back before she called the cops and they were arrested. I couldn’t ask them to take me in. Where would I go? “What about Marie? What happens to her if I leave?” I asked. “What about my dad? Would he be arrested? He didn’t know.” I hunched my shoulders, swallowing hard, trying to suppress a cough.
“If he doesn’t know, it’s neglect,” Mr. Blackbourne said. “You can’t stay in a house with an abusive mother. Marie can’t, either. Your father made his choice. You didn’t have one.”
