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No, no, no. What is she doing here?
When I looked up with only one eye open, as the other one, starting to swollen, refused to cooperate, I saw Michael bleeding on the side of the head as Mia held an iron bar.
It hurt so much to talk. “Go away. Now.”
“Look at that. The little girlfriend came to your rescue. You couldn’t even do it yourself, you useless piece of shit.”
“Get away from him.” She raised the bar as a baseball bat, and I had no doubt she’d use it again.
I tried to get up and talk, but it hurt too much. “Mia.” Wheeze. “Go...away.”
She readjusted the grip on the bar. “I’m not leaving without you. So just...try to get up, and let’s go. They’re waiting for us.” She started walking slowly sideways to get to me, still facing Michael. That left her vulnerable, cornered, and with nowhere to go.
“Go away, Mia.”
Michael’s snide smile sent a shiver down my spine. “That’s really sweet, but I think it’s time we wrap this up.” If I wasn’t living in hell already, it all broke loose.
He lunged toward Mia, who in reflex swung the iron bar again, reaching his left knee. It delayed his attack, but he was so possessed that nothing could’ve stopped him.
“The girl has some fight. Let’s see how good she gets when I break her.”
Mia’s eyes were equal parts scared and determined. For the first time since my mother was gone, someone stood up to fight for me. The problem was that the first one who did it had died at Michael’s hands, and I couldn’t let that be Mia’s fate as well.
Once again, he advanced against her. She swung the bar, but this time it only scraped him. Wrathful as he was, he threw a blow on her nose, making her fly back against the wall.
As I watched in horror, I tried to get up to go to her, to give her enough time to run, but the smallest of movements made my vertigo even stronger, and I felt an unstoppable urge to puke. I was too far, too dizzy, and my vision was too dark to get to her.
She was holding her nose in pain, in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. Being the evil he was, Michael grabbed the fallen iron bar and hit it against her leg, the side of her small body, and her arm.
She recoiled against the wall, and for as long as I lived, I’d never forget the fear I saw in her eyes. I forced myself up, screaming at him to stop. That took his attention long enough for us both to lunge on his body, making him stumble. But we were too hurt to make him fall. All we did was take his wrath away from her for a few seconds, and for that, I felt grateful.
But it didn’t last long.
I felt the impact of the bar against my knee, and as I fell on my knees, he turned to Mia, already pulling out his belt from the loops on his pants. His damn belt, with the fucking huge buckle made of whatever it was that was encrusted in it.
He didn’t even pull the opposite ends to intimidate with a loud snap, like he used to do. He was past the point of making a show; he just wanted to inflict pain. He lifted his arm, holding the belt, and swung it back down with all his might, hitting the buckle right on Mia’s face, the stoned side close to her left eye. The impact was so strong, her face whipped to the side, and soon enough she started to bleed around her eye, as well as her already bleeding nose.
“You fucking demon.” For the umpteenth time, I raised and lunged against him, punching as hard as I could with my yet-to-be-recovered balance. “You hit me, you hurt me, but you don’t fucking hurt her.”
But I wasn’t a match for him at that moment, and he was ready to show me that. Yet when he raised his arm, right before he could hit me again, Michael was thrown against the sofa.
Coming out of nowhere, Zach was enraged. My always put-together, invariably calm friend was furious as he struck blow after blow on Michael’s face while vomiting words I’d never thought I’d hear from Zach’s respectful mouth.
Before Michael could even prepare himself to hit back, Mia grabbed the fallen iron bar again and swung it against Michael’s stomach, making him bend over in pain.
She put her small hand on Zach’s arm and said softly, calming a caged beast, “It’s okay, Zee. Enough. We can go now.” With the urgency the situation required, she urged me, “Grab your things. We need to leave. Benny! Let’s go.Now!”
I picked up my still-not-fully packed duffel bag and headed to the door. Mia was still trying to get Zach out of his enraged haze. He stared down at the poor excuse of a human being lying on the floor and wheezing. Zach’s fists were clenched tightly, and his breathing was labored.
“Come on, Zee,” her voice had never been so soft, “he’s not worth it, and we need to leave now.” She pulled his arm again, urging him to follow her, while her free hand was holding her shirt upright over her nose. With her belly partially exposed, I could see a bruise already forming on her side, and if I didn’t want to kill Michael already, I would’ve vowed to do so then.
“Not worth it, huh?” Even beaten down by three teenagers, one of them half his size, he didn’t let go. His wrathful gaze turned to me. “This isn’t over. I’ll teach you how to treat a father, you fucking asshole. And you,” he sneered at Mia, “you’re next. I’ll come for you, you little bitch, and I’ll be the last thing you see.”
Zach threw one last punch in his face, finally knocking him out, grabbed Mia’s hand, and led us hastily out of that hell hole as she limped by his side, trying to keep up.
Before I could panic about how we’d get away from there, I saw Jackson’s car parked right outside.
“You were both taking too long.” Zach explained why he was there with a car he shouldn’t be driving. “Get in the car before Mom and Dad freak out. They didn’t know you were gone and didn’t see me take the car. We’ll get your bike later, Mia.”
