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I grab Luke and head up the stairs to her front porch and knock quietly on the front door only to be greeted by the barrel of a nine-millimeter followed by a deep southern man’s voice asking me who I am and what the fuck I want with his family. When I inform him I’m Kathy’s sister he challenges me as to my name and Luke’s name. When I suddenly hear Kathy say, “Let them in Chris, she’s not lying.” He returns the sidearm to his holster. He’s apparently coming off of a shift and was changing out of his uniform.
As I enter the house and place Luke on the couch I notice Chris’ eyes on my every move. He’s watching me in full cop mode, questioning every movement I make and every reason as to why I am almost hobbling instead of walking. It really hurts to walk, I feel like I have something jammed up my ass having sat on it all night and Jeff having had his way with me I’m super sore on my bottom. My sister offers me a seat, but I decline wanting to get some of the tenderness out of my ass.
Finally, Chris addresses the elephant in the room asking me what he had done to me and offering to take me to the doctor if I wanted it. I decline the offer for the hospital I don’t want a paper trail so that Jeff can track me down easier. Chris mumbles something to Kathy and leaves the room. A few minutes later he comes back into the room dressed in a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Kathy is still dressed in her nightgown and robe she hasn’t said a word to me I think she’s still in shock at the way I look.
About an hour later the doorbell rings Chris answers letting the guest into the house. The man who enters is in his sixties with graying hair. He carries a bag that resembles a medical bag from the older days. He and Chris exchange a few words before he introduces himself as Chris’ dad and a retired doctor. He asks politely if he can help me. I nod that he can. He explains everything he does before he does it. In the end he even asked questions about Luke to check on his well being. I allow him to look Luke over since I wasn’t one hundred percent sure that Jeff hadn’t laid a hand on Luke at some time when he was alone with him. That thought makes me feel sick to my stomach. The older doctor takes Kathy and Luke into another room and examines him. After a few minutes they come back, and he happily says to me that Luke is uninjured. He splints my wrist up and gives me a pain killer followed by orders to rest for the next few days. He also gives me a pill that he says is for the best in the current situation. I take the pill in front of him and he gives me a second one with strict instructions to take it in exactly twenty-four hours. I watch as Kathy’s eyes grow wider with the knowledge of what kind of pill it is.
A few days later when I can walk more naturally I have dis-enrolled Luke in his current school and enrolled him in the local school, thank goodness they had a spot in early kindergarten for him. However, I can’t seem to let myself leave him there for long I find myself in the pick-up line at noon when he doesn’t get out until two thirty. Thankfully I earn my money in a PayPal account by working from home. My computer is my life; Instagram and Facebook have been my way of finding work, I do book reviews, those I’m not paid for, but I also design book covers for authors which pays a little bit of money here and there. I’ve been doing it since I found out that I’ve had a natural talent working with computer software and I was pregnant with Luke. It’s helped me to save a small nest egg so that I can put a down payment on an apartment, but I’m going to need something more stable before I can put my feet firmly down on the ground. I’ve promised my sister that I’d stay until Luke finishes his year in school.