Molly let out a gust of relief when there were no cars parked in the driveway. She pulled into the garage, wondering how they were going to get Kyle’s car home from the bar.
Hoisting her backpack over her shoulder, she began the arduous task of schlepping Kyle into the house. “Up you go,” she said quietly, tugging on his feet.
Kyle did not respond, other than to let out a belch that interrupted his snoring.
Molly reassessed the situation. She moved to the other side of the car and tried pulling him out by his shoulders. He used to be much lighter when he was in shape. The weight of his beer gut combined with his height was too much for a slight girl with a sprained ankle. She moved toward her goal of the house in millimeters, gritting her teeth through the pain that shot up her leg with every overburdened step. Her thoughts went to her orange grove, which was her happy place. She escaped her reality with daydreams about tilling the land, drinking orange juice and never having to drag Kyle out of the bar or her car ever again.
Kyle opened his eyes and tried to stand, but was unable to locate either his feet or the concrete of the two-car garage. He flailed around like a dolphin out of water, falling backward and crushing Molly on the floor.
Molly cried out in pain. She tried to shove Kyle off of her legs, but he was unconscious, and reverted to his snoring. “Get off of me! Please, Kyle! Wake up!” Each time she shook him, it jolted her leg, causing more pain.
She was in the process of slithering out from under him when the door to the house opened. The only voice she both wished to hear and not hear in that moment called out to her. “Molly? You alright?”
“Liam?” She wanted to cry out of sheer frustration. Of course the one man she wanted to see her as strong and confident was walking in on her pinned to the floor. Of course he would find her on the verge of tears. She sucked her emotion back and kept her voice steady. “Go back inside, Liam. I’ll be there in a minute.” Her car was blocking his view of her, and she was grateful for the obstacle that kept him from seeing her in such a pathetic state.
“Where… Are you on the ground?”
She heard him step toward her and panicked. “No! Liam, I’m fine. I’ll meet you inside in a second.”
He did not listen. No one ever seemed to listen. That was why she stopped talking when she was young. Liam came around the sedan and gasped at the sight of Kyle passed out atop a mortified Molly. “Jeez! Are you alright?” He lifted Kyle’s shoulders up so she could crawl away with her shame.
The movement was too much for Kyle. He made a choking sound Molly was all-too familiar with. “He’s going to puke! Roll him on his side!” she instructed.
No sooner did Liam obey than vomit in every color sprayed out from Kyle onto the concrete. “Ugh!” Liam jumped back from the putrid fountain in disgust.
In that moment of assessing a fair snapshot of Molly’s life, Liam made an executive decision. He scooped Molly and her backpack up from the ground and carried her inside. “Liam, no! I have to bring him in, get the groceries out of the trunk and clean the garage.”
He did not answer her, but barked for Nate. When Nate came bounding down the stairs, he swallowed his lighthearted comment and went to his brother’s side. “What happened?” Nate asked as Liam laid Molly down on the couch.
“Just stay with her for a second. I’ll be back.” He did not hearken to Molly’s pleas for him to let her take care of it as he lifted her keys from her jacket pocket. He stalked into the garage where Nate heard heavy shifting and then a car starting up.
The garage door opened, and a couple minutes later, Liam was back inside, a stormy expression brewing on his face. He shoved the two big brown bags of groceries onto the counter, visibly fuming. “Kyle’s propped up against a garbage bin, so he won’t suffocate on his own vomit. It’s supposed to rain tonight, so that should wash off your car. It’s locked, so Kyle can’t try to take it out tomorrow.” He tucked the keys back in her pocket. “I’ll make sure he cleans up the garage in the morning.”
“Kyle doesn’t do mornings,” Molly argued, not able to look up at his towering form. “Or cleaning.”
“Well, I don’t do slobbering drunk, and I’m bigger. He’ll clean out the garage in the morning.” He turned to Nate. “Did you know Kyle was like this?”
Nate rubbed the back of his neck. “Not the beating on his sister, but the drinking? Yeah. Whenever I come back to visit Mom and Dad, we hang out at the bar. He’s always stone drunk before the night’s out. He’s always ‘in between jobs’. Kinda never grew up. Why we don’t talk much anymore.” Nate turned to Molly. “I’m sorry, Moll. I didn’t know it was this bad for you.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. I don’t care about any of it. It’s my job to take care of him, and I’m doing it.”
Liam scoffed. “It’s not your job! You’re not his mother. Wake up, Molly! This is a dangerous situation! It’s like you’re purposefully trying to make bad decisions!”
Molly’s glare was not discreet. “Why do you think I’m allowed to live here? This is the right move for my situation, so just lay off. I’m doing my best!”
Nate kicked his brother. “Stop big-brothering her. She’s got enough to deal with without you being a bully.”
“A bully? I’m the only one who’s doing anything to help her! This isn’t worth it, Molly. Be smart! You can’t keep living like this!” His disappointment was clearly displayed on his face, his fists clenched at his sides.
“Calm it down, Li!” Nate growled, pushing himself between Liam and Molly.
“It’s like you’re more than happy being the victim here. Do you think it’s going to get better? That Kyle will ever change?” His jaw was set in anger as his voice rose. “I thought you were strong! I thought you were this genius, but there’s no sense in staying through this. Why are you putting up with him? No escape plan in the world is worth this!”
Nate put his hand to his brother’s chest and pushed him back a few steps. “You’re done.”
Liam softened, only just realizing he was taking out his frustration with Kyle and his birth father on an injured girl. “I didn’t mean it like that. Look, short of a lobotomy, Kyle’s not going to change. This is a bad place for you to be. How can you not see that?” He shook his head, looking down at her with furrowed eyebrows. “I thought you were different. I thought you were more.”
Molly turned on her side and banded her arms around her stomach to keep the emotions inside. She had woken up with such hope, and now she was surrounded by men who either pitied her, yelled at her, or did not care if they threw up on her. Liam kept talking, but she ignored him, her eyes going blank. She escaped in her mind to her orange grove. On her property paradise, she lived in peace. No one yelled at her. No one felt sorry for her. No one knocked her around. She had acres and acres of freedom, and there was no one to take that away from her in her imagination.
“She’s gone,” Nate informed Liam, turning to rub Molly’s arm gently. “I’ve seen her do this. Did you know she didn’t talk in full sentences till she was school-aged?” He smoothed her hair back from her face, wishing his brother had the sense to slow down and see the real problem. “One year someone sabotaged her science fair project. She stopped speaking for like, a month.” He moved the afghan off the end of the couch and covered her with it, sitting down on the floor near her head. “I think it was the ninth grade science fair? That’s when I realized how messed up their family was. They just… They handled the situation all wrong. A lot of yelling at her, threatening, calling her retarded and stuff like that. All while Kyle played video games and ignored the whole thing.” Nate nudged her, in case she was capable of hearing him. “Remember when I came over with the whole Dukes of Hazard box set? We sat on this couch for days and made it through the whole thing.” He chuckled at the memory. “She was so fed up with it, her first words were ‘I can’t take it anymore! Can we please watch something else?’” He grinned at his own genius. “Remember that, Little Luco? See, you think I’m torturing you, but really, I’m brilliant.”
“This is a lot,” Liam commented, sighing at the gargantuan weight burying the woman he had seen set free that very morning. “It’s too much. I gotta… I need some air.” He slapped at his pockets for keys, and then recalled that their sister had dropped them off. “I’m walking home, Nate. Thanks for letting me crash here, Molly. I want to stay, but this? I just can’t. If I do, I’ll murder your brother and lose all respect for you.” He shook his head, rubbing the crease between his eyebrows. “I’m already too involved, and we said we’d keep it casual.”
“You’re a dick, Liam!” Nate called after his brother as he watched him disappear up the stairs to pack his suitcase. “You can’t control a situation, so you bail. Nice to know you haven’t changed!”
Molly tucked her fists tighter around her torso to keep her heartbreak from being known. Inside, she was howling her pain. She barely felt the sting in her ankle compared to the knowledge that she was too much mess for a strong man to handle. She kept her face expressionless as she silently screamed.
Ten minutes later, the front door banged, announcing that Liam had left her. Nate sat on the floor, leaning against the couch. “Don’t listen to Liam, Little Luco. Dealing with Kyle? You’re plenty strong. I kinda wish you’d bail, though. Those bruises worry me.” When Molly didn’t answer, he reached over and covered her foot with his hand. “Until you figure it out, I’m here. Even when I leave after the family stuff is over, I’ll keep in touch. You can write me letters that start with ‘Dear Nathanial, You’re the handsomest man in the world. Everything you do and say is pure poetry.’” He waved his hand in the air and rested it on her foot again, squeezing. “I don’t want to write the script for you, but you get the idea. Molly?” He called her name quietly, but knew before the silence greeted him that she would not answer. “That’s alright. I’m here. I here, even if you’re not.” He held onto her foot as he leaned against the couch, praying that somehow the sun would still rise in the morning.