Runner {Watty Awards 2012}

Chapter 3 Part 2

Amelia woke to a soft tap on the door, groaning at the pop of her joints and the pain still coursing through her body she struggled to a sitting position at the foot of the bed as her daughter Eleanor entered the room. The drugged feeling, half sleep, half pain left Amelia immediately at the sight of her.

“Oh sweetheart, are you ok? Let me look at you…” Amelia struggled to get the words out of still swollen lips.

“Yes mama, I am fine, don’t worry.” Eleanor said quietly.

“I always worry about you I am your mother, it’s my job” Amelia tried to joke but it only drew a sad smile from her daughters pretty face.

“I am more worried about you, mama, look at what he has done to you.” She whispered.

“I am stronger then I look baby” Amelia returned.

Eleanor got up from her mother’s side to get a basin of warm water and the first aid box from the bathroom; she knelt back down and began to wipe away the blood from her mother’s wounds.

The mirror left a nasty looking nick just above her right eye but luckily it wasn’t deep enough to need stitches.

Devon was smart enough to know that if he was to leave marks then he would leave them in places that can be covered so not to draw attention. Any odd ones that popped up that could be seen she already had plenty of excuses readymade if anybody asked and usually those where not serious so the excuses normally stuck well.

Amelia hissed in pain as Eleanor’s hand slipped a little hard on one of the wounds on her neck.

“Sorry mama.” Eleanor whispered.

“It’s ok dear, where is your father? He didn’t do anything to you did he?” Amelia asked her voice laced with fear yet again.

Eleanor let out a short sarcastic laugh which surprised Amelia “not this time he didn’t mama, He is passed out on my bed in my room, he was all talk no trousers. In fact he barely got them off he was so pissed.”

“Eleanor! Language! You are a lady, we do not talk that way.” Amelia chastised her daughter with her words but smiled inwardly half amusement, half relief.

“Why not mama? He hurts you all the time and you still don’t have a bad word to say about him in public, why do you put up with it mama?” Eleanor suddenly spat.

Pulling away from her daughter’s gentle grasp Amelia looked her daughter hard in the eyes. “I do it for you. If your father takes his rage out on me then there is less for you to put up with, I’m trying to protect you.”

Eleanor  just looked at her mother in a mixture of anger and sadness but did not argue the point further, Amelia was grateful as she felt that she could not stand an argument with her daughter on top of what had already happened today.

Dropping the wet cloth into the basin Eleanor helped her mother stand and to take off her top to begin bandaging her ribs, grimacing at the patchwork of fading bruises underneath the fresh ones.

 Her mother’s once flawless skin now looked a mottled mess of purples, blues, browns and yellows. Add to that the knife slash scars, the cigarette burn marks and puncture wounds and it all added up, painting a sad, disgusting story of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her monster of a husband.

Sometimes Eleanor just wanted to scream, or lash out at her father and hit him so hard that he never got up again. But as much as she wanted to she knew that would never happen.

After she had silently finished picking up the pieces and bandaging her mother battered body once again. She helped her dress again into pajamas and helped her into bed fluffing the pillows to make her comfortable.

Eleanor turned to leave but was stopped by her mother’s hand on her shoulder. “Wait baby please.” Amelia begged.

Eleanor sighed “yes mama?!”

“I have a secret to tell you but you must keep it at all costs away from your father, no matter what he does. Do you promise?” Amelia said reaching to turn her daughters face to look at her.

“Yes mama, I promise.”

“I know you are fed up with your father’s abuse, I am too. So I have enlisted help from an outside source. A good friend of mine is going to help us get away very soon and help us put all this behind us.” Amelia said in a voice so low that Eleanor had to lean in close to hear.

Eleanor said nothing but she didn’t need to, everything Amelia needed to know was shown in her eyes. First shock, then relief mixed with slight happiness. Elemor then suddenly crawled into bed next to her mother laying her head on her mother’s lap like she used too when she was little.

Amelia lifted her hands to stroke her daughter’s dark silky hair. “It will all be over soon I promise” she whispered.

Amelia then began to sing the lullaby her daughter loved so much as a child, all the while stroking her daughter’s hair until she fell into a soft slumber on her lap.

Amelia looked out the window to the full moon still praying that John would get here soon and rid her of this nightmare she had gotten herself into.

“This man doesn’t even know me and he is risking his life to save me and my daughter, he has such a good heart” she said to herself as she too fell into a dark dreamless sleep.