The Awakening (11 page)

Chapter 16

       Adele woke with a hint of sunlight in her eyes. She was determined to go back home without the help of Jefferson. Useless men. Can’t trust any of them!
     Time to dress. She hastily pulled on her old unwashed jeans, looked at the room, and
wondered
if she’d ever see it again. Quickly she threw on her plaid shirt and crept downstairs without anyone the wiser.

    As she hurried towards the shed she pulled from her pocket the note she’d written Jefferson. She stopped to re-read it. 

   Dear Jefferson, things are not always as they appear. I’m doing what I have to in order to rescue my mother. Sorry things don’t make sense to you. I’m no liar Jefferson. See you when I get back. Wish me luck. I’m gonna need it.
P.S. Say a prayer for me too. I hardly pray anymore.

Adele.

   Adele crumpled the letter and stuffed it into her pant pocket, hopped on her bike and road home.

   Jefferson was in one horrible depression. Adele was gone and he felt as if his heart had been ripped out.

   Jefferson could picture Adele, sitting by the window, brushing her hair in front of the mirror. He remembered how they had embraced, how they kissed. Now all he saw was a room of furniture.

   She’d said she was going back to save her mother and sister and that she was bringing them to safety. Her last words were in anger but he repeated them over and over.

   I love you Jefferson. I always will. Don’t ever forget that.

    Jefferson couldn’t bring himself to return to the university; he wasn’t able to concentrate on his studies. 

   After a few weeks, his uncle corralled him in the study, anxious to talk some sense into him.

   “Go back to the university.” Bentley looked at him lying on the sofa, depressed. “Get your life in order, son. Go back to school.”

   Jefferson bellowed at him, “Where does Adele live?”
   “Haven’t a clue.”
   “What do you mean you haven’t clue? She grew up on a farm didn’t she? Where?”
    “Son, all the land for miles is farmland and owned by dozens of farmers. Adele never wanted to talk about where she lived, so I don’t know.”
    “Well I’ll find out.”

    Bentley slammed his fists on the desk. “Have you lost your mind? Are you going to throw away everything you’ve worked so hard for over a girl?”

    Jefferson was infuriated with his uncle, and lunged off the sofa, spun around his uncle’s room, grabbed a whiskey bottle from the medicine cabinet, brushed past his uncle and barreled out the door.

    “Jefferson, come back this instant! Drinking won’t solve a thing.”

    But Jefferson paid no attention to him and wandered aimlessly for hours. The cooler weather had come, though he took no notice, instead, he guzzled down the bottle of whiskey. He grasped the bottle like it was his best friend and accidentally stumbled across Gabriel who was hard at work in the garden.

    When Ryan saw him coming he stopped what he was doing.  “What in God’s name is wrong, son?”  Ryan stretched out his arm and caught Jefferson just before he hit the ground.

    “Nothing.  Just lost my girlfriend, is all.  Fer all I know she’s gone forever.”

   Ryan helped him inside the house and coaxed him to lie on the bed.

   “You’re a kind man, Gabriel. Jus like Adele told me,” he burped.

   “And you’re drunk.” Ryan scowled him. “Nothing more disgusting then a drunk.”

    Jefferson laughed, falling on the bed with a smile on his face. Ryan seemed a tad blurry to him, and he closed his eyes for a minute.

    Ryan shook his head. “Shut up. Sleep it off. I’ll take you back to your uncle in the morning.”

   Jefferson raised his head. “You’ve never told me to shut up before.”

   “Have you ever drank before?”

   “Nope, never.  Don’t drink. Don’t smoke, and don’t sleep with women. Although there’s one girl…”

   “Yeah? And who might that be?”  Ryan asked. Jefferson sat up in the bed, his head wobbled as he slurred.

    “Adele, sir. That girl…she’s only eighteen. But if she was here now, why I’d...”

    Ryan nodded his head. “Sure you would. Highly doubt she’d be interested in a drunken bum.”

   “I know some things that you don’t.”

   “Shut up, Jefferson!” Ryan pushed him back on the bed.

    Jefferson swung a fist at him, but Ryan stopped his swing and shoved him back on the bed.

   “Howda you know what she is, or isn’t? Uncle thinks she’s got a crush on you. Maybe you’ve made advances towards her, too.” Jefferson burped and then fell back onto Ryan’s pillow and passed out cold.

    Ryan shook his head in disgust and covered him with a blanket.

    In the morning Jefferson woke up to see Ryan from a distance hovering over an old oven, making breakfast. He slowly slid out of bed, his stomach feeling squeamish over the smell of bacon and eggs sizzling in a fry-pan. He noticed his bottle of whiskey had been removed and was nowhere to be seen.

    Ryan offered him a cup of coffee, insisting that he drink it.

   “I can’t take you back to your uncle’s looking like this. Drink, son.”

    “I’m sorry. Not used to drinking.” Jefferson cleared his throat. Sitting looking at Gabriel, he couldn’t help but think about all the things Adele had disclosed to him.  He knew Ryan was a private person, though his need to talk with someone about his loss became too burdensome for him to bear. Who better than the man Adele claimed to be her father?

    If Gabriel were her father, it was no wonder she was the woman that she was. Gabriel was a man of high morals, a hard worker and devoted friend. From across the table Jefferson peered into his eyes trying to see a resemblance. Taking special note, he saw there were some similarities.

    “I need to talk to someone, and Uncle Bentley won’t do.”

    “About what?”

    “Adele.”

     “Don’t know the girl, and truthfully, she’s not someone I care to talk about. That girl caused me so much grief.”

    “I know. She’s done the same to me,” Jefferson said, thinking he’d establish a common bond with Gabriel.

   “By the way, how long have you been working for my uncle? I forget.”

   Ryan’s face darkened. “What’s wrong with everyone?” he asked angrily, standing to his feet. “Why can’t I have any peace?” He put his coffee cup on the table.

    “Adele ran away. I don’t know where she lives. Don’t you understand about love, what it does to a man?”

    “Yes, I know. My wife...”

    “Your wife what?” Jefferson asked in a calm tone not really expecting an answer.

   “She’s... I lost her, I think. I can’t remember.”

    “I’m sorry.” Jefferson stood up and leaned next to the door frame. “What were your daughter’s names?”

    Ryan picked up a hand towel and threw it across the room. “Don’t remember. Not sure I had any.”
   “What do you mean?”

    Ryan sighed. “If you must know, I can’t remember my life before coming her.” Ryan hung his head and wiped his brow with the back of his hand.
   “I’m sorry.”

    “So what’s that matter?” Ryan sat back down on the wooden chair, now ready to listen.

   “It’s Adele. I love life, sir.” He fixed his eyes on him. “Shortly after she ran away from her home, I fell in love with her. Things started to go wrong when she began fainting all the time.”

   “I remember her fainting here that one time. Go on.”

    “She told me you’re her of her father.

    “That’s preposterous!”

    “That’s what I thought. She said she had to save her mother and sister from someone who has been impersonating her real dad for over a year.”

    Ryan rose to his feet, scraping off the dirt from the floor with the heel of his shoe. He wore a peculiar expression on his face, and his eyes turned as green as his pants.

   “Tell me, about him.”

    “Adele told me that her father changed over a year ago. She said he turned into a monster, and that she hated him. Said he was moody for no reason, and then violent towards her mother.” Jefferson stopped, observing Ryan’s strained expression.

    “She told me she saw her mother beaten up pretty bad.”
   “That’s sick.”

     “Adele said she hasn’t spoken to her father for a long time. Apparently, she’d threatened him with the police. Where does Adele live? Uncle doesn’t seem to know.”

    Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t know anything.”

    There was a time of silence and then Jefferson returned home.

Chapter 17

October 1
st

   Meanwhile, Adele had made it home. The air was cool, and evening was fast approaching.

    Skimming the house over, she hid behind a clump of bushes next to the house.

    She snuck around to the back and peeked through the kitchen window. Inside she saw two of the saddest faces. Her mother’s was flushed; she’d been crying. Jan was too. Despite, they were together, eating supper. That meant the lunatic had gone to town.

    She was just about to sneak in the house when she heard the sickening voice of the man holler, “Frances, I said I wanted my meal at six.”

    She watched her mother tremble as she hurried to put some food on a plate, only to slip and fall. The tray fell, and the glass busted all over the floor. Adele watched in fear, as her mom became paralyzed. The  man came storming into the kitchen, his face beet-red, standing over her with a clenched fist acting as if he were some sort of king, worthy of a seven course meal.

    “You incompetent woman,” he shouted, and struck Frances with a closed fist.

    Everything within Adele, wanted to burst inside and come to her mother’s defence. But instead, she looked on in horror, and fought back the tears. Looking down at only the clothes on her back, she wondered how she, a young girl, without a
weapon
would be able to fight a winning battle. Jan started to cry, and the man stormed out of the room in a rage.

    “All I hear is that kid. Shut her up!”

    Adele covered her mouth, mortified, by what she’d witnessed. She had to come up with a plan, the sooner the better. While she’d been off in romance land, her mom had been living in this insane man’s man-made prison.
      Heaven only knows what that pig has been doing to Jan.

    Adele was freezing standing outside the house, gaping inside through the back window. When her mom and sister were finished their meals, she decided she’d sneak in, without anyone knowing. A little while later, she crept inside the house, and slithered into the cellar-way. No one used the cellar much, and so she decided she’d hide there until the coast was clear.

    She listened to the sweet soothing sound of her mother singing the old familiar tunes to Jan before putting her to bed. How comforting it was to hear her mother’s voice. The words to,
Hush Little Baby Don’t You Cry
drew her to tears. How had things become so dreadfully wrong since she’d been away?

    The singing stopped, and she heard the voice of the man Adele knew to be mental.

   “Good Lord woman when are you coming to bed?”

    His voice sickened her; the thought of him touching her mom made her flesh crawl.

    She thought she’d never get out of the cold cellar, but figured when everyone was in bed, she’d tiptoe upstairs, crouching low, behind the living room furniture, making her way to her room. Thank goodness hers was the first room.

    When she arrived in her room her eyes bulged when saw there wasn’t a stick of furniture in the room. Now what was she to do? She sighed, and opened the closet door, shutting it quickly behind her, hoping no one heard the squeaky door. There, she spent her first night home.

    Understandably, she didn’t sleep. She was freezing, lying on the cold hardwood floor, too terrified to come out of her room. Adele was forced to expel urine in the confines of her closet as though an animal.

    That night was the longest night of her life, and she didn’t even have the freedom to cry herself to sleep that first unforgettable evening. For Adele, morning couldn’t come soon enough. Being stuck in the closet wasn’t exactly what she had in mind for her first night home.

    This is awful! When morning arrived, she squatted again to pee.

    It was then she heard her mother’s voice from downstairs, telling the man she wanted to go to town. Obviously, he didn’t want her to. It seemed as though they were merely existing, living in a sick prison that he’d made for them. Apparently he was holding them like hostages. As far as Adele was concerned, he was capable of doing just about anything. How was she to get them out of this nightmare, she once called home-sweet-home? Still, she was determined to stay in the closet until the man was out of his room, his feet on the main floor downstairs.

    Adele flinched when she heard him scream, his voice loud and nothing like her father’s.

   “You’re not going! Next thing you know you’ll be telling everybody I’m no good.”

   Adele heard him pound the table with his fist, and then storm out of the house.

   She couldn’t fathom how her mother could think he was Dad.

    Her back ached being confined all night long in the closet, and it was a relief to finally be free. She straightened up, and peered out the window, as she watched the man stagger down the road in the direction of town.

    When she was sure he was gone, she made her way downstairs. It was then she noticed the phone had been removed. No phone. How convenient
.
Just one more way of keeping them cut off from the rest of the world. Probably never paid the bill on purpose, another trick on his part to keep them in bondage.

    Jan was home from school, obviously having a sick day today. Frances was washing dishes when Adele made her way into the kitchen.

    “Mom! I’m home.”

    Frances’ face beamed with delight when she saw Adele.

   “Where have you been?” She rushed to embrace her. “I’ve been so worried.”

    Jan’s eyes widened and she danced around the room in delight.

    “I knew you’d come home.” She raced across the kitchen floor and leaped into Adele’s arms.

    “Where have you been? Your father’s been so angry since you left. He blames me for you leaving. Your father’s been crazy with worry. He’s acting so. . .”

    Adele cut in.

   “Mom, that man’s not Dad. He’s a despicable man.”

    “Your father’s changed, I know— sometimes I hardly know him. Don’t know why, he just has. Doctor says he must have a brain tumour or something worse. You know your father’s never been keen on seeing a doctor. He’s a proud man.”

    “Does for better or worse mean he’s allowed to beat you? This isn’t a marriage. This is bondage and you know it!”

   “I don’t know what to do,” Frances shouted.

   “Run, Mom. Run for your lives!”

    Just then they heard the voice of what Adele knew to be a lunatic, and they both froze.

    “Well, look whose back,” the man said from the corner of the kitchen. “Why it’s Adele. Where exactly would you have everybody run to?”

    Adele felt a lump in her throat, but as usual she voiced her opinion. She put her sister down and prepared to do battle. Breaking the silence between them, tension mounting, Adele felt the hairs on her neck rise. She turned to face the man.

    “Anywhere, you sick twisted creep! Cowards pick on women and children!”

    “A coward?” The words no sooner fell from Isaac’s lips, when he leaped in front of her, and with an open hand, threw a fist that sent her flying across the kitchen floor.

    Frances screamed and then Jan, too.

  The man approached her mother. While
trembling
she managed to hold onto Jan. Jan was crying and Isaac pretended to take pity on her. He had his back to Adele and she decided then to give him a taste of his own medicine. She crept over, pushed her way behind him, and with all her might, hit him as hard as she could in the groin with the pointed toe of her shoe.

    “Ouch!” he yelped and collapsed to his knees.

     Adele turned to her mother.

    “Mom, run!” Adele flew out of the house in a frenzy, running as fast as she could. But looking back, believing her mom was following, she was shocked to discover she hadn’t.

    Adele couldn’t understand why her mother wouldn’t grab Jan and hightail it out of there.

    Why was she staying there, putting her life at risk? What’s he been doing to her that’s stopping her from leaving?
 

   Tears poured down her face as she left the home she now knew had become a place of torture.

   Adele placed her hands over her mouth and wept aloud as she hurried down the road.

   She’d never witnessed such harshness from the man, or the intensity of his anger.

   She had to come up with a plan, that nutcase was capable of doing anything.

    Relieved when she reached the store, she flopped on the nearest stool exhausted. Birdie, the store owner welcomed her with a surprised look, noticing her right away.

    “Adele, I haven’t seen you in a while. How have you been?”

    Adele wasn’t in any mood for busy-body Birdie.

    “Hi, Birdie. Can I use your phone?”

   “Of course, dear, as long as it’s not long distance.”

    “It’s not. Trust me.” 

    Birdie nodded.

     Adele quickly dialed Tammy’s number, crossed her fingers and prayed. Please be there. Please pick up the phone. The operator came on and announced the number had been changed. She redirected the call.

   “Hello, Tammy, it’s me, Adele.” She nervously twisted the telephone cord between her fingers.

   “Adele! Where have you been? I’ve been so worried about you. Why aren’t you in school? And why has your phone been cut off?”
    “And why has yours changed?”
    “Mom lost the house. I’m living in an
apartment
now. It’s all good, though.”

   “I’m sorry, Tammy,” she said. “I could sure use your help. Are you still close by?”

    “Yeah, ten minutes away. What’s up?”

   “Could get you into trouble,” Adele warned.

    “So.” Tammy laughed. “I’m already in shit. What’s a bit more?”

    “Can you meet me at the restaurant? In a hurry?” Adele knew she sounded hysterical.

   “Why so dramatic? You’d think it’s a matter of life and death.”

    “It is! Dad’s been beating Mom, and—” She paused. “I’ll wait for you out back, okay?”

    “Holy Hannah, I’ll be there in a flash.” Tammy slammed the phone down and the line was disconnected.

    Adele hung up the phone when she saw Birdie coming over to see her. She’d always been an incorrigible snoop.

   “Everything okay? You’re not in any trouble are you?” She wore a sheepish grin on her rounded face and looked about as sincere as a sly fox.

    “Everything’s fine. I’m planning a surprise party for my mom,” Adele lied.

    “Oh, that’s what all this commotion is about. Why, I thought someone was in trouble or something like that.” Birdie pounced past Adele.

    Adele left the store and waited outside
anxiously
looking for Tammy.

    Fortunately moments later, Tammy pulled up to the back of the store, slammed on the brakes and unlocked the side door.    

    Adele swung open the car door, slid in next to her, and the two sped down the road like they had just robbed a bank. 

    “Got your license yet?” Adele asked, glancing over at her friend.

    “Not likely.” Tammy barreled up and over the curb and into the driveway.

     The car stopped so suddenly it made Adele’s head spin.

   Still, she was relieved to be at Tammy’s new place, grateful to have gotten there safely. In no time a flood of emotions tumbled from her mouth and she blubbered like a baby.

    “You’re safe now. Let’s go inside.” Tammy swung around and helped her out of the car. “Look, everything will be fine.” Tammy tossed the car keys across the kitchen table and grabbed Adele’s hand. “Mom’s found a boyfriend. A young fellow. She doesn’t want me around. I’ve got the place to myself. So tell me everything,” Tammy said, leading her into the living room.

     “My dear friend,” Adele began, not knowing where to begin.

    “Dear friend, my foot!” Tammy huffed. “Where’ve you been? And why didn’t you call sooner?”

     Adele sat on the couch confused. She wasn’t about to tell her everything that had happened. Jefferson didn’t believe her and she wasn’t about to face any more rejection. Not right now.

     “It’s my dad. He’s wacko. Lost his mind. He beats Mom all the time, and poor Jan.” She sobbed and wiped tears away. “We’re prisoners in our own home. We’ve no phone, no car.
Nothing!”
Adele flopped on Tammy’s lap and wept bitterly.

    “Why that pig! I knew things were bad, but I never dreamed he’d do anything like that.” She looked at Adele and stroked her hair. “You’re safe now. We’ll come up with a plan. Jeepers, you can always count on parents to screw things up.” Tammy gave her a reassuring hug. “When did you last eat?”

    “Can’t remember.” She yawned, and tried to relax on the couch but she was a bundle of nerves.