in through the small little window of the ambulance. "He's fine, we
just need to run a few tests to make sure everything's really ok.
Then we need to get him cleaned up." The medical responder
said, as he quickly jumped into the drivers seat.
I looked around at the front of the house, then watched as the
ambulance quickly drove off into the darkness of the night, as the
emergency lights shined off the tree tops. "Lily." I yelled out,
running up the old weathered porch, then through the broken front
door.
Seeing how everything looked from the outside, I got very
worried.
When I got into the house I gasped; as I slowly looked
around, taking in what everything looked like. Lily sat quietly at the
table. She looked so scared; she was shaking and crying. I was
shocked to find the house completely trashed.
At first, when
Tucker told me we had to leave the party, I figured that she and
dad got into a fight or something like that; but this; this just wasn't
normal.
Everything about it wasn't normal at all.
The couch was tossed, and dirty it looked like someone threw
dirt and grass on it.
The coffee table was broken in half, right
down the middle; the pictures that were on the wall now littered
the floor with broken frames and glass, splashed with blood. There
was long cuts on the wall, like someone ran a knife through it. The
window facing the back yard was broken in with the screen
hanging off the window pane.
"Lily; what happened?" I asked, slowly walking toward her
trying to avoid any broken glass. "I; I don't know Mia. I was asleep;
then someone drove up the driveway and your dad said that he
would go and check it out. Then I heard a horn, or something like
it.
So I sat up, waiting for your dad to come back.
All of a sudden
I heard a loud crashing like glass breaking.
So, I got out of bed,
and opened the bedroom door; but when I got into the hallway
there was this unbelievable strong gust of wind that kept blowing.
It was so hard that I couldn't make it to the steps. I got on my
knees and crawled to the steps." She explained, holding her
hands tightly on the side of her head, with a dazed and confused
look. "Gust of wind?" I asked startled at her story.
Lily never lied to any of us and I had no reason to think that
she would.
But strong winds in our house; really. There was no
strong winds when we got home, nor was there any at the party.
"Yeah; see they didn't believe me." She said, pointing to the two
policemen that stood the next to the refrigerator, looking at her like
she was crazy. "I couldn't move Mia; I literally had to crawl my way
to the steps. When I got there I could hear someone yelling, which
was funny because I couldn't hear anything earlier; there was
absolutely no noise, just wind. But, when I got closer I could hear
yelling. So I kept close to the ground and crawled my way down
the stairs.”
She said trying her best to explain what happened
without crying.
"I could hear your dad, and it sounded like he was chanting or
something; I don't know how to explain it.”
She said very
confused.
“But the wind kept getting stronger and stronger.
I
couldn't make out the words; like I had no idea what he was
saying."
She said, wiping tears away from her eyes, with her
small shaky hands.
Just then Tucker appeared behind me, tossing his jacket onto
the chair next to me. "What the hell." He said, looking around then
at Lily.
She didn't answer him; she just continued with her story.
"The next thing I knew; I was on floor at the bottom of the steps,
and your dad was in the middle of the living room on the floor,
crouched over. He had cuts all over him, and the blood was
scattered all over on the broken glass. So I got the phone and
called 911." She said, still shaken over what happened.
"Tucker can I speak with you, privately?" Officer Green said,
stepping over the broken glass. "Um yeah, sure." Tucker replied,
turning toward him. They both went out onto the front porch. "I bet
he'll tell your brother that I'm crazy; and that your dad and I just
got into a really bad fight or something like that." Lily said, looking
out the front window.
"No, he's probably saying him that
everything is gonna be ok. See, they're hugging." I said, watching.
"Come on fellas, let's go." Officer Green called out. The police
officers all filed out one by one. "Lily, Mia, you guys alright?"
We
heard a voice say coming from the kitchen door. "Yeah, um every
things fine. Come on in." I called out.
Mrs. Hawks stepped into the
kitchen, with her over sized nighty and her hair in curlers, she
slowly stepped into the house; her short stature made her steps
very small. "Sorry for coming by so late; but I heard some awful
noises earlier. Are you ok Lily?" She asked, in a I need to know
what happened kind of way.
She was an old lady, and just like most older ladies, she was
the most nosiest person in town. She always had to know
everybody's business. "Yeah um, everything's fine, and there's
nothing to see." I said, stopping her in the kitchen.
I put my arms
out to block her from seeing Lily who's back faced us. "Lily's fine,
she just needs some time alone." I said, nudging her back toward
the kitchen door.
"Oh ok Mia. You know I just wanted to make sure, because
me and my husband thought that it was you standing in the
driveway just before all the noise started."
She said, pointing her
finger at me. "What do you mean Mrs. Hawks? I just got home." I
said confused. "Well yes Mia. There was a woman and a man
standing in the driveway, and they blew a horn of some sort; and
the woman looked exactly like you, she had really long red hair
too." She said, stepped out the back door.
She saw a woman and man standing in the driveway, I
thought to myself.
"Well, I'm not sure about that Mrs. Hawks but I
assure you that everything is fine."
I said, stepping out onto the
back porch with her. "Well if you folks ever need anything, don't
forget that we live right there, ok dear." She said with a smile. "Yes
Mrs. Hawks. Thank you." I said, waving good bye as she slowly
walked off the porch and disappeared into the shadow of the
house.
I couldn't believe that Mrs. Hawks thought she saw me. What
was going on. Why would she think it was me with a man. Just
then a horrible thought came to my mind. I wonder if my mom
came back with James and something happened. But why? How
could all this be happening? I thought as I locked the back door.
"Look at this mess." Lily said, as she keeled down picking up the
broken picture frames.
I grabbed the trash can and helped to clean up the shattered
glass. I dusted the couch and set the cushions back into place.
Tucker stuck his head through the door, just as I heard a loud
truck pull up. "Who is that?" I asked, looking up at Tucker. "It's
uncle Tom; Officer Green said that he called him to come over
before we got here." Tucker said, heading down the steps. "Lily;
did they say anything about dad? When we got here they were
just leaving for the hospital." I said, tossing the glass that was near
the couch into the trash.
"Oh my god, David." She said in a panic. "I've got to get to
the hospital." She said, jumping to her feet. "No; maybe we should
wait a little, until you've cleaned up a bit." I said, pointing at her
ripped sleeping shirt. "Oh; yeah I guess your right." She said still
very confused and dazed, as she looked down at herself. "Mia,
Lily; Uncle Tom's gonna take me to the hospital to see dad."
Tucker said, as he hurried in to grab his jacket off the chair.
"Alright Tucker, can you tell your dad that I'm ok, and that I'll
see him soon." Lily said, with tears filling up in her eyes again.
"Sure no problem." He replied, as he rushed out the door.
It took
Lily and I a few hours to clean up the mess. All the while she
cleaned she had this dazed and confused look on her face; I
guess trying to make sense of everything that happened.
I could tell she was still very unsure about what really went
on. I myself couldn't understand what Mrs. Hawks meant by she
thought it was me in the driveway. I just couldn't figure it out. After
Lily and I finished cleaning, we both went upstairs to get changed.
But before I knew it I was fast asleep. I didn't even hear if Tucker
got home.
The next morning I slowly woke to the smell of pancakes and
coffee. I slowly opened my eyes to the bright sun that was shining
right through my window. I wondered if Tucker got home; I
wondered if my dad got home too.
I hurried out of bed and ran
down stairs. Dad, Tucker and uncle Tom sat in the living room.
Uncle Tom and my dad were raised together like brothers.
They did everything together; they went fishing, hunting, they even
went for long hikes in the forests. Uncle Tom was much older than
dad was, and I don't think he had a job, although he did managed
to make ends meet.
As I stood there looking at everyone, I
noticed that Tucker had this look of complete and utter disbelief.
"Dad, are you ok?" I asked softly, taking notice that his arm
was in a sling, and his bruised face with little cut's all over it. "Oh
yeah, baby I'm fine." He said with a smile. "Why don't you go help
Lily finish breakfast." He said, still with his smile on his face. "Um
sure. Hi uncle Tom." I said, confused about everything that was
going on. "Hey Mia." Uncle Tom said as I walked closer to him.
"Congratulations on your graduation yesterday." He said with a
smile.
"Thanks." I said, as I continued toward the kitchen.
"Lily you need some help?" I asked, as I took the corner into
the kitchen. "Sure, why don't you scramble those eggs for me."
Lily replied softly. She looked much better this morning. "So, are
you ok?
I mean how are you feeling this morning?" I asked
standing beside her, cracking the eggs into a mixing bowl. "I'm
alright, especially now that your dads home. He got back from the
hospital early this morning with Tom." She said, still with a smile
on her slightly worried face.
"That's good. I guess everything at the hospital went well then
huh." I said also smiling, as I scrambled the eggs. "Yeah, I guess it
did." She replied.
When everything was done cooking, Lily walked
over to the dining room to set the table. "Breakfast is ready." I
called out.
Tucker hurried out through the back door without
eating or saying anything; and drove off in his truck.
Dad and Uncle Tom came over to the table and sat down.
"Where's Tucker going?"
I asked watching him drive off. "Ah don't
worry about him, he'll be fine." Uncle Tom said, with a slight smirk
on his face.
"Fine with what?" I asked, holding the bottle of syrup.
Dad shot uncle Tom one of his shut the hell up looks, which I was
very familiar with. "Ah nothing." Uncle Tom said still with his smirk
on his face.
"Hey Mia didn't you have plans for today with the girls or
something?" Dad asked, while trying to butter his pancake. I think
he really just wanted to change the subject.
"Yeah, but I had
plans with Jon and that's not until later today."
I said, grabbing the
butter from him.
At that moment I thought about Nadia. Oh my
god, Nadia.
I forgot about her; she's going to kill me when I see
her. I shook my head in disappointment.
I slowly picked up the bowl of egg's and gave some to dad
then passed it to uncle Tom who was staring at the food like he
hadn't eaten in days.
"Gee girls if this tastes as good as it looks
and smell, I'm taking one of you home with me." Uncle Tom said
with a laugh. "Yeah, right over my one hand." Dad laughed back
while trying to hold up his arm that was tight in the sling.
After breakfast dad and uncle Tom went out on the front
porch. They talked for awhile then uncle Tom left; dad came in
and just sat on the couch. He didn't say a single word.
"Dad." I
said walking into the living room. "Yeah." He answered. "What
