Part 3 ~ Rain
It was the rainy season. The little girl could hear rumbling sounds off in the distance as she watched rivulets of water stream down her bedroom window. Flashes of lightning were casting shadows on the bedroom walls resembling scary claws that she was convinced were going to get her. She could hear the wind wooing like a ghost outside and she could feel it building, a panic in her chest that put her into a frozen state of fear. She thought her heart was going to explode and a sharp pain began stabbing her under the armpit. "It's ok. It's ok. It's ok", the little girl repeated her mantra as another strike hit the atmosphere. BOOM! It sounded like a bomb had just gone off startling her into the now moment, shooting a shot of adrenaline straight into her veins. Her mind snapped back out of it's thick quicksand trap and panic gripped her. Pant, pant, pant, she was hyperventilating now. Stiff and unable to move she tried with all her might to raise the sheet up over her face but her arms wouldn't connect with her brain. She‘d shut down. Pretending to be invisible from the wall claws she thought that she might be better off dead anyway. Who would miss her? The only one she could think of was her daddy. He'd hung the moon and was in the next room, but mother said never to get out of bed before morning unless is was for life or death. She knew there would be hell to pay if she knocked on their door. Her mother was as unpredictable as a snake and you never knew what to expect next. She'd run off for two weeks and had only come home a couple of days ago. The little girl had been walking from school daydreaming about how much better things were with her gone. There hadn't been any yelling or screaming or spankings since she'd left. Her father was a bit down in the mouth, but she could fix that. She was sure. He loved her best and that would conquer any sadness he felt from her mothers absence. It would just be she and Daddy and her little brother. They would live happily ever after away from the wicked witch. But, somewhere in her heart she knew it was too good to be true. He would take her mother back just like he always had before. So there she was walking home barefoot in her little white tank top with orange shorts and pixie haircut when her mother pulled up beside her in her car. "Hi, Sissy! " she exclaimed as if she had just seen her at the breakfast table that same morning. The little girl was shocked to see her and didn't know how to respond. "Hi mom" she said in a deflated voice she didn't recognize as her own. "Get in" her mother said cheerily. "I'll drive you home". Warily the little girl got into the front seat. Her mother acted just as happy as vanilla pudding until the little girl finally got up the courage to ask. "Mom, where have you been"? "Oh, I went to Kauai" she said with no other explanation. The little girl knew that Kauai was a plane ride away from Oahu and was surprised. She had gone to Kauai once for summer camp and remembered what fun it had been for her to get away from home. There was horseback riding, and hiking among other things and she pictured her mother doing those same things for some odd reason. Lost in this thought the passenger side door flew open unexpectedly. The little girl realized that she must not have shut it completely when she got in and it must have come unhinged. Her mother had not noticed because she had her eyes on the road, and the little girl was terrified to tell her, but she was more afraid of falling out of the car. "Mom, the door came open" she said and as quick as a cobra her mother backhanded the girl across her face, cutting the bridge of her nose with one of the heavy rings she wore. "Close it." she demanded and the little girl did as she was told wiping blood and raindrops away from her face as they headed toward home.
poem by Sara Fielder
Added by Poetry Lover
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