Page 53 of I Never Stopped Loving You

“Whose fucking kid is she if she isn’t mine?”

She coughs again, and this time the blood lands on Daddy’s face. He’s mad. His fingers are turning Mama’s neck red.

“Johnny’s.”

Her voice is so quiet that I barely heard her. Did she say, Johnny? Like Uncle Johnny?

“My own brother? You fucked my own fucking brother?”

He slams her head back against the wall, making her scream. I need to help her. I need to save Mama.

“You fucking whore. You better hope to God you’re wrong about this, or I’m going to fucking kill you. Willow is my daughter.”

“She’s…not.”

Her voice is getting quieter. I need to do something now. I look in the kitchen to try and find something I can use to stop Daddy. But I’m not strong enough to lift anything big. Plus, my arm hurts from when he threw me to the ground. The only thing I can see is a knife on the drying rack from when Mama cut up the chicken for dinner tonight.

I have to do it. I have to save her.

I grab the knife off the counter and slowly walk behind Daddy. He can’t see me. He’s so loud that he can’t even hear me.

“I’ll fucking kill you. I’ll kill you. I’ll…Fuck!” he screams as I stab him in the back of the leg.

He lets go of Mama, and she falls to the floor. There’s so much blood, and he’s screaming so loud that it’s hurting my ears.

“Come on, baby.”

Mama picks me up. She tucks my head against her chest and tries to run. We get into the kitchen, but then she screams, and we fall onto the tile floor. My head hits the floor hard, and I can hear a ringing, buzzing sound. It almost sounds like the school bell ringing when we can leave class.

“You stupid fucking child,” Daddy screams as he crawls closer.

He has Mama’s ankle, and no matter how hard she kicks, he won’t let go. There’s blood smeared along the floor from the living room into the kitchen.

So much blood.

Everything starts to go dark as I hear Mama scream again. I feel something warm and wet on my face, but Mama is holding me. No, she’s covering me with her body.

“Stupid…”

*Stab*

“Fucking…”

*Stab*

“Bitch.”

“I’m so sorry, Willow,” she groans.

I can’t see anything. She’s covering my face with her hand, but I can hear her crying. Everything feels warm and wet.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” she whispers.

All I can hear is her crying and a weird noise. It smells like the old pennies grandpa used to give me when he was alive. We used to play marbles, and when I won he would give me a penny.

“Son of a bitch!” Daddy screams.

I think I can hear the sounds of the police cars. Did the neighbors call them? Are they coming to help Mama?