Page 89 of The Man with a Treasure

Sal grabbed his chest. There was so much empathy in his expression. “I am so sorry.”

Speckles of spit sprayed as the animal paced. “Sorry for what? What do I not know, Sal?”

Softly, he tried to speak, but it was like she could no longer hear. Her mind had cracked wide open and was leaking faster than she could collect the pieces again.

“Why is that man not hitting her?”

Even though she was asking questions, she asked them as though she already knew the truth. And she hated the answers the TV was telling her.

She screamed, “Where is her rope? Tell me!”

Scarlett was far too gone mentally for us to speak any answers now. I had made a huge mistake and now she would pay the price. Sal and I could only watch as all of her rage and hurt rose to the surface of her awareness.

Ignorance is bliss, they say. That was most definitely the case for Scarlett.

Now, she was ignorant no more.

Scarlett grabbed a poker stick by the fireplace and swung at the ghosts I didn’t know how to fight. She roared, “Why is she not tied up?”

Crash went the TV screen.

Crash went Scarlett’s tender naïve ways.

Crash went her destroyed heart.

Out of breath, Scarlett dropped the poker stick and stumbled toward the door of the balcony. Scared Scarlett might throw herself over the edge, Sal and I followed her. She opened the door and took weak steps outside. When the cold evening air hit her, she stopped and took huge gulps. Her shoulders rising and falling showed me just how exhausted she was, too. Her night terrors were taking us all down. And now, those terrors felt like they were alive, threatening us while we were awake.

Of their own accord, my feet carried me to her. I told myself not to hold her, not to care so deeply for her, but my heart demanded I support her through this recovery.

I hadn’t even reached her before she turned and leaned against my chest. Her voice shook with tears and regret. “He was so gentle with her. Why, Angel? Why?”

It felt like standing on the edge of a cliff, trying to decide whether or not I knew how to fly. Was I able to hold her, yet someday let her go? Was I able to give her a piece of me, yet have the strength to walk away?

Not knowing the answer, my arms still wrapped around her. At that moment, I double-downed that her needs were more important than mine. I held and swayed us both. We were in a disastrous situation with no way out. She had been dreadfully abused. That would always be in her past, no matter how much I ignored it.

“Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

I stared down into the eyes that looked like galaxies overlapped, having to tell them the truth. “Yes.” They had only known misery.

Scarlett was so brave… “I have never seen or felt that. I want to know what it is like.”

You will never know it from me.

I guess the Angel of the Night was afraid of the sun. I turned away from the beautiful woman and walked away. Passing Sal at the balcony doorway, I said, “Protect her with your life.” Then, I left.

A little whisper had me sitting up on the couch. “Angel?”

He had yet to return. Been gone all early morning. “He’s not here, Dove.”

Bare feet pattered on the expensive flooring I no longer felt carried any value. “Sal?” She entered the living room. As soon as she saw me, she grabbed her chest. “I thought I lost you, too.” She rushed to me, sitting and grabbing my hands. “Is he gone? Like my mother?”

I’m going to kill that asshole. “No. He just had errands to run.”

“Errands?”

I was tired of teaching, so I let her hands go and stood. “Want to go for a walk?”

Peering around as if longing for Angelo, she nibbled on her bottom lip. “Do I have to wear shoes?”