Chapter 15

Melanie and I stepped into Christine's eighteen year old sister, Oliva's, huge micro bus.

The car was shaped like a huge 3-D rectangle on wheels- it was sunny yellow color with peace signs and stars painted along the outside and beads and fuzzy chairs on the inside. She was kind if an outrageous hippy.

“Hey girls! What's up?” Oliva greeted as her quick hands turned the hot pink steering wheel.

“Nothing much, just shopping,” I flashed her a smile.

Christine and Melanie sat in the back seat, and I sat in the front next to Olivia.

We chatted the entire way to the outlet mall on the southern side of Columbia.

Once we arrived, everyone hopped out of their seat which was about a yard from the concrete ground because the bus was so high up; I had to catch my balance before I fell!

We walked around outside of the stores just to see what there was in stock until we came across a small jewelry boutique. I stared in awe at the thousands of pearls and diamonds behind the large glass window. I looked up at the name of the store in huge curly letters; the boutique was called "Posh." My absolute favorite piece of jewelry was the gold necklace with a heart shaped locket; it was too bad I only had seven bucks and twenty-three cents.

“Should we go in?” Christine trilled.

“Nah, lets just keep going,” I replied.

We walked around the outlet mall for an hour or so and went into a couple shops. I waited patiently as the girls tried on dresses, shoes, and fancy hats. Nothing looked as fantastic on me as it did on them because I still had scars and bruises all across my body; Just thinking about it made the pain scream beneath my gray sweatpants.

I thought I would never be able to have so much fun without Gabe. Every since the first beating with Phil, my optimism and cheery act has been slipping out of me, and I never thought it would come back. But as funny as it was, I was having a great time, even though I didn't try on many clothes.

Once everyone was done shopping, we went out for a cheap dinner.

“We should go; it's getting dark,” I mentioned.

“Alrighty, is everyone satisfied?” Christine scrambled through her large paper bag full of clothing.

I only bought a blue long sleeve shirt and a chocolate bar.

“Yeah,” everyone replied at once.

We drove back home and dropped Melanie off first and then dropped me off. I thanked them for the ride and walked in through the front door.

“I'm home!” I called into the empty dark house.

I flicked on the hallway light and set the bag with my new shirt in the laundry room.

It was unbelievable how tired I was after shopping. 

“Annabel!” Phil called from his bedroom upstairs.

“What?” I answered, shouting back at him and jogged up the stairs.

Phil was sitting up in his bed in a stained tee shirt and was reading a book on motorcycles. “Where the hell were you?” He asked impatiently.

“Oh, I just went shopping with some of my friends.”

“You didn't ask for my permission!”

“I am sorry, Dad, but you weren't home at the moment, and neither of us have a cell phone!” I raised the tone in my voice.

“That is not an excuse!”

“Well what do you think I'm going to do? Suffer here by myself while you're off at the bar with hookers?”

“Annabel!” He shouted in my face as he shot me up off the floor with one hand by the collar. 

“I'm not just gonna sit here for the rest of my life until I die like mom! You killed her! If I wait here twenty-four seven, I'm gonna end up like her!”

“You never are going to bring up Maria again!”

And then I paused right where I was, one foot off the ground. I never knew my mother's name. Phil never had told me.

“Is... is that her name? Maria?” I whispered quietly. Maria. That was my mother's name. The name of the woman who gave birth and named me but who never got know who I was. Maria. A tear dripped down my cheek. 

“Go to your room!” Phil shouted to my face once more, ignoring my question. 

“I would, only if you tell me if Maria is my mother's name! Oh, I'm sorry, was my mother's name!”

Phil's face grew a dark red as anger raged from his head to his toes. “You speak of your mother again, and you'll end up like she did!” 

I pushed him at his chest to let go of me as I struggled to let free from his unbeatable hand. I was hopeless, and what I got in return was a hard drop on the wood floor. 

“Is this what I get for a welcome home?” I bawled, my left arm stuck beneath his foot.

“You rotten child.” Phil stomped right over my arm, forcing more weight into it and went downstairs to watch t.v. 

I managed to stand up, the scars and bruises burning from this morning and now. I limped into my room and onto my springy bed on the left. This room was where I could just be alone and now have to worry about anything. To my left, the darkness of the night and the light from the moon shone through the window glass. Gabe's bedroom light was on, and he was doing push-ups in a tee shirt and plaid boxes. Before he could see me, I flicked off the lights and hid underneath my quilt with only my eyes peeking through. I grabbed the binoculars from under my bed and glared through them just to watch him until the digital clock stated twelve o'clock on Gabe's nightstand. 

I opened the window to let in the midnight cool breeze and heard the grandfather clock chime in Gabe's house.

As soon as the relief my body was replenished with wind and music, I curled into tight ball with my arms wrapped around my purple knees and let out a huge sigh. 

What would come tomorrow and the next day, was just another part of my life. A mystery.