Page 26 of Drag Me Up

Twenty minutes after giving my boy a goodnight kiss for his nap, I walk in the front door of my mother’s house.

It would have been five minutes less had Eli not stopped me on the way out. He felt the need to apologize to me again, but like I told him at least five times before that. He owes that apology to Eric.

He isn’t a burden. He isn’t someone to manage. His disorder needs managed, but the man needs to be loved and respected.

Setting my keys on the kitchen counter, I’m surprised to see Mom sitting at the kitchen table clutching a cup of coffee like it holds the secrets of the universe. She smiles at me when I come in the room, but her face returns to looking troubled as I pour myself a cup and join her.

“I’m sorry I had to change it up to having lunch here,” I tell her as I sit down. “A friend needed to escape his roommates for the day, and I offered up my place before I remembered about our lunch.”

Honestly, I would have loved to surprise both of them with lunch, but since Eric is suffering from the withdrawal headaches from his medication, I’m not going to pressure either of them to have a reunion today.

“I have to tell you something, Mattie,” Mom says, reaching across the table to grab my hand in hers. The tone of her voice and the way she is acting…

No!

It can’t be!

“Don’t tell me the cancer is back,” I grab her hand in both of mine.

I can’t lose her.

My mother is the only family I have. I won’t survive it.

The only reason I was able to stay strong the first time was that I had Sylvia to give me hope of a future, even though she never bothered to come to visit.

Mom pats my hands with her free one and gives me a soft smile. “No, Mattie, it’s not the cancer. I’m still in remission and the doc says there’s a good chance it will stay that way. The surgery was a success after all. This has to do with the reason I quit working for the Mendletons. I never told you my reasons because I didn’t want you to risk your career or your relationship with Sylvia.”

I can’t possibly imagine anything so world ending aside from losing my mother that would cause me to be irrational enough to destroy my life over. Especially now that I know Eric got away from his father unscathed.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Mom looks so torn up, Iwould think the only information I care about would be if that asshole died.

“Do you remember the story in the news about the hockey team about five years ago?” she asks and my brain short circuits. Okay, so that came out of left field. That definitely isn’t where I was expecting this to go, but I nod.

Five years ago there was a huge scandal at one of the local colleges when their hockey team gang raped a girl. The school went from being one of the top schools in the country to essentially being blacklisted. They lost all of their funding for athletics and a lot of alumni were put under the microscope for years.

“They never released the victim’s name,” she continues. “Unfortunately, that case was linked to the recent murder for hire case that made national news a few months ago. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but somehow the press leaked the identity of the original victim yesterday to national outlets.”

I sip at my coffee wondering if I knew the girl at all. The age group would mean she would have been at least half a decade younger than I am.

Maybe she was someone’s little sister?

“Mattie hon, I don’t want you flying off the handle, baby,” she says and I give her a reassuring smile. I’ve never had much of a temper in the first place, but Mom is a worrier. She passes over her tablet so that I can read the trending story.

From Captain to Convict:

Appeals Board Overturns Sentencing

After six weeks of grueling testimony and insurmountable evidence, Tibalt University Hockey Captain Rafe Dennison was found guilty of all charges related to the incident at the home of former teammate and alumnus Andrew Streaker almost five years ago.

The turning point in the trial was not testimony of the victim or other witnesses from the party even though the victim recounted vivid details that coincided with the lab results from the hospital. However, the nail in Mr. Dennison’s proverbial coffin was the testimony of his former teammate, Donald Hastings, regarding the fact that several members of the team had taken money to drug the victim for a blackmail scheme and then decided to assault him on their own.

Mr. Hastings has plead guilty to conspiracy and has received his sentence of six months of probation as a result.

For the crimes he had been convicted of, Mr. Dennison was sentenced to up to ten years in prison without the possibility of parole. In light of the testimony provided during the recent case of The State of Pennsylvania v. Sabrina Carlisle, the appeals board overturned the decision of denying parole.

Mr. Dennison’s attorney had this to say, “With Mr. Mendleton and Mr. Hastings both admitting to the coercions and manipulations of Ms. Carlisle as the impetus for the crime, we believe the courts justly understood that Mr. Dennison has served enough time for an unfortunate drunken encounter. He maintains to this day that he had no knowledge that Mr. Mendleton had not given consent.”

The parole hearing for Mr. Dennison is scheduled to take place within the month. With all of the evidence provided in the Carlisle trial, expertsagree that parole will likely be granted as long as Mr. Dennison has no disciplinary issues during his incarceration.

---