Page 37 of The Walls of Levi

“Shit,” Rick says, then I hear him on the phone.

Thoughts of Fred go through my mind. I’m going to kill him if I get my hands on him. How the heck did he get mixed up in sex trafficking? Never mind. I don’t really want to know the answer to that. He’s a sick human being. I don’t need to know everything that he has been doing. I know enough of what he’s done.

Rick gets off the phone and proceeds to tell us some horrific news.

“It seems that Fred has been feeding Russell’s business from Conerly and surrounding towns. He takes them and then brings them to Martinsville. In our county, we have a group home for girls and boys that have been rescued. It’s horrible in there. Some girls end up offing themselves because they feel if they come out, they will just be taken again. It a couple cases, that has been the truth. They didn’t survive the kidnapping the second time. The handlers just killed them. I’ve also had a kid be taken home, and since her parents are the ones that sold her -that we didn’t know was the case- they killed her in her sleep after being rescued. The majority of those taken aren’t rescued. They are pimped out and the buyers move them across the country. Girls… and boys alike, are taken, sold, raped, tortured, and victimized by monsters every day. I try to stop it. I do.”

I can tell he needed to get a lot of that off his chest. I can’t imagine having his job and seeing what he has seen. I think about those kids and those women that are still missing. What is happening to them? Are guys like Fred torturing women like Kathleen and taking what he wants? Kids. Are they being beat like I was just for being alive?

My anger starts to take over and the darkness hovers until Zant says Kathleen’s name. I whip my head towards him. “What? What about Kathleen?”

“Nothing man. I just said her name.” Zant has a knowing look on his face. Then it morphs into a smirk. “She’s going to save you from the dark, man. I’m telling you.” I go back to driving as fast as I can and paying attention to the road. I need to get to them.

I’m driving so fast, I’ve almost shaved off half my time. This early in the morning, there isn’t any traffic. For the most part, the highway has been all mine.

“Oh shit,” Zant suddenly says.

“What?” He’s looking at my cell and an uneasy feeling rushes through me.

“Micah has the forty-five, and she’s aiming it at Fred.”

“WHAT?!!” Chance and I shout at the same time.

“Just drive. She knows what she’s doing. Micah is fierce, y’all know this. After what Roy did to her. She will take Fred out if she has to.”

“Who’s Roy?” Rick asks. I almost forgot he was in the car.

Zant nor I want to recap that story, so Chance fills him in.

I look at Zant and he’s clenching his jaw. I know he’s thinking about what happen to Micah and what his father put her through. They haven’t told me where Roy is, but I would bet anything on him being dead. It’s a feeling I have. Zant wouldn’t have disappeared if he was still out there. I know him. But I’m never going to ask. That’s him and her.

We pull up to Micah and Zant’s house, where about ten police cars are parked out front with red and blue lights going. We all jump out of the Demon and run to the front of the house. Laying on the ground at the bottom of the steps, with his arms behind him in handcuffs, is my sorry-excuse-for-a-human-being father.

I kneel down near him and smirk. “Good to see you’re where you belong.”

“Don’t test me boy,” he seethes.

I chuckle. He can’t intimidate me anymore. It’s been a long time since he could. He just hasn’t crossed me since. Which is a good thing. I’d most likely kill him.

“Look at this little wimp we created, Mary. He can’t even keep his hands up to defend himself.” Fred, keeps lightly slapping my face, with both hands, on each side. There isn’t a point to keeping my hands up, he just hits me harder when I do that. if I don’t defend myself, he goes easier on me. How fucked up is that?

“He’s such a tiny little shit,” Mary says.

Yea, you evil bitch, I’m tiny. You two monsters won’t feed me. I keep myself from rolling my eyes. Fred keeps hitting me and laughing like a maniac. It’s beyond annoying. You would think I would be used to this shit. I’m not. I never will be. I can’t believe I was dealt these two assholes as parents.

I got caught going outside, thinking they were both asleep, I was going to slip by them to go ride. Their drug buddies left a little bit before. I always know to wait a little bit to give them time to pass out. This time was different. They must have passed on using this go around. I don’t know why, and I really don’t care. I just wish I had been quicker.

I grunt when he slaps my right cheek a little harder than he had been.

“What boy? That hurt?”

I don’t say anything.

“How bout this one?” He slaps my left check hard enough to make my head turn. I see Mary, my horrible mother, standing there, smiling like something is funny. I hate her. She’s supposed to be loving and caring. She isn’t. She never has been. She’s let the vilest things happen to me by the hands of their drug buddies. I don’t expect anything out of Fred. He’s just an asshole. Her, thought, I never would have thought a mother could be like her.

I know several mothers. They are nowhere close to being like Mary.

I turn my head back to look at Fred again. His black eyes are laughing at me.

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