Page 70 of Crybaby

I want to save them all, but how can I when I can’t even save the one person I promised to protect?

“She’s in here.” Michael stands by the last door on the left, appearing to give me one last chance to back out.

If only it were that easy.

When he sees I’m not going anywhere, he unlocks the door. But unlike the other doors I had no issues looking into, I can’t look into this one because the person inside isn’t a random face. I know her secrets, and it just makes me love her all the more.

With a deep breath, I walk into the room to see my mother strapped to her bed by her wrists and ankles. She has a white bandage around her left wrist because it seems OD’ing wasn’t enough. She had to slit her wrist as well.

The door closes behind me, sealing my fate as I stand silent, needing a moment to process what I’m seeing.

She doesn’t deserve this. She never did. But it seems some people are just destined for a certain path, no matter how badly they want to change.

June lifts her head from the mattress, her eyes widening when she sees me. I’m surprised they haven’t sedated her.

“Rev?” She blinks once, appearing incredulous that I’m really here.

“Hi, June.”

A sob escapes her. “You can’t be here. You’ll be in so much trouble if they catch you.”’

“When has that ever stopped me?” I walk toward her bed, trying my best not to let her see my agony at seeing her tied this way.

Dropping to my knees, I commence unfastening the buckles at her wrists, but she shakes her head. “No, leave me here. It’s better this way.”

“Being tied up like an animal is far from being better than any possible scenario. It’ll be just like last time.”

“What happened to your face?” Her concern unsettles me as I can’t remember the last time I heard it.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get you out of here.”

“I said no!” she cries, which stuns me because this is new. “Not this time. I won’t allow you to get into any more trouble. I’m the one who should be protecting you, but I haven’t done that in a very long time. Let me start now. Let your father—”

But I don’t allow her to finish. “Enough! Now is not the time to talk about that loser.”

“But he’s not. Your father is a very powerful man. He”—she pauses, her lower lip trembling—“he owns this town.”

My blood runs cold, and time stands still.

“What did you say? He liveshere?”

She nods slowly.

“And you only thought to mention this now? Your stories varied from him being the postman to a random naval officer you met one night in a bar!”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I wasn’t ready.”

Suddenly, untying her is the least of my concerns.

Jumping up, I begin to pace the room like a caged tiger. “You weren’t ready?” I scoff, running a hand through my snarled hair. “You are in this fucking place because of him! You should have gotten your shit together and forced yourself to face your demons, not drown them in the bottom of a whiskey bottle!”

My body trembles in rage and something else I’ve never felt before. It’s a combination of every fucking emotion known to mankind multiplied by ten thousand.

How could she do this? How could she be this selfish?

She made me believe he walked out on us my entire life, but to know he’s been here this whole time…I don’t know how to feel. Everything I’ve done is because of her, to better our lives and to forget what he did.

“I couldn’t tell you because I was afraid.”

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