Chapter 3
Just then, Helen walked over with a plate of fruit.
She set it down in front of me and reached out to pat my head.
Mom had warned me not to get close to Helen, so I leaned away.
She froze for a moment. As if she could see right through me, she looked at me and asked, "Did your mom tell you to stay away from me?"
I kept quiet, not saying a word.
Helen just gave a little laugh. "Your mom's got a point."
Before I could even process what she was meaning, Helen called Lily over, grabbed the scissors from the table, and made a quick cut on Lily's arm.
Lily cried out in pain.
Dad and Uncle Anthony came running out.
"What happened?" Dad asked.
"Alison..." Helen looked absolutely devastated. "She grabbed the scissors and cut Lily."
"Alison Turner," Dad yelled as he yanked me up from the couch, his big hand landing squarely on my back.
I crashed to the floor, my head slamming into the corner of the table.
"Dad, it hurts," I cried out.
"Don't say you hurt," Dad roared, his anger barely contained. "Did your mom teach you this? That bitch. She used to bully Helen, and now she's teaching you how to go after Lily. She's rotten to the bone."
Dad had gotten mad at me before when I messed up.
But I'd never seen him this frightening.
He ripped off his belt and started beating me with it.
I was rolling on the floor, screaming in pain, "I didn't do it. I didn't hurt Lily. It was Helen. She cut Lily with the scissors."
Helen's eyes were red as she snapped, "Alison, are you accusing me of hurting my own daughter? I'm not your mother. How could I ever do something so heartless?"
Her words just set Dad off even more.
He started hitting me even harder.
My whole body stung and burned as I rolled on the floor, crying out in pain, until Uncle Anthony finally stepped in and stopped Dad.
"Jasper, that's enough," he said. "Let her mom come get her. We need to take Lily to the hospital."
Dad finally eased up, letting out a couple of long, shaky breaths.
He pulled out his phone, unblocked Mom's number, and called her.
Someone picked up right away.
"Margaret, get your daughter out of here," Dad snapped.
There was a brief silence on the other end before someone finally spoke, "Is this the family of Margaret Grant?
"It's the police station. Ms. Grant and her baby passed away about ten minutes ago. Can you come in now to handle everything?"
Dad didn't put it on speaker, but everyone in the room froze.
I was numb with shock, too stunned to even cry. In that moment, all the pain in my body just vanished.
All I could think was that Mom had passed away.
I stood on my tiptoes, trying to get closer to the phone so I could hear better.
But all I heard was Dad scoffing into the phone, "Here we go again, Margaret. First, you had someone pretend to be a doctor, and now you've got someone pretending to be a cop?
"Aren't you worried the real police will find out and throw you in jail?"
He hung up without another word. But his face was full of panic.
Out of nowhere, he grabbed my hand. "I'll take Alison to—"
But before he could finish, Lily burst into tears. "Dad, it hurts. There's so much blood."
Dad snapped out of it like waking from a dream and jerked his hand away from mine. "Come on, Lily, let me get you to the hospital."
He scooped Lily up in a panic, and Uncle Anthony and Helen rushed out with them.
No one paid any attention to the phone call.
I just sat there on the floor, dazed, for a long time before it finally hit me that I needed to go find Mom.
Just then, my smartwatch buzzed. It was Angela calling.
Before I left, I'd told the nurse where I was going and left her my number.
Angela must have found out by now.
On the phone, her voice was soft as she asked me where I was.
I told her where I was.
About twenty minutes later, Angela found me and gently took me with her.
Her eyes were red, and her voice was so soft that it was almost a whisper. "Sweetie, your mom..."
She couldn't bring herself to say the words.
In the end, I was the one who spoke up, my voice trembling, "Are Mom and my little brother really gone?"
The tears she'd been holding back finally spilled down her cheeks.
She nodded.
I pleaded softly, "Can you take me to see them?"
*****
Mom was lying there peacefully on the bed, and my little brother was on the other side, looking so small.
Someone had cleaned away all the blood, so they just looked like they were peacefully asleep.
Once I was allowed, I climbed up onto the bed.
I buried my face in her neck and hugged her as tightly as I could.
Mom felt so cold.
Whenever I was cold, Mom would hold me like this and make me warm again.
I tried to warm her up, just like she always did for me.