The Girl I Didn't Marry by Annabelle Costa

Author:Annabelle Costa [Costa, Annabelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose Bud Press
Published: 2017-09-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Jessie

I skip school on Monday and Tuesday. Nick called me on Monday while he knew Dad would be at work, and we talked for a few minutes, but then he got tired and said he had to go. He said that I shouldn’t visit the hospital again because he was too tired for visitors, but that he’d be home soon. I asked him when, but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer.

“You’ll be the first to know,” he said.

Chrissy calls me to tell me the homework assignments. I don’t want her to come over, because even though the bruises are fading, I don’t want the town gossip to know that my father beat me up. She already knows my father can get physical—she’s seen my mom with bruises. Chrissy told me that I should report him. I told her she was being crazy. Report him? To who? And what good would that do me? If Dad got in trouble for hitting me or my mother, that would just make him more angry.

Chrissy’s got a really nice family, so she doesn’t get it.

When Dad gets home from work on Tuesday, I’m in my room, doing my homework while listening to music. It’s a Whitney Houston album that I absolutely love. She’s probably my favorite singer of all time. She’s so talented and you know she’s going to be belting out songs till she’s like ninety. I’ve got my Walkman lying on the bed and my headphones in my ears when Dad comes into my bedroom.

I wish I could still lock my door, but I can’t. The entire opening is splintered and broken from when he kicked it open the other day, so the door barely even closes, much less locks. But it would have been nice if he at least knocked before marching into my room.

Also, I don’t like the smile on his face.

“Take those headphones off,” my father snaps at me. “I don’t know how you can concentrate on your studying when you’ve got music blasting in your ears.”

I obediently remove the headphones. Just a couple more months of this and then I’m gone. And Nick and I can finally be together.

“I heard about your boyfriend,” Dad says. “How he went and got himself shot.”

So that explains the smile. He’s here to gloat about Nick getting hurt. Asshole.

“It wasn’t his fault,” I say quietly.

“Yeah, I’m sure it wasn’t,” Dad snorts. “I’m sure he was just minding his own business, on his way to church, and some people he didn’t even know came out of nowhere and shot him.”

I don’t say anything. There’s no point.

“Well, I guess he’s not going to be causing any more trouble, eh?” my father says. “Those days are over for him.”

I narrow my eyes at my father. “What do you mean? He’s fine. I…”

I almost told my father that I saw Nick. Good thing I stopped myself. The last thing I want is for my lip to get split open again just when it’s starting to heal.

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