Now She's Gone: A Novel by Kim Corum Read Free Book Online Page A

daughter?!’”
     
    I cracked up. I could just see her mother doing that. I would have loved to have been there to see the look on her face. On, second thought, no, I wouldn’t have.
     
    “Okay, let’s get real here. What did it look like he was doing? He was just kissing me, that’s all. But, I knew she was going to go off! I had seen her pissed off before but nothing like this.
    She stared at Wayne like he had an ax in his hand. She ran over and grabbed me and dragged me the bed, making me fall to the floor. This infuriated Wayne. He jumped up and held her off me. She pushed him back and he fell on the bed.
    ‘You son of a bitch! I knew it! I knew you were corrupting my daughter!’
    Whatever.
    She kept on, ‘If you think for one minute I won’t kick your ass, you better think again!’
    ‘Mom don’t! It wasn’t him! It was me! We’re adults! We’re both eighteen now!’
    She turned on me, still infuriated and stomped out of the room. She was actually going to do something.
    I ran into the living room to see her picking up the phone. Who was she going to call? I didn’t want to know. I took the phone out of her hand. ‘Mom, calm down.’
    ‘You little slut! How could you! And in my own bed!’
    I felt bad, really, really bad.
    ‘To think how I’ve raised you! Getting thrown out of school and fornicating in my own house! How could you?’
    Fornicating? Yeah, she actually said fornicating. ‘Mom, you don’t understand!’
    Wayne walked into the room. She turned on him.
    ‘You better get the hell out of my house, boy!’
    ‘No,’ he said and crossed his arms. ‘You’ll hurt her.’
    ‘I’ll hurt you if you don’t!’
    ‘I won’t leave.’
    ‘Who do you think you are to come into my house and tell me what to do? You little piss ant!’
    ‘I love her.’
    She doubled over with menacing laughter. ‘Love her? Let me tell you what that a quarter will get you. Nothing.’
    He didn’t respond. By this time, I was so terrified, I was shaking.
    She told him, ‘The best thing for you to do, boy, is get your sorry ass out that door and not look back.’
    ‘I’m here to take care of her.’
    ‘You? You think you can take care of her? How? What if she’s knocked up? You ever think of that? No, ya didn’t, did ya?’
    He dropped his head.
    ‘You’ll never amount to anything, boy. I’ve seen plenty like you and they either end up drunk or dead. They don’t end up with girls like my daughter.’
    I think she thought of me as some sort of property instead of as a human being.
    He told her, ‘I will be something and I will take care of Sandy.’
    She turned to me. ‘He’s gonna take care of you?’
    I didn’t reply.
    She turned back to him. ‘You better hope and pray she’s not pregnant. If she is, you’re going to pay!’
    They went round and round over me. I just stood there like a bump on a log and after a while, I slipped out of the room and out the back door.
    I stayed gone over a week. If I had my choice, I would have never gone back home. Never. I stayed with Kelsey until Mom showed up to ‘take me home.’ Then I ran away again and stayed with Wayne, sneaking into his bedroom at night until his mom caught on and kicked me out. Wayne gave me some money and I stayed in a motel. Mom found me about a week later.
    I let her in. What choice did I have?
    She cut right to the chase, ‘The way I see it, you’re ruined. Around here, you’re ruined. No man wants a girl who’s a slut.’
    I’d hardly say I was a slut, thank you very much.
    ‘Wayne wants me,’ I said and crossed my arms. ‘He said he’d marry me.’
    ‘Let me ask you a question, Cassandra. What do you want with a boy like that? He’s no good.’
    ‘He’s good to me.’
    ‘Now he is. But what about in five years or so when you’re not as pretty as you are now? What about after you have a kid? You think a man who looks as good as he does will be faithful to you? He won’t, honey. He can’t. He’ll always have to be