Read Online Power by Theresa Jones - Free Book Online Page B

the bed and stared at the floor. When I finally looked up, before I could even get a word in, she started throwing questions at me. “What the hell is Rick doing here? Is he involved in all this? Tell me what the hell is going on, Allison.” Well, not exactly what I was expecting, but understandable nonetheless.
    “Rick approached me last Sunday.” I wanted to stop there and leave it at that. I did not want her to know the truth about me.
    “Did he hurt you, Allison? I asked him, no, I demanded that he never return!” She shook her head and muttered, I just cannot believe that he came back after all these years.”
    “Of course he didn’t hurt me, Mom, why would you ask that? You told him to never come back? Why? I thought he just disappeared one day.”
    “On your sixth birthday something happened to you. It was just after midnight sometime, and you woke up screaming bloody murder, like you were some horrible pain. The only thing you would say was ‘Rick, Rick.’ I could do nothing for you. You were begging for Rick, so I called him and asked him to come. At the time, I was almost jealous, thinking that you wanted him to comfort you instead of me. He got there in less than 10 minutes, which I thought was odd, saying he was still in town from earlier business. He held you in his arms as you cried and screamed…” She shuddered at the traumatizing memory. “He asked me to get something out of the bathroom, and when I returned you were quiet. I thought you had died. I grabbed you from him and could tell you were still breathing, but you felt so lifeless. There was this purple stuff all over you. I mean, it scared the hell out of me, Allison. Rick was talking about some old Indian remedy or something, as if that was why you were all purple or something. It never made sense to me.” She paused, trying to regain composure, and then continued, “You were scared of him after that. You begged me not to let him come over. You didn’t want to go to church because you thought he would be there. Do you really not remember that?”
    Everything I remembered about Rick was good though: playing together in Fiesta Park, day trips to National Parks and zoos, and the childlike knowledge that I was completely safe when he was around. “Not even vaguely,” I answered, shaking my head as I spoke. But none of the past mattered now, I would ask Rick about it later. I had come in here for one reason and one reason only.
    “Mom, I don’t know about everything that happened back then, but I do know about now. That man from the park was trying to kill me.” She nodded. David said she already knew that much, so I went on, “He won’t stop until I am dead. Please don’t ask me why, just believe me. And what’s worse, he would kill you and Sam too.” I stopped, letting her take that information in. I knew she wanted to protest, but I started talking again before she could, “I am leaving, Mom. You will be safe if I am not around, but I am taking Sam with me.” With that, she looked heartbroken. Her body hunched over and her eyes filled with tears.
    Expecting a tirade of objections, I was shocked when she nodded. “I knew this day would come. I hoped and prayed that she was wrong, but she never was. After all these years, I was actually starting to believe it though, that she could possibly be wrong, at least once.” Her tears ran freely now. She got up from the chair across from me and sat down on the bed placing her hand in mine.
    “Who, Mom? What are you talking about?”
    “My grandmother, my mother’s mother. The day after my birthday, when I was still very young… maybe 5 or 6, she took me into her room and told me that my daughter would be different. That part has always been very evident.”
    Smiling at me, I had to smile back, knowing it would be the last time I would see her smile for a very long time. “But then she said that because you were different, special, you would have to leave me one day. That it would