Read Online Star Bright by Christina Ow - Free Book Online

felt the sticky liquid and lifted her hand,
her palm was red. Jane panicked when she seen the blood all over
the back of Maria’s shirt. She drove faster, pushing the car hard,
feeling the urgency to get home fast.
    She pulled into her drive
way, Tom and Edna was waiting for them, their faces anxious. Jane
got out of the car and ran to Maria’s side, “She’s bleeding all
over.” She pulled the door open and carefully pulled out the crying
Maria.
    Edna rushed to her
daughter and supported her. She seen the blood on her t-shirt, her
legs and arms. She felt a rage build inside her as she saw her
daughter bleeding and crying in pain- both physical and emotional.
She was going to make that call again, this time Ricky was going to
stay dead. She got her into the house and put her on the couch.
Jane brought the first aid kit and helped treat her cuts. When she
took Maria’s shirt off, she saw more cuts on her back glass inside
some of the cuts. While Jane tended to those on her feet and arms,
she carefully pulled out the glass in her back and tended to the
deep cut on her head. When they were done, Edna dressed Maria in a
loose shirt. They wiped the blood off her body as she sat there in
a daze.
    Tom walked into the room
with the phone in his hand and a gun tucked in his belt, “Nate is
coming to get you out of here.”
    Frightened, Maria jolted
out of her daze, “No, we can’t do that!” They’d tried leaving,
they’d tried killing Ricky and he still came back.
    “ We have to,
this time he will kill you.” Tom spoke directly keeping his voice
gentle.
    Standing up and going to
Tom, “He’ll find us.”
    Jane stood up and faced
her friend, she looked like she would go to pieces in any second,
“If you stay you are going to make it even easier for him to kill
you.”
    The phone rang making
Maria jump, Tom touched her gently on her shoulder and walked into
the kitchen to answer it.
    “ And we’ll be
putting Jane and her family in danger.” Edna spoke harshly to
Maria. She needed her daughter to take back control of her life.
She couldn’t stay a scared little girl all her life.
    Maria choked on the sob
in her throat. She let the tears flow freely down her cheeks, “Mama
I can’t...” She was tired of living this nightmare, but she wasn’t
going to live looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life,
only for him to catch up to her and take Michael away from her. She
would rather live with Ricky and try to appease him.
    “ The sheriff
is on his way.” Tom walked back into the room.
    “ So that he
can do what, arrest Ricky, only to let him out after a few hours
because Maria is too scared to press charges?” Edna yelled, her
rage making its way to the surface, “What are you waiting for that
animal to do to you before you do something?”
    “ Edna.” Jane
said quietly pulling her back.
    “ She needs to
realize its time she got out of his hold. Are you waiting for him
to kill you, or worse kill Michael?”
    Maria gasped. She lowered
herself onto the seat, “he wouldn’t do that.” she whispered. She
knew better than to believe her own words. Ricky was capable of
anything especially now that he was out for revenge.
    “ Why not,
hurting Michael is the best way to hurt you?”
    “ Nate is here,
what’s it going to be Maria?” Tom asked gently.
    Maria looked up at him,
then at Jane and her mother. She realized how stupid she was being
letting her fear decide her fate. She needed to be courageous, if
not for herself for Michael. Ricky would hurt Michael to get back
at her. He already hit him once, why wouldn’t he do worse? He
didn’t see Michael as a son, he saw him as his way to control
Maria, and it had worked for years. Edna was right, Ricky wouldn’t
stay behind bars for long, especially after he told the sheriff the
truth about the fire.
    Without a word she jetted
off the seat and rushed to the room Michael was sleeping in. She
pulled out all of their things from the drawers and threw them