Page 22 of Sour
“Koven!” he shouted after me.
Keep fucking walking.
“Koven, you get your ass back here! Now!”
Keep fucking going!
“Koven!” I took another step. “Koven, if you don’t come back right this second, I’ll—I’lll—” He stopped. “Koven, what about your momma, huh? You just going to leave her?” My feet halted.
Momma.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. And despite my inner desire to just book it out of there, I knew I couldn’t just abandon my momma.
Fuck.
I turned around to look at my stepfather. And he was fucking smiling.
I nearly choked on my words as I took a step towards him, clutching my bag close. “What about my momma?” I knew if I kept going, there would be no escape for me. But my momma needed me. And Erek knew it.
My stepfather crossed his arms. “Think about it, Koven. If you leave, who’s going to take care of her? Huh? Who’s going to feed her, clean her, give her meds—” He lifted the bottle he snatched from the floor. “Well, what’s left of them.” He threw the pill bottle. The orange tube rolled down the trailer steps and landed at my feet. “If you leave, she’s got no one. No one! Is that what you really want for her?”
My grip on my bag tightened. “What about you?” I asked. “You’re her fucking husband, Erek! Why can’t you take care of her?” He shrugged. “I’ve been taking care of that woman for years. Years! Long before you stepped into our lives, and longafter, all while you sat on your ass and drank your pathetic life away!” The painful truth burned from my eyes as it spilled from my throat. “I love my momma, but taking care of her isn’t my job. She’s your wife—you take care of her!”
Erek’s smile fell. “That corpse in my bed isn’t the woman I married. When I married your momma, she wasn’t sick.”
“She was in remission!” God, I fucking hated him.
My stepfather scoffed. “Whatever. I call it lying. When your momma and I got married, she was healthy as a horse. And I didn’t sign up for a dying woman! I need someone to take care of me, like a woman should. She can’t take care of me; hell, she can’t even take care of herself! If you leave, that woman’s got no one to look after her. And without any help, your momma won’t last much longer on her own. You really willing to let your momma rot away in that bed so you can get a taste of freedom?” He scoffed. “You’re one selfish little whore, you know that? Willing to let your momma die. You have no one left, Koven. No one but me. So unless you want your momma to suffer while you shoot yourself up in some alley, I suggest you get your ass inside.”
“I can’t,” I shouted. “I love my momma, but I can’t come back.”
My stepfather clenched his jaw. “Then you can kiss your momma goodbye, you ungrateful little bitch.”
I shook my head, my eyes burning from all the emotion I was experiencing. “No,” I whispered. “No, I–I’m leaving. You have to take care of her, Erek. I’m done with you…with all of this!” I turned again, and this time, I knew I couldn’t turn back. If I did, I’d never make it out of here.
“Koven,” my stepfather growled. “Koven, stop. You take one more step, and I’ll…I’ll kill her myself.” I froze. “And with your momma dead, you have to do as I say.”
He won’t kill her. He needs her to pay his debts off.
“Nice try.” My head turned as I glared at him over my shoulder. “But I’m not buying your sick bluff. You need my momma, more than she ever needed you. You wouldn’t hurt her.”
My stepfather sucked his teeth and uncrossed his arms. “Who said anything about bluffing?”
He wouldn’t.
Erek grinned. “And I don’t need a dying woman taking up my bed either. You did this, Koven.” He then stepped inside and closed the trailer door. “You did this!” His shout fogged the small window on the door. “You.” He locked the door and turned away.
No. No, he wouldn’t…he can’t!
I dropped my bag on the ground and rushed up the stairs to the trailer door, wiggling the locked doorknob. “No.” I tried to open it, but it was no use. I peeked through the small trailer door window. Just off in the distance, I spotted Erek. He was smiling, walking in the direction of my momma’s room. “No. No, no, no!” My hands smacked the door, and my raised voice fogged the glass. “I’m here, Erek! I’m here! I came back! You don’t have to do this! Please!” He was gone from view. “Erek? Hello?” I knocked, but he never returned. My stomach began to feel sick as I waited. “Open the door, Erek.” I hit it again and again. “Open the door! Open the fucking door!” My heart raced frantically, and I knew I had to get inside. I had to stop him.
My fists slammed against the door, over and over and over, desperately trying to break it down, but it was no use. I was too weak. “Erek!” My eyes scanned around the outside, looking for a way in. “Fuck!” I clawed at my hair, desperately running and searching all around the yard until I found a large rock. My fingers curled around it, and I quickly ran back to the door. “Momma!” I shouted as I threw it through the window. Glass shattered everywhere, giving me just enough room to reach my arm through.
“Ahh!” I sliced my arm along the edge of the broken glass, reaching around until I was able to unlock the trailer door. Blood dripped down my arm as I pushed the door open and raced inside, stepping past the glass. “Momma?” She didn’t reply.
No.
I raced to my momma’s room, filled with dread.
